Critical path method (CPM)

Abas Khan, Senior Resident, hospital adminstration, SKIMS

Corresponding author
Ruksana Hamid, Medical officer and Anesthesiologist, JK health

ABSTRACT
The critical path method (CPM), or critical path analysis (CPA), is
an algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities. It is commonly used in
conjunction with the program evaluation and review technique (PERT). A
critical path is determined by identifying the longest stretch of dependent
activities and measuring the time required to complete them from start to finish

Definition
Critical path method

PERT chart for a project with five milestones (10 through 50) and six activities (A
through F). The project has two critical paths: activities B and C, or A, D, and F –
giving a minimum project time of 7 months with fast tracking. Activity E is sub-
critical, and has a float of 1 month.
The critical path method (CPM), or critical path analysis (CPA), is
an algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities. It is commonly used in
conjunction with the program evaluation and review technique (PERT). A critical
path is determined by identifying the longest stretch of dependent activities and
measuring the time required to complete them from start to finish.
History
The critical path method (CPM) is a project modeling technique developed in the
late 1950s by Morgan R. Walker of DuPont and James E. Kelley Jr. of Remington
Rand. Kelley and Walker related their memories of the development of CPM in
1989. Kelley attributed the term "critical path" to the developers of the PERT
which was developed at about the same time by Booz Allen Hamilton and the U.S.
Navy. The precursors of what came to be known as Critical Path were developed
and put into practice by DuPont between 1940 and 1943 and contributed to the
success of the Manhattan Project.
Critical Path Analysis is commonly used with all forms of projects, including
construction, aerospace and defense, software development, research projects,
product development, engineering, and plant maintenance, among others. Any
project with interdependent activities can apply this method of mathematical
analysis. CPM was used the first time in 1966 for the major skyscraper
development of constructing the former World Trade Center Twin Towers in New
York City. Although the original CPM program and approach is no longer
used, the term is generally applied to any approach used to analyze a project
network logic diagram.

Basic technique
Components
The essential technique for using CPM [8][9] is to construct a model of the project
that includes the following:
1. A list of all activities required to complete the project (typically categorized
within a work breakdown structure),
2. The time (duration) that each activity will take to complete,
3. The dependencies between the activities and,
4. Logical end points such as milestones or deliverable items.
Using these values, CPM calculates the longest path of planned activities to logical
end points or to the end of the project, and the earliest and latest that each activity
can start and finish without making the project longer. This process determines
which activities are "critical" (i.e., on the longest path) and which have "total float"
(i.e., can be delayed without making the project longer). In project management, a
critical path is the sequence of project network activities which add up to the
longest overall duration, regardless if that longest duration has float or not. This
determines the shortest time possible to complete the project. There can be 'total
float' (unused time) within the critical path. For example, if a project is testing a
solar panel and task 'B' requires 'sunrise', there could be a scheduling constraint on
the testing activity so that it would not start until the scheduled time for sunrise.
This might insert dead time (total float) into the schedule on the activities on that
path prior to the sunrise due to needing to wait for this event. This path, with the
constraint-generated total float would actually make the path longer, with total
float being part of the shortest possible duration for the overall project. In other
words, individual tasks on the critical path prior to the constraint might be able to
be delayed without elongating the critical path; this is the 'total float' of that task.
However, the time added to the project duration by the constraint is
actually critical path drag, the amount by which the project's duration is extended
by each critical path activity and constraint.
A project can have several, parallel, near critical paths; and some or all of the tasks
could have 'free float' and/or 'total float'. An additional parallel path through the
network with the total durations shorter than the critical path is called a sub-critical
or non-critical path. Activities on sub-critical paths have no drag, as they are not
extending the project's duration.
CPM analysis tools allow a user to select a logical end point in a project and
quickly identify its longest series of dependent activities (its longest path). These
tools can display the critical path (and near critical path activities if desired) as a
cascading waterfall that flows from the project's start (or current status date) to the
selected logical end point.
Visualizing critical path schedule
Although the activity-on-arrow diagram (PERT Chart) is still used in a few places,
it has generally been superseded by the activity-on-node diagram, where each
activity is shown as a box or node and the arrows represent the logical
relationships going from predecessor to successor as shown here in the "Activity-
on-node diagram".

Activity-on-node diagram showing critical path schedule, along with total float and
critical path drag computations
In this diagram, Activities A, B, C, D, and E comprise the critical or longest path,
while Activities F, G, and H are off the critical path with floats of 15 days, 5 days,
and 20 days respectively. Whereas activities that are off the critical path have float
and are therefore not delaying completion of the project, those on the critical path
will usually have critical path drag, i.e., they delay project completion. The drag of
a critical path activity can be computed using the following formula:
1. If a critical path activity has nothing in parallel, its drag is equal to its
duration. Thus A and E have drags of 10 days and 20 days respectively.
 2. If a critical path activity has another activity in parallel, its drag is equal to
whichever is less: its duration or the total float of the parallel activity with
the least total float. Thus since B and C are both parallel to F (float of 15)
and H (float of 20), B has a duration of 20 and drag of 15 (equal to F's
float), while C has a duration of only 5 days and thus drag of only 5.
Activity D, with a duration of 10 days, is parallel to G (float of 5) and H
(float of 20) and therefore its drag is equal to 5, the float of G.
These results, including the drag computations, allow managers to prioritize
activities for the effective management of project, and to shorten the planned
critical path of a project by pruning critical path activities, by "fast tracking" (i.e.,
performing more activities in parallel), and/or by "crashing the critical path" (i.e.,
shortening the durations of critical path activities by adding resources).
Critical path drag analysis has also been used to optimize schedules in processes
outside of strict project-oriented contexts, such as to increase manufacturing
throughput by using the technique and metrics to identify and alleviate delaying
factors and thus reduce assembly lead time.[10]
Crash duration
'Crash duration' is a term referring to the shortest possible time for which an
activity can be scheduled. It can be achieved by shifting more resources towards
the completion of that activity, resulting in decreased time spent and often a
reduced quality of work, as the premium is set on speed. Crash duration is typically
modeled as a linear relationship between cost and activity duration; however, in
many cases a convex function or a step function is more applicable.
Expansion
Originally, the critical path method considered only logical dependencies between
terminal elements. Since then, it has been expanded to allow for the inclusion of
resources related to each activity, through processes called activity-based resource
assignments and resource optimization techniques such as Resource
Leveling and Resource smoothing. A resource-leveled schedule may include
delays due to resource bottlenecks (i.e., unavailability of a resource at the required
time), and may cause a previously shorter path to become the longest or most
"resource critical" path while a resource-smoothed schedule avoids impacting the
critical path by using only free and total float. A related concept is called
the critical chain, which attempts to protect activity and project durations from
unforeseen delays due to resource constraints.
Since project schedules change on a regular basis, CPM allows continuous
monitoring of the schedule, which allows the project manager to track the critical
activities, and alerts the project manager to the possibility that non-critical
activities may be delayed beyond their total float, thus creating a new critical path
and delaying project completion. In addition, the method can easily incorporate the
concepts of stochastic predictions, using the PERT and event chain methodology.
Currently, there are several software solutions available in industry that use the
CPM method of scheduling; see list of project management software. The method
currently used by most project management software is based on a manual
calculation approach developed by Fondahl of Stanford University.
Flexibility
A schedule generated using the critical path techniques often is not realized
precisely, as estimations are used to calculate times: if one mistake is made, the
results of the analysis may change. This could cause an upset in the
implementation of a project if the estimates are blindly believed, and if changes are
not addressed promptly. However, the structure of critical path analysis is such that
the variance from the original schedule caused by any change can be measured,
and its impact either ameliorated or adjusted for. Indeed, an important element of
project postmortem analysis is the 'as built critical path' (ABCP), which analyzes
the specific causes and impacts of changes between the planned schedule and
eventual schedule as actually implemented.

References
1. ^ Kelley, James. Critical Path Planning.
2. ^ Santiago, Jesse (February 4, 2009). "Critical Path
Method" (PDF). Stanford.
3. ^ Kelley, James; Walker, Morgan. Critical-Path Planning and Scheduling.
1959 Proceedings of the Eastern Joint Computer Conference.
4. ^ Kelley, James; Walker, Morgan. The Origins of CPM: A Personal
History. PMNETwork 3(2):7–22.
5. ^ Newell, Michael; Grashina, Marina (2003). The Project Management
Question and Answer Book. American Management Association. p. 98.