Definitions

1. Activity, or task: A basic unit of work as part of the total project that is easily measured and
controlled. It is time- and resource-consuming.

2. Backward pass: The process of navigating through a network from end to start and
calculating the late dates for each activity. The late dates, along with the early dates,
determine the critical activities, the critical path, and the amount of float that each activity
has.

3. Critical activity: An activity on the critical path. Any delay in the timely completion of a
critical activity will result in a delay in the entire project.

4. Critical path: The longest continuous path in a network from start to finish. It represents the
summation of the durations of activities and lags along that path, taking into consideration
calendars, constraints, resources, and other impacting factors.

5. Driving relationship: A relationship from a predecessor activity that controls the start or
finish of a successor activity. For any activity with predecessors, there must be at least one
driving relationship.

6. Early dates: The early start date and early finish date of an activity.

7. Early finish (EF): The earliest date on which an activity can finish within project constraints.

8. Early start (ES): The earliest date on which an activity can start within project constraints.

9. Event: A point in time marking the start or end of an activity. In contrast to an activity, an
event does not consume time or resources. In computer software, events with significance
can be created as milestones, and they are either start milestones, such as Notice to
Proceed, or finish milestones, such as Substantial Completion.

10. Forward pass: The process of navigating through a network from start to end and calculating
the completion date for the project and the early dates for each activity.

11. Late dates: The late start date and late finish date of an activity.

12. Late finish (LF): The latest date on which an activity can finish without extending the
project’s duration.

13. Late start (LS): The latest date on which an activity can start without extending the project’s
duration.
14. Total float (TF): The maximum amount of time an activity can be delayed from its early start
without delaying the entire project or violating a schedule constraint.