Features of Critical Path Analysis

• Network diagram is the diagram drawn to show all of the activities in a project and to identify the critical path of activities
• Nodes are circles representing a point in time, in other words the completion of the beginning of an activity
• Nodes are split in three

  • left half of the node contains the node number
  • right half of the node is split in two -> top segment is the earliest start time and the bottom segment is the latest finishing time
• Activities

  • these are events or tasks that consume time and are shown as arrows that link the node on a network diagram
  • all network diagrams move from left to right, most diagrams use arrows rather than lines
  • a letter is placed above the arrow/line that represents that activity
• Duration

  • this is the length of time that it takes to complete an activity
  • depending on the nature of the project it may be measured in months, weeks, days or minutes
  • the duration is shown as a number below the arrow/line that represents the activity
• Prerequisites

  • this is the activity that have to be completed before our selected activity can commence
• Critical Path

  • the sequence of activities in a project that must be completed within a designated time in order to prevent any delay in overall completion of the project
• Dummies

  • these are activities that do not consume time, but are incorporated into a network to show the true sequence of events