Critical Path Method (CPM) Critical Path Method (CPM)

• CPM calculates the minimum completion time for a
project along with the possible start and finish
times for the project activities
• Critical path represents the set of sequence of
predecessor/successor activities which will take
the longest time to complete.
• Critical path is also defined as the longest
possible path through the network of project
activities
• Basic inputs to CPM
– Activity Definitions and Durations (Fixed)
– Temporal Precedence Relationships
– Start Date (0 or today is default)
– Master calendar - when is work underway
• Basic outputs of CPM
– Earliest and Latest Start and Finish Dates
– Earliest Project Completion
– Activity and Resource Schedules by Calendar
Date
– Many different graphic and report formats

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Critical Path Scheduling Critical Path Scheduling

Algorithm Algorithm (Cont.)
• Earliest event time: • Latest Event Time Algorithm
Step 1: Let E(0) = 0. Step 1: Let L(n) equal the required completion time of the project.
Note: L(n) must equal or exceed E(n).
Step 2: For j = 1,2,3,...,n (where n is the last event), let
E(j) = maximum {E(i) + Dij}
Step 2: For i = n-1, n-2, ..., 0, let
L(i) = minimum {L(j) - Dij}
where the maximum is computed over all activities (i,j) that
have j as the ending event.
where the minimum is computed over all activities (i,j) that have i
as the starting event
i j
.
n

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1
 Activity Time Activity Time
• The earliest start time for each activity • The latest finish time for each activity (i,j)
(i,j) is equal to the earliest possible time is equal to the latest possible time L(j) for
for the preceding event E(i): the succeeding event:
ES(i,j) = E(i) LF(i,j) = L(j)

• The earliest finish time of each activity • The latest start time of each activity (i,j)
(i,j) can be calculated by: can be calculated by:
EF(i,j) = ES(i,j)+Dij LS(i,j) = L(j)-Dij

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Critical Activity
• An activity (i,j) is a critical activity if it
satisfies all of the following conditions:

E(i) = L(i)
E(j) = L(j)
E(i) + Dij =L(j)

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