Critical Path Method (CPM)

CPM is a network diagramming technique used

to predict total project duration.
CPM is an analysis technique with three main
purposes:
 To calculate the project’s finish date
 To indentify to what extent each activity in the
schedule can slip(float) without delaying the
project
 To identify the activities with highest risk that
cannot slip without changing the project finish
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date
 CPM
How does the Critical Path Method calculate the
project’s finish date?
o Forward pass calculation
 calculates Early Start and Early Finish dates
o Backward pass calculation
 calculates Late Start and Late Finish dates

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 Early Start (ES) is the earliest date a task can
start
Early Finish (EF) is the earliest date a task can
be completed
Late Start (LS) is the latest date a task can start
without delaying the project and date
Late Finish (LF) is the latest date a task can
finish without delaying the project end date

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 0 2 5 6 11 15
A B E
2 1 4
0 0 15 15
Start Finish

0 5 5 11 11 13
D C F
5 6 2

Forward Pass

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 ES=3

ES EF
ES=10
D
Activity A
ES=9

• Early Start (ES) = Latest related early date of all

immediate predecessors
ES= immediate Predecessors’ ES max
Early finish (EF) = Early Start + Duration
EF= ES + D

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 0 2 5 6 11 15
A B E
2 1 4
0 0 8 10 11 11 15 15 15
10
Start Finish

0 0 11 13 15 15
0 5 5 11
D C F
5 6 2
0 5 5 11 13 15

Backward Pass

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 LF=3

D LF=10
Activity A
LS LF LF=9

Late Finish (LF) = Earliest related late date of all

immediate successors
LF= immediate Successors’ LF min
Late Start (LS) = Late Finish – Duration
LS= LF-D

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 The purpose of backward pass is to find the float.
Float is the amount of time an activity can be
delayed or lengthened. Also called slack.
Total float: the amount of time an activity can be
delayed or extended without extending the overall
project’s completion time

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 0 2 5 6 11 15
A B E
2 1 4
0 0 8 10 11 11 15 15 15
10
Start Finish

0 0 11 13 15 15
0 5 5 11
D C F
5 6 2
0 5 5 11 13 15

What is the total Float for activity A?

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 0 2 5 6
A B
2 1
8 10 10 11
ES EF LS LF
0 2 8 10
A Float
Float A

Total float = LF-ES-D

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 ES EF
Activity A
LS LF

Total Float:
TF= LF - ES – D
TF= LF – (ES+D) = LF-EF
TF= LF-D-ES= LS-ES

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 ES EF
Activity A
LS LF

Free Float: the amount of time an activity can be

delayed without delaying the early start date of its
subsequent tasks

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 What is the FF for activity A?
0 2 5 6
A B
2 1
8 10 10 11
What would happen if A uses its max float?
(A)EF=LF=10 (B) ES=LS=10
IF the early finish date of activity A =5
the early start date of activity B=5
FF=5-2=3

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 ES EF
Activity A
LS LF

Free Float: the amount of time an activity can be

delayed without delaying the early start date of its
subsequent tasks
EF= ES(B) – EF(A)
EF= ES(earliest successor)- EF

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 Why floats are important in the critical path
method?
 If an activity has a TF=0, what does this mean?
 Floats determine thee criticality of an activity
 Critical activities have the least amount of Float
 Floats determine the critical path

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 The critical path is made of activities that cannot
be delayed without delaying the final date of the
project
If an item is on critical path, it has a zero float
The critical path is the path with longest duration
It is possible to have more than one critical path

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 0 2 5 6 11 15
A B E
2 1 4
0 0 8 10 11 11 15 15 15
10
Start Finish

0 0 11 13 15 15
0 5 5 11
D C F
5 6 2
0 5 5 11 13 15
What is the critical path?
What is the length of the critical path?

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 Critical Path Method (CPM)
CPM is a network diagramming technique used
to predict total project duration
A critical path for a project is the series of
activities that determines the earliest time by
which the project can be completed
The critical path is the longest path through the
network diagram and has the least amount of
slack or float
Slack or float is the amount of time an activity
may be delayed without delaying a succeeding
activity or the project finish date

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 Calculating the Critical Path
First develop a good network diagram
Add the duration estimates for all activities on
each path through the network diagram
The longest path is the critical path
If one or more of the activities on the critical path
takes longer than planned, the whole project
schedule will slip unless the project manager
takes corrective action

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