Decision 1:: Critical Path Analysis

Last modified: Feb 2022

Critical activities
An activity is critical if any increase in its duration results in a
corresponding increase in the duration of the whole project.

• A path from source to sink which entirely follows critical activities is

called a critical path.
• At each node on a critical path the early event time is equal to the
late event time.
Identifying critical activities
Critical events are ones where the early time is equal to the late time.
Critical activities are those between critical events, and…
Event Time A + Activity Time = Event Time B
Identify which activities are critical in the (green) network below by performing a forward
and backward pass on each and identifying which changes change the overall duration.
6 7 6
B(3) 6 C(1) B(3) 7 C(1) B(5) 6 C(1)
0 7 0 8 0

E(4)
7
E(4)

E(4)
0 7 0 8 0 7
2 D(3) 3 D(3) 2
A(2) A(3) A(2) D(3)
2 3 2 You find that A, E and
C are all critical

6 6 7
activities in the
original network.

B(3) 6 C(2) B(3) 6 C(1) C(1)

B(3) 7
0 7
E(4)

0 8 0 8
E(4)

E(5)
0 8 0 7 0
2 D(4) 8
2 D(3) 2 D(3)
A(2) A(2) A(2)
2 2 2
Identifying critical activities eg. (text book)

14 F(5) 19 I(8) 27
C(8)
15 20 28
K(1)
6 J(2)
A(6) 6 G(9) 22 L(7) 29
D(7) 13
0 13 22 29
0 E(4)
3 7 H(8)
B(3)
10 14
Explore in Geogebra

[Link]
Perform a forward and backward pass and rg/m/newwqrmg#mater
identify the critical activities. ial/vdmpqkxx

Can you make every

The critical activities are A, D, G and L. activity critical?
More than one critical path?

25
6 D(7) 13 25
G(9) I(6)
A(6) 13 E(3)
6
16 31
0
16 H(3) 31
0
3 C(8) 11 F(5)
B(3)
3 11

Find the critical paths in this activity network and identify the
critical activities.
The critical paths are ADEGI and BCFGI.

The critical activities are A, D, E, B, C, F, G, I.

Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise(Check the question in Onenote)

B? C?
Float of an activity
The float of an activity is the amount of time that its start may be
delayed without affecting the duration of the project.
• Total float = latest finish time – duration – earliest start time
• I like to think ‘bottom right’ – ‘middle’ – ‘top left’
The total float of any critical activity is zero.

Duratio

Float
Early
Late
Activity

n
5 C(6)
11 F(10)
5 A 5 3 0 2
A(3) 11 21 B 5 5 0 0
I(9)
D(7) 21 C 11 6 5 0
0 30
12 D 21 7 5 9
0 30
21 E 21 3 5 13

B(5) G(2) H(1) F 21 10 11 0

E(3) 14
5 G 29 2 12 15
Reveal 29
5 H 30 1 14 15
Critical
Path Back to slide 14 6 I 30 9 21 0
Test your understanding
Exercise
Exercise
Gantt Charts eg.
A Gantt (Cascade) chart provides a graphical way to represent the
range of possible start and finish times for all activities on a diagram.
5 C(6)
11 F(10) Looking back to our float act
5
A(3) 11 21 ivity from slide 12.
I(9)
D(7) 21
0 Construct a Gantt Chart for
12 30
0 the given activity network.
21 30

B(5) G(2) H(1)

E(3) 14
5 29
5
0

B C F I The critical activities all go on the top row.

A A(2) could start at 0 and has a float of 2
D D(7) could start at 5 and has a float of 9
E E(3) could start at 5 and has a float of 13
G G(2) could start at 12 and has a float of 15
H H(1) could start at 14 and has a float of 15
Gantt Charts ctd.
Gantt charts can be used to determine which activities must be
happening at any given time and those that may be happening at a
given time.
The given Gantt chart represents a project that must be completed within 20 days.

a) Determine 2 activities that must be happening at midday on the ninth day.

b) Determine 2 additional activity that may be happening at midday on the ninth day.
0

a) B and F must
A B D E be
happening
at midday 9th
C day.

Note the 1st b) C and G

day is so the F could be
9th day is happening
at midday
G on 9th day.
 Note – LB’s is incorrectly

Lower bound for the number of workers included in the A2 section

of the text book.

The lower bound for the number of workers required to complete a project within the
critical time is the smallest integer greater than or equal to:

Activity Duration
The sum of all the activity times is 41 days. The critical
A 6 time is 20 days, this gives a lower bound as the smallest
B 6 integer greater than or equal to so the lower bound is
C 4 workers.
D 4
E 4
In general, it is not always going to be possible to complete
F 6 the project in the critical time with the lower bound number
G 11 of workers, depending on the dependency conditions more
may be required.
Test your understanding – 2020 exam question 2

a) Complete the precedence table on the next slide.

b) Complete the diagram to show the early and late event times.
c) i) state the minimum project completion time.
ii) list the critical activities
d) Calculate the maximum number of hours by which activity H could be delayed without
affecting the shortest possible completion time of the project. You must make the numbers
used in your calculation clear.
e) Calculate a lower bound for the number of workers needed to complete the project in the
minimum time. You must show your working.
f) Draw a cascade chart for this project on the grid on the next slide.
g) Using the answer to (f), explain why it is not possible to complete the project in the shortest
possible time using the number of workers found in (e).
Test your understanding – 2020 exam question 2
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise