Critical path analysis (CPA) is a project management tool used to plan and manage projects with multiple tasks to establish the most efficient way to complete it. It establishes dependencies between tasks to identify which tasks can happen concurrently and which tasks need to wait until another is completed.

A network diagram is a visual representation of a project which illustrates the tasks that need to be completed and in what order. Dependencies between different tasks in a project can be clearly seen. It consists of the following features;

Figure 1

Network Diagram for a Project with Seven Tasks (times are in weeks)

Nodes: These are the circles that represent the beginning and end of the tasks in a project.

Earliest start time (EST): This is the earliest time that the following activity (after the node) can start based on the previous activities finishing.

E.g. In figure 1, the earliest start time (EST) of task D is 4 weeks. It cannot start before this as task A must finish first.

Tasks: These are represented by lines and have the task identifier written above and the duration written below.

Latest finish time (LFT): This is the latest time the preceding activity can finish without delaying the whole project.

E.g. In figure 1, the latest finish time of task C is 10 weeks. If task C finishes any later than this the whole project cannot be completed by the end of week 16.

Critical Path Analysis Practise Task

Table 1

Task details for a project with 6 tasksv

Task

Using the data from Table 1 and the template below, complete a critical path analysis network diagram

Solution