-
optimise performance
-
eliminate bottlenecks
-
clarify
responsibilities
-
improve control.
The success or failure of your projects will be determined from the management and scheduling of these
critical activities.
In order to remain on top of all of the component tasks within your projects, you need access to a wealth of information, including likely activity durations, costs and logically necessary sequences.
You need to know which tasks must be completed on time for the whole project to remain on schedule, and which tasks can be delayed if resources need to be reallocated to catch up on missed tasks.
Identifying the critical tasks with 4c is really easy
- the
Gantt Chart and
Precedence Network show them in yellow. If a task's
earliest start/end time is earlier than its latest
start/end time, the task is said to have float: in other
words, it can be delayed without affecting the project end date. If the earliest
and latest end times are the same, the task is critical.
Such tasks need to be monitored closely to avoid overrunning the
target project end date.
Critical Path Analysis shows you the minimum amount of
time needed for the whole project, based on the task durations
you have estimated and the task interdependencies you have
defined.
If the project end date is fixed, Critical Path Analysis will
tell you the latest date you need to start the project to meet
that end date - sometimes called reverse
scheduling.
Not all Critical Path Analysis software can do this - 4c can. If
the analysis shows that the project can't be delivered by a
required date, what can you do?
-
Increase the
resources allocated to the critical tasks to reduce their
durations;
-
Revise the
resources' working patterns (e.g. change from single to
double-shift working, or add overtime hours);
-
Revise the
dependencies so that at least one of the critical tasks is
carried out at the same time as another critical task;
-
Remove one or
more of the critical tasks.
4c shows
you the problems - and helps you resolve them.
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