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The CPM (Critical Path Method) or the Critical Path Analysis is a popular mathematic based algorithm considered to schedule a set of project activities. Scholars of six sigma tag this as a vital tool for efficient project management. CPM was developed by the DuPont Corporation in 1950’s. Currently, it is applied to all forms of projects such as plant maintenance, engineering, product development, research projects, software development etc.
CPM plays a vital role in six sigma as it helps to solve the problems in a quick and easier way. Six sigma helps to improve the quality of manufacturing processes by identifying and deleting the defects and variation. CPM is a widely accepted mathematical algorithm that is considered to schedule project activities. Different organizations are mounted with various projects which are to be handled at the same time by solving critical process. To complete such projects within the allotted time, a timetable is needed. CPM plays the role of preparing the timetable for the organizations that is necessary for the smooth transaction of business process. With the help of CPM, project managers can be benefited by finding out the exact status of various projects by checking the key events through the CPM timetable. The basic technique of critical path method is to make a proper schedule for project activities. The effective technique for using CPM is to build a model project that includes: - A precise list of activities that is necessary and required to complete the projects or project,
- The duration that each activity will consume for completion,
- The dependencies of the activities between them.
Using these available values, CPM calculates the planned activities that are long till the end of the project. It also calculates the latest and earliest with which each activity can start and finish without stretching the project. The main role of the process is to determine the activities that are critical and also which have “total float”. Total float is expressed in no. of days which is a period of time for a particular activity which if delayed would not delay the project. A critical path, in project management refers to the sequence of activities of project network which add up to the longest duration. This determines the possibility of shortest time to finish the project. So, the delay of any activity of the process in critical path impacts directly the designed project and its completion date. A project can have many, near, parallel critical paths. Moreover, non-critical path or sub-critical path plays a significant role and it refers to an additional parallel path through the network which is shorter in total duration than the critical path. A vital point to be noted is that critical path method considers logical dependencies between the terminal elements. Since then, it allows the addition of resources related to each activity by expanding through the processes termed as resource leveling and activity-based resource assignments. A resource level may also include the delays caused by resource bottlenecks and also may cause a prior shorter path to become the most or longest “resource critical” path. Critical chain is a related notion which attempts to defend activity and project time period from unpredictable delays due to limitation of resource. Project schedule might change on both regular and irregular basis and thus CPM allows you to monitor the schedule. It also allows project manager to have a status on the critical activities and also alerts the manager of chances that non-critical activities might be waived beyond their total float and as a result creates a fresh critical path and impede the completion of project. Additionally, the method can easily envelop the concepts related to stochastic predictions by using the event chain methodology and PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique). In the market, there are plenty of software solutions available that follow or use the CPM method of scheduling. The CPM has flexibility features. Critical path techniques are often not realized precisely and as a result estimations are applied to calculate duration. If a single mistake occurs, the results of the process of analysis may change. So, it might cause upset if the estimates are blindly believed and also if you do not mention the changes promptly. Moreover, the critical path analysis is such that you can measure the variance from the original schedule caused by any change.
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