CPM

Critical Path Method

THE CRITICAL PATH
 The Critical Path will tell us how long it will
take the project be completed.
 Question: Why can’t we just add all the
durations of all the activities, and figure out the
time it should take to finish the project ?
 Answer: Look at the network diagram of the
Video Project, are all the activities in series ?
Or are some in parallel ?
Critical Path Method (CPM)

Most widely used in business

projects.
FORWARD PASS
 STANDARD NODE BOX

NAME OF ACTIVITY
FORWARD PASS

 Forward pass calculation is the most

common approach in determining the
duration of the whole project.
 For this method, we have to look at each
activity as a “Standard Node Box” from
the AON Network diagram.
           

EPS DUR EPF

           

   

ACTIVITY

  NAME  

       

       

       
           
STANDARD NODE BOX

 EPS= Earliest possible Start time

 EPF= Earliest possible finish time

 DUR= The time elapsed for an activity to

be finished
RULE OF THUMB
for Forward Pass
 1.) EPS of the next activity = EPF of the
preceding activity.
 2.) EPS of the next activity will be = EPF of the
longest preceding activity if there are more
than one preceding activities.
 3.) The network diagram starts with the
“START BOX” with 0,0,0, and it will precede all
activities that have no preceding activities.
BACKWARD PASS

What is Backward Pass?

Backward Pass

The network flows back from

Finnish to Start, at the bottom,
showing the Slack for each WBS
           

EPS DUR EPF

           

   

WBS

  CODE  

       

LA
  LAS TS   F  

       
           
Abbreviations

 LAS = Latest Acceptable Start Time

 TS = Total Slack Time

 LAF = Latest Acceptable Finnish Time

Then which is the Critical Path ?
 The Critical Path will be the series connection
with the longest duration. Important Features
of the Critical Path are:
 1. Its combined durations determines how long
the project will take.
 2. It has “zero” slack time; each activity must
start immediately when its’ predecessor is
finished, and consume not more than its’
allotted time.
 3. Delay of any of the critical path activity will
delay the entire project.