Key Components of CPM

What is Critical Path?

Critical Path deals with the path that includes all the critical project activities. Generally, it is defined as the longest sequence of activities in our project that has the shortest completion time....

Key Components of CPM

Before learning the entire process of using the CPM method, let us understand the components of the CPM which are described below....

Applying CPM in Practice: A Step-by-Step Guide

Now, let us understand the process of using the Critical Path in the Project. This concept is important for two reasons. First is that it will help you to understand Critical Path more deeply, and second is that you can analyze these steps to understand critical path examples, and implement them for your use-case. The path to finding the critical path is called the Critical Path Method (CPM). A typical process to find the Critical Path in the Project is discussed as shown below....

Examples of CPM

Suppose that we have to manage a project of E-commerce Software Development. Then, to find the critical path of the project. Before delving deep into the critical path examples, let us understand the following terminologies....

Benefits of CPM

It gives us a clear project visualization: Critical Path highlights the important tasks and their dependencies. Thus, we can easily visualize the project execution to ensure successful delivery. Resources are not wasted: Since we are only allocating resources for crucial tasks, the resource allocation becomes efficient. As a result, project costs can be easily reduced. We can also define the project baseline: The project baseline includes various indicators that indicate the accuracy of the project. CPM helps to highlight it so that we can take our project in the right direction....

Limitations of CPM

We have to assume fixed activities: CPM considers that activities are fixed which is not applicable in all the cases. Due to this rigid nature, we may face problems while adapting to the dynamic environment. Non-critical tasks are tough to manage: CPM focuses more on critical tasks and less on non-critical tasks. This may lead to delays in the project activities. Hence, the overall timeline is disturbed. It is challenging to handle the uncertain changes: Once the project activities are defined, there is less room for uncertain or sudden changes. Thus, CPM is not suitable for an environment where changes or updates are too frequent....

Conclusion

Critical Path plays an important role in creating the Work Breakdown Structure and managing timelines for executing the tasks. It includes all types of tasks, the ones which are important and the ones which we can delay for some duration without compromising the project quality. Hence, we can easily find the best path to complete our project and deliver it to the end user and other stakeholders. You have now gained a clear understanding of the example of Critical Path in Project Management. You can implement the same method in your project scenario....

FAQs

1. What is the difference between CPM and PERT?...