CMP

Inanygivenproject,youmayhavehundredsoftasksanddozens
ofdependencies.Itcanfeelalmostimpossibletoidentifythemost
importanttasks;theonesthat,ifmissed,willimpactyourwhole
project.Inotherwords,theonesyoureallyneedtoworryaboutto
makesureyoumeetyourdeadlines.
Thecriticalpathmethod,aprojectmanagementtechniquecreated
inthe1950s,allowsyoutoidentifytheseimportanttasksandstay
ontrackthroughoutyourproject.Startingashanddrawndiagrams
andevolvingintoautomatedsoftware,thecriticalpathmethodhas
becomeanessentialpartofplanningaproject.

WhatIstheCriticalPathMethod
(CPM)?

TheProjectManagementBodyofKnowledge(PMBOK),an
internationallyrecognizedcollectionofprocessesandknowledge
areasacceptedasbestpracticefortheprojectmanagement
profession,definesthecriticalpathasthesequenceofscheduled
activitiesthatdeterminesthedurationoftheproject.Itisthe
longestsequenceoftasksinaprojectplanthatmustbecompleted
ontimeinorderfortheprojecttomeetitsdeadline.Ifthereisa
delayinanytaskonthecriticalpath,thenyourwholeprojectwill
bedelayed.Althoughmanyprojectshaveonlyonecriticalpath,
someprojectsmayhavemultiplecriticalpaths.
Thecriticalpathmethodisastepbystepprojectmanagement
techniquetoidentifyactivitiesonthecriticalpath.Itisanapproach
toprojectschedulingthatbreakstheprojectintoseveralwork
tasks,displaystheminaflowchart,andthencalculatestheproject
durationbasedonestimateddurationsforeachtask.Itidentifies
tasksthatarecritical,timewise,incompletingtheproject.

PERTchart(ProgramEvaluation
ReviewTechnique)definition
APERTchartisaprojectmanagementtoolusedto
schedule,organize,andcoordinatetaskswithinaproject.
PERTstandsforProgramEvaluationReviewTechnique,a
methodologydevelopedbytheU.S.Navyinthe1950sto
managethePolarissubmarinemissileprogram.Asimilar
methodology,theCriticalPathMethod(CPM)was
developedforprojectmanagementintheprivatesectorat
aboutthesametime.
APERTchartpresentsagraphicillustrationofaprojectas
anetworkdiagramconsistingofnumberednodes(either
circlesorrectangles)representingevents,ormilestonesin
theprojectlinkedbylabelledvectors(directionallines)
representingtasksintheproject.Thedirectionofthe
arrowsonthelinesindicatesthesequenceoftasks.Inthe
diagram,forexample,thetasksbetweennodes1,2,4,8,
and10mustbecompletedinsequence.Thesearecalled
dependentorserialtasks.Thetasksbetweennodes1and2,
andnodes1and3arenotdependentonthecompletionof
onetostarttheotherandcanbeundertakensimultaneously.
Thesetasksarecalledparallelorconcurrenttasks.Tasks
thatmustbecompletedinsequencebutthatdon'trequire
resourcesorcompletiontimeareconsideredtohaveevent
dependency.Thesearerepresentedbydottedlineswith
arrowsandarecalleddummyactivities.Forexample,the
dashedarrowlinkingnodes6and9indicatesthatthe

systemfilesmustbeconvertedbeforetheusertestcantake
place,butthattheresourcesandtimerequiredtoprepare
fortheusertest(writingtheusermanualandusertraining)
areonanotherpath.Numbersontheoppositesidesofthe
vectorsindicatethetimeallottedforthetask.
ThePERTchartissometimespreferredovertheGantt
chart,anotherpopularprojectmanagementcharting
method,becauseitclearlyillustratestaskdependencies.On
theotherhand,thePERTchartcanbemuchmoredifficult
tointerpret,especiallyoncomplexprojects.Frequently,
projectmanagersusebothtechniques.

Ganttchartdefinition
AGanttchartisahorizontalbarchartdevelopedasa
productioncontroltoolin1917byHenryL.Gantt,an
Americanengineerandsocialscientist.Frequentlyusedin
projectmanagement,aGanttchartprovidesagraphical
illustrationofaschedulethathelpstoplan,coordinate,and
trackspecifictasksinaproject.
Ganttchartsmaybesimpleversionscreatedongraphpaper
ormorecomplexautomatedversionscreatedusingproject
managementapplicationssuchasMicrosoftProjector
Excel.
AGanttchartisconstructedwithahorizontalaxis
representingthetotaltimespanoftheproject,brokendown
intoincrements(forexample,days,weeks,ormonths)and

averticalaxisrepresentingthetasksthatmakeupthe
project(forexample,iftheprojectisoutfittingyour
computerwithnewsoftware,themajortasksinvolved
mightbe:conductresearch,choosesoftware,install
software).Horizontalbarsofvaryinglengthsrepresentthe
sequences,timing,andtimespanforeachtask.Usingthe
sameexample,youwouldput"conductresearch"atthetop
oftheverticleaxisanddrawabaronthegraphthat
representstheamountoftimeyouexpecttospendonthe
research,andthenentertheothertasksbelowthefirstone
andrepresentativebarsatthepointsintimewhenyou
expecttoundertakethem.Thebarspansmayoverlap,as,
forexample,youmayconductresearchandchoose
softwareduringthesametimespan.Astheproject
progresses,secondarybars,arrowheads,ordarkenedbars
maybeaddedtoindicatecompletedtasks,ortheportions
oftasksthathavebeencompleted.Averticallineisusedto
representthereportdate.
Ganttchartsgiveaclearillustrationofprojectstatus,but
oneproblemwiththemisthattheydon'tindicatetask
dependenciesyoucannottellhowonetaskfallingbehind
scheduleaffectsothertasks.ThePERTchart,another
popularprojectmanagementchartingmethod,isdesigned
todothis.AutomatedGanttchartsstoremoreinformation
abouttasks,suchastheindividualsassignedtospecific
tasks,andnotesabouttheprocedures.Theyalsoofferthe
benefitofbeingeasytochange,whichishelpful.Charts
maybeadjustedfrequentlytoreflecttheactualstatusof

projecttasksas,almostinevitably,theydivergefromthe
originalplan.