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ATTACHMENT

critical path
Longest sequence of activities in a project plan which must be completed on time for
the project to complete on due date. An activity on the critical path cannot be started until its
predecessor activity is complete; if it is delayed for a day, the entire project will be delayed for
a day unless the activity following the delayed activity is completed a day earlier.
Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/critical-path.html#ixzz33SfPxiyT

Critical Path Analysis CPA (Network Analysis)


Critical Path Analysis (CPA) is a project management tool that:

Sets out all the individual activities that make up a larger project.

Shows the order in which activities have to be undertaken.

Shows which activities can only taken place once other activities have been completed.

Shows which activities can be undertaken simultaneously, thereby reducing the overall
time taken to complete the whole project.

Shows when certain resources will be needed for example, a crane to be hired for a
building site.

In order to construct a CPA, it is necessary to estimate the elapsed time for each activity that
is the time taken from commencement to completion.
Then the CPA is drawn up a based on dependencies such as:

The availability of labour and other resources

Lead times for delivery of materials and other services

Seasonal factors such as dry weather required in a building project

Once the CPA is drawn up, it is possible to see the CRITICAL PATH itself this is a route through
the CPA, which has no spare time (called FLOAT or slack) in any of the activities. In other
words, if there is any delay to any of the activities on the critical path, the whole project will
be delayed unless the firm makes other changes to bring the project back on track.
The total time along this critical path is also the minimum time in which the whole project can
be completed.

Some branches on the CPA may have FLOAT, which means that there is some spare time
available for these activities.
What can a business do if a project is delayed?

Firstly, the CPA is helpful because it shows the likely impact on the whole project if no
action were taken.

Secondly, if there is float elsewhere, it might be possible to switch staff from another
activity to help catch up on the delayed activity.

As a rule, most projects can be brought back on track by using extra labour either by
hiring additional people or overtime. Note, there will be usually be an extra cost.
Alternative suppliers can usually be found but again, it might cost more to get urgent
help.

The key rules of a CPA

Nodes are numbered to identify each one and show the Earliest Start Time (EST) of the
activities that immediately follow the node, and the Latest Finish Time (LFT) of the
immediately preceding activities

The CPA must begin and end on one node see below

There must be no crossing activities in the CPA

East activity is labelled with its name eg print brochure, or it may be given a label,
such as D, below.

The activities on the critical path are usually marked with a //

In the example below

The Node is number 3

The EST for the following activities is 14 days

The LFT for the preceding activities is 16 days

There is 2 days float in this case (difference between EST and LFT)

The activity that follows the node is labelled D and will take 6 days

A simple example baking a loaf of bread


Here is a simple example, in which some activities depend on others having been undertaken in
order, whereas others can be done independently.
Activity

Preceded by

Elapsed time (minutes)

A weigh ingredients

B mix ingredients

C dough rising time

60

D prepare tins

E pre-heat oven

10

C&D

15

E&G

40

F knock back dough and place in tins


G 2 nd dough rising time
H cooking time

In this example, there is a clear sequence of events that have to happen in the right order. If
any of the events on the critical path is delayed, then the bread will not be ready as soon.
However, tasks D (prepare tins) and E (heat the oven) can be started at any time as long as
they are done by the latest finish time in the following node.
So, we can see that the oven could be switched on as early as time 0, but we can work out that
it could be switched on at any time before 71 any later than this and it wont be hot enough
when the dough is ready for cooking. There is some float available for tasks D and E as
neither is on the critical path.
This is a fairly simple example, and we can see the LST and LFT are the same in each node. In a
more complex CPA, this will not necessarily be the case, and if so, will indicate that there is
some float in at least one activity leading to the node. However, nodes on the critical path
will always have the same EST and LFT.

Evaluation
CPA is a planning and project management tool. Whilst it can help ensure a project is
completed as quickly as possible, and resources used as efficiently as possible, it does depend
on the accuracy of the information used.
Just drawing up a CPA will not in itself ensure a project runs to plan; most projects encounter
some delay or something unexpected, so managers need to use tool such as CPA to monitor the
project and take swift action to rectify any problems.
These days, businesses use a software package such as Microsoft Project to draw up and
manage a CPA.

Examination technique
Some examination boards require A-level candidates to construct or complete a CPA during the
examination. If you are lucky, you may just have to interpret one!
Many pupils find CPA quite difficult in practice, so the best way to help yourself is to do lots of
examples so that you become familiar with the various options that might be presented to you.

Remember, even if you do get stuck, there are likely to be marks to be had by explaining what
the CPA is for, by relating it to the case study, and describing any limitations to its usefulness.
Remember, many projects can be brought back on track by use of extra money and labour.
It is beyond the scope of these revision notes to explain how to do draw one up from scratch
you need plenty of practice before your examination, so consult your teacher or use the
exercises in your textbook.

AON NETWORK

Critical Path Analysis and PERT Charts


Planning and Scheduling More Complex Projects
Related variants: AOA or Activity-on-Arc Diagrams

Multiple activities often feed into other activities.

iStockphoto/Cybernesco

Critical Path Analysis and PERT are powerful tools that help you to schedule and manage
complex projects.
They were developed in the 1950s to control large defense projects, and have been used
routinely since then.
As with Gantt Charts , Critical Path Analysis (CPA) or the Critical Path Method (CPM)
helps you to plan all tasks that must be completed as part of a project.
They act as the basis both for preparation of a schedule, and of resource planning. During
management of a project, they allow you to monitor achievement of project goals. They
help you to see where remedial action needs to be taken to get a project back on course.
Within a project it is likely that you will display your final project plan as a Gantt Chart
(using Microsoft Project or other software for projects of medium complexity or an excel
spreadsheet for projects of low complexity).The benefit of using CPA within the planning
process is to help you develop and test your plan to ensure that it is robust. Critical Path
Analysis formally identifies tasks which must be completed on time for the whole project
to be completed on time. It also identifies which tasks can be delayed if resource needs to
be reallocated to catch up on missed or overrunning tasks. The disadvantage of CPA, if
you use it as the technique by which your project plans are communicated and managed
against, is that the relation of tasks to time is not as immediately obvious as with Gantt
Charts. This can make them more difficult to understand.
A further benefit of Critical Path Analysis is that it helps you to identify the minimum
length of time needed to complete a project. Where you need to run an accelerated
project, it helps you to identify which project steps you should accelerate to complete the
project within the available time.

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