21-12-2012, 05:51 PM
The Critical Path Method - A Short Seminar
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ABSTRACT
The Critical Path Method for scheduling projects was developed over thirty years ago. Yet it
remains a little used and less understood tool.
For the experienced project manager, CPM is a tool that saves enormous amounts of time,
resources, and money. It shows how seemingly impossible deadlines can be reached, or when
they must be postponed. It computes resource usage months in advance, reflects the impact of
scope changes, targets workarounds ("crashing the Critical Path"), and provides hard data for
prioritizing resource assignments in a multiproject context.
This two hour seminar outlines the fundamentals of CPM. It discusses the benefits and
limitations of software algorithms, so that project managers relying on project management
packages can work with their systems to optimize their schedules. It explains the alternative
methods (PERT, PDM, backward scheduling), their uses and abuses. And it discusses the best
ways to eliminate padding from duration estimates. The agenda includes:
Performing the Forward aOndp tBimaiczkinwga rthde P sacshseedsule
Crashing the Critical Pa t h
Calculating Total Float a nAd vForiedein Fg lobatckward sche duling
Identifying resource bott l enecks
Attendees will walk away from this seminar with the ability to calculate a critical path schedule,
and to work with their software in adjusting schedules whenever necessary. Perhaps most
important, they will appreciate the enormous benefits of CPM as a basic tool for all project
scheduling.