A critical path is made up of a series of elements that are interrelated.
Among the various meanings of the term route , on this occasion we are interested in staying with its meaning as the route that is followed to reach an objective or reach a goal. The notion of criticism , for its part, can be about a moment that is opportune, something linked to a crisis or the judgment that is issued about something.
A method used to calculate times when planning a project is called critical path . It is an algorithm that seeks to optimize costs based on the programming of actions.
What is a critical path
The critical path method , created in the 1950s, is also known as CPM by its name in English: Critical Path Method . The critical path can be understood as a sequence of interrelated elements that indicates the period in which a project can be developed. This means that, in the event that there is a delay in some of the elements , the entire critical path (and, therefore, the completion of the project) will be delayed.
In addition to all of the above, we cannot overlook that the critical path or CPM clearly differs from the method called PERT (Project Evaluation and Review Technique), because it is based on what are deterministic intervals and this other on probabilistic times.
The critical path method makes it possible to calculate the time it takes to plan and implement a project.
How it develops
To develop a critical path, it is first essential to identify all the actions that are part of the project and establish precedence links. From this identification, the time of each activity can be established.
Then a network must be developed that includes all these activities. After analyzing the information with different calculations, the critical path can finally be identified, which will be a path towards the completion of the project.
Phases of the critical path method
More precisely, we can determine that these are the phases that must compose and shape the planning of any project using the critical path technique or method:
-At first, what must be done is to proceed to identify each and every one of the activities that take part in the aforementioned project as well as the relationships between them. All this without overlooking the rules of precedence or successions either.
-Next, it is time to shape what is known as a network diagram, which will have as its main elements those identified in the previous stage.
-The third important phase of the CPM is the so-called network calculation, which is carried out based on three very important elements or indicators that are determined for each activity or event: T1, which is the earliest time for carrying it out; T2, which is the latest time for the aforementioned event to take place; and finally H, which is known as slack time and is basically the difference that exists between T2 and T1.
-Next and finally, we will have to undertake the preparation of the schedule.