The document discusses critical path method (CPM) for project planning and management. CPM involves identifying all the activities in a project, determining their durations and dependencies, and analyzing the earliest and latest possible dates for completing each activity and the project. It identifies the critical path consisting of the longest chain of activities with no slack. CPM helps answer questions about project completion date, schedule status, budget, critical activities, and ways to finish early at least cost.
2. Project
“A project is a series of activities directed to
accomplishment of a desired objective.”
Plan your work first…..then work your plan
3. Activity Slack
Each event has two important times associated with it :
Earliest time , Te , which is a calendar time when a event can occur
when all the predecessor events completed at the earliest possible times
Latest time , TL , which is the latest time the event can occur without
delaying the subsequent events and completion of project.
Difference between the latest time and the earliest time of an
event is the slack time for that event
29. Example
Activity Description Predecessors Duration (days)
A Organize sales office - 6
B Hire salesmen A 4
C Train salesmen B 7
D Select advertising agency A 2
E Plan advertising campaign D 4
F Conduct advertising campaign E 10
G Design package - 2
H Setup packaging facilities G 10
I Package initial stocks J,H 6
J Order stock from manufacturer - 13
K Select distributors A 9
L Sell to distributors C,K 3
M Ship stocks to distributors I,L 5
34. Benefits of CPM
Useful at many stages of project management
Mathematically simple
Give critical path and slack time
Provide project documentation
Useful in monitoring costs
35. Questions Answered by CPM
Completion date?
On Schedule?
Within Budget?
Critical Activities?
How can the project be finished early at the least cost?
