Practical Session 1 (Critical Path Analaysis)

Practice 1
Practical Session Critical Path

Analaysis
Abdisalam Issa-Salwe
Department of Computer Science

Faculty of Information Science and Technology
East Africa University
Critical Path Analysis (CPA)

 Also known as Critical Network Analysis
 Developed by Dupont and Remington Rand in the
late 1950s for managing plant maintenance
projects
 Uses one duration estimate for each activity
 Provides basic framework for project planning and
control
2 East Africa University, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Department of Computer Science
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Critical Path Analysis (cont…)
 Critical Path Analysis (CPA) is a project management tool
that:
 Sets out all the individual activities that make up a larger
project.
 Shows the order in which activities have to be undertaken.
 Shows which activities can only taken place once other
activities have been completed.
 Shows which activities can be undertaken simultaneously,
thereby reducing the overall time taken to complete the
whole project.
 Shows when certain resources will be needed – for
example, a crane to be hired for a building site.

 A basic understanding of how a project's schedule
is calculated can provide a much clearer
understanding of what should happen when.
 At the heart of Microsoft Project is an algorithm
that uses critical path analysis (CPA) to calculate
a project’s schedule.
 As the tasks within a project have links between
them, they cannot all happen at the same time.
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 Critical path analysis (CPA) is a mathematical
procedure that calculates a project's schedule
 Taking each task in turn it firstly calculates how
quickly the task can be accomplished - its early
start and early finish dates
 Once all these dates have been calculated, the
project finish date can also be determined.

 Network analysis requires breaking down the
project into task with estimate durations and
establishing a logical sequence.
 Enables the minimum possible duration of the
project to be found
 Pinpoints the tasks which are on the critical
path,
 i.e. those tasks which, if delayed beyond the
allocated time, would delay the completion of
the project as a whole.
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 Estimate the time needed to complete each
individual activity or task that makes up a part of
the project
 Sort out what activities must be done one after
another, and which can be done at the same time,
if required
 Estimate the critical path: the longest sequence of
consecutive activities through the network.
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Activity on Arrow
Activity
Event
Event
Mobilise Drill
1 2 3
2 3
i
j i j
Duration (Days)
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Prepare Apply Wait for Apply

wood undercoat undercoat gloss
to dry
1 2 3 4 5
40 mins 30 mins 120 mins 30 mins
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The circles are called nodes and show:

The earliest start time
•This shows the earliest time
that the next task can start
The node number
•This makes it easier to 1
follow a path through a
network
The latest finish time
•This shows the latest time
that a task can finish without
delaying the next task
Nodes

The arrows in the network show tasks
 Tasks use up resources (e.g. time)
 Activities are dependent on each other
 i.e. gloss cannot be applied until the
undercoat has dried
Prepare
wood
1 2
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 There will be at least one critical path extending
from the beginning to the end of the project.
 Tabulate activity times (early start, early finish,
late start, late finish, total float, and free float) that
can help you schedule resources and identify
schedule flexibility.
Activity on Node
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East Africa University, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Department of Computer Science
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Definitions
 Float (slack) - amount of time that a task can be delayed
without causing a delay to:
 subsequent tasks (free float)
 project completion date (total float)
 Critical path is the sequence of activities which add up to
the longest overall duration. It is the shortest time possible
to complete the project.
 Any delay of an activity on the critical path directly
impacts the planned project completion date (there is
no float on the critical path).
 A project can have several, parallel, near critical paths. 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.
 Critical activity – activity with zero float
Group Practice
All in one group work:
 Discuss Critical path and the sequence

of activities which add up to the
longest overall duration.
 Do some Critical Path Analysis
practrices using Activity on Node
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Practice 1

Practical Session Critical Path

Department of Computer Science

Critical Path Analysis (CPA)

Critical Path Analysis (cont…)

Critical Path Analysis (cont…)

Critical Path Analysis (cont…)

Critical Path Analysis (cont…)

Prepare Apply Wait for Apply

40 mins 30 mins 120 mins 30 mins

The circles are called nodes and show:

Critical Path Analysis (cont…)

Critical Path Analysis (cont…)

 Discuss Critical path and the sequence

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