CRITICALITY OF THE ACTIVITIES IN CPM
The determination of the criticality of the activities in CPM is crucial. Some of the activities may look minor but carry more weight when the activities are being implemented (Nasution, 2002). Nasution proposed the adoption of a fuzzy method which was aimed at determining the criticality of the activities in a project. The critical path method also faces challenges where redundant relationships exist. Before a backward pass, the removal of redundant relationships should be removed in the project network (Lu and Li, 2003). The traditional model critical path model assumes that the resources in the project are unlimited. However, this is not the scenario as most projects experience a shortage or overlapping of resources which in turn makes the traditional model unrealistic (Ismail et al., 2009).
Other than deficiencies based on the system the success of the adoption of the critical path technique mainly depends on how committed the participants in the project are, the level of competence of the owner and participants conflicts on the impact of the enhancement of the project (Iyer & Jha, 2006). Iyer and Ijar argue that if the participants feel that enhancement will have negative impacts on them such as the early loss of a source of income, they are likely to make the adoption of the method unsuccessful.
However, despite the shortcomings of the critical path method, it has been used in many areas in different fields and shown positive results (Hofmann, 1993). Through studies on various projects where the CPM has been applied have shown a great reduction in time takes to complete the projects at a favorable cost. The critical path method can be used by every department as a tool for minimizing internal delays by encouraging individual departments to meet internal delivery needs (Rautela & Garg, 2015). Internal delays increase the time that the company takes to produce the final product.
The critical path method provides a basis for an approach that allows effective planning and control of a project by managers through the facilitation of increased accuracy and speed in the processing of data. Through the adoption of this method, project managers can establish order in situations of great complexity. The first step in the critical path method is listing all the steps that have to be undertaken before a project is complete, the second step is finding duration that each task will take, the third step is the identification of interdependence between the tasks and what the project is expected to achieve (Hegazy & Menesi, 2010).
Networks developed in the critical path methods depict the relationships and inter-relationships between activities in a project. When fully developed, the network provides a mathematical model that can be used to predict the earliest and latest start time, earliest and latest finish times, floats, and the best order of activities and the likely time that the project is likely to consume (Clough, 1991). From the network, it is possible to determine the critical path. The critical path indicates the shortest route from start to finish for the activities. The critical path takes the shortest duration (Chen & Du, 1993). Resources are also another factor in the critical path model. Projects require different resources such as people having different skills. In the road construction industry, there are surveyors, engineers, casual laborers. It is difficult to find a balance between when the number of resources requires to be increased and when it should be decreased (Kim & De La Garza., 2005). Resource histograms in CPM allows for use of resource histograms. Resource histograms guide the project managers on the number of resources required at each particular time.
Monitoring is also crucial. The set targets should be checked from time to time against those achieved. This allows for changes to be made in the model which makes it more robust. Comparisons such as bar chart target comparisons can be performed. With the growth of technology, a CPM algorithm has been established in project management software used in the management of resources in projects, control of the cash flow, and project planning and scheduling (Fondahl, 1962).
One of the fields where the critical path method has been heavily used in the construction sector. The construction sector consists of several steps that have to be carried out to have a final product which is real estate. Taking an example where a contractor has been awarded a tender for the construction of a road. Some steps have to be carried out for the final product which is the road to be economically viable. First, the contractor is given a certain period within which the project should be complete and running. This is the latest start and finish time. These should be included in the analysis of the critical path method as it helps gauge whether the application of CPM reduces the resources.
Some of the activities in the construction of a road include the eviction of people on the land, preparation of the site, testing soils, drawing terrains, architectural drawings, acquiring of land moving equipment. These activities are critical in the model. Some of the activities cannot be carried out before others implying that a certain sequence has to be followed. The main aim of implementing the CPM method is such a project is to reduce the amount of time that will be required to complete the project. However, in the efforts to reduce completion time it is important to check on the costs. The duration of each activity is recorded. The amount of resources allocated for each activity is determined. The project duration is mainly reduced by adjusting the duration of activities or increasing inter-overlap activities. When the amount of resources and the duration for each activity is determined it is possible to draw a network diagram for the activities. The activities in the network are arranged according to their order of precedence. From the network, the critical path can be drawn up. A critical path shows the shortest route between the activities from the time the project is started to the end.
References.
Nasution, S. H. (1994). Fuzzy critical path method. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 24(1), 48-57.
Hofmann, P. A. (1993). Critical path method: an important tool for coordinating clinical care. The Joint Commission journal on quality improvement, 19(7), 235-246.
Lu, M., & Li, H. (2003). Resource-activity critical-path method for construction planning. Journal of construction engineering and management, 129(4), 412-420.
Ismail, A., Rashid, K. A., & Hilo, W. J. (2009). Literature Review in Resource-Constrain Critical Path Method Techniques. European Journal of Scientific Research, 29(2), 222-236.
Kim, K., & De La Garza, J. M. (2005). Evaluation of the resource-constrained critical path method algorithms. Journal of construction engineering and management, 131(5), 522-532.
Rautela, M. S., & Garg, D. (2015). Case Study: Making and Monitoring of Critical Path in Shoe Production Planning. Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research, 4(3), 2319-5614.
Clough, R. H., & Scars Glenn, A. Inc 1991,“Construction Project Management. Canada: John Willey & Sons.
Fondahl, J. W. (1962). A non-computer approach to the critical path method for the construction industry.
Hegazy, T., & Menesi, W. (2010). Critical path segments scheduling technique. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 136(10), 1078-1085.
Chen, H. C., & Du, D. C. (1993). Path sensitization in critical path problem (logic circuit design). IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, 12(2), 196-207.