PJM480 MOD5 Peer Discussion Responses

Please respond to both student response POST1: and student response POST2: in at least 200 words. I have also included the original post only as reference.

Original post.

Define and analyze Critical Path management. How would you use it on aproject? What values would you evaluate each week? Offer correctiveactions you can take to get a project back on track.

POST1:

Hello Class,

Critical path management is the process or method to identify,schedule, and deal with project tasks that directly affect the end date(Lohrey, 2020). The critical path is the path with no slack. So, ifthe critical path of a project is late by one day, then the project willnot be finished on time. The principles behind critical pathmanagement are cost control and efficiency (Lohrey, 2020). Theseproject efficiencies are created by the project manger to determinewhich project tasks have the greatest change and effect on thetimeline. When these project efficiencies are identified, then theschedule can be designed more accurately and the project deadlines willbe completed with more accurate results.

The critical path is used by identifying each activity, establishingthe dependencies, creating a network diagram, estimating the completiontime for each activity, identifying the critical path, and updating thecritical path diagram to show the progress of the project. I would usethe critical path on a project to determine the shortest time possibleto finish the project.

Values that can be monitored each week are the timeline and thecorrelation between tasks. This may allow the PM to find ways toshorten project tasks along the way can reduce time, and may be used toget a project back on track. The ultimate use of critical pathmanagement is to prepare and design a project schedule and to plan forproject resources (Cristobal & Ramon, 2013). This will allow the PMto monitor and control project activity and meet each goal.

Ted

References:

Cristobal, S. Ramon, J. (2013). Critical path definition using multicriteria decsion making. Retrieved from

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/…

Lohrey, J. (2020). What is the principle behind the critical pathmethod & how does this affect project management? Retrieved fromhttps://smallbusiness.chron.com/principle-behind-c…

POST2:

The critical path is the progression of interrelated activities thatrepresent the longest path through a project, which determines theshortest possible project duration. Specifically, the critical pathrepresents the longest sequence of activities in the project network.The project schedule, displayed as a network diagram, defines thenetwork logic for all activities in the work package that either precedeor succeed other related tasks. The earliest and the latest possibletimes can be added to the network diagram and where the two times arethe same there is zero float. The chain of activities with zero floatare in the critical path.

Network diagrams typically display timescale data poorly, but theyare good at revealing mutual dependencies between tasks. They also allowactivities to be prioritized based on task duration estimates. Besidesactivity precedence, the other piece of data required for calculatingthe critical path is the projected number of days for each task. Taskswith the least amount of flexibility represent the ones that will beincluded in the critical path (PMI, 2017). The project manager shouldprioritize activities on the critical path.

Critical path management (CPM) can be used to monitor the schedulefor slippage. One corrective action the PM could take to reset theproject if the schedule slips is crashing. Crashing assumes that themore resources the PM allocates to tasks the faster the project will bedelivered. However, crashing requires a tradeoff between cost and timeand should be considered shrewdly. Another corrective option is fasttracking. Fast tracking exploits Start to Start lags and alters thenetwork logic by overlapping sequential stages (Pinto, 2015). Anexample that Pinto (2015) offers is executing design and constructionphases parallelly rather than consecutively. The PM could also add morehuman and capital resources, improve current resources, and reduce thescope.

References:

Pinto, J. K. (2015). Project management: Achieving the competitive advantage (4th ed.). UpperSaddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Project Management Institute (PMI). (2017). A guide to the projectmanagement body of knowledge® (PMBOK® Guide) (6th ed.). Newtown Square,PA: PMI Publications.