Project Management Professionals

Hot Topics & Challenges Time Management

Topic: The easiest way to calculate Critical Path,

Total Float, Free Float, Early Start, Early Finish,
Late Start, and Late Finish.

Presenter: Sohel Akhter, PMP, CCNA,ISMS

PMP and Six Sigma instructor, Netcom Learning
Adjunct Professor , MBA program, CUNY

PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811

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 Project Management Professionals
Hot Topics & Challenges - Time Management

Agenda
Network Diagram
Critical Path, Near Critical Path
Benefits of Critical Path
Buffer/ Float Calculation
Early Start, Early Finish, Late Start, and Late Finish calculation
Total Float and Free Float Calculation

PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811

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 Project Management Professionals
Hot Topics & Challenges - Time Management

Network Diagram: Usually it just shows dependencies and if activity

duration estimates are added then show the critical path or the duration
of the project.
This diagramming method is also referred to as Activity on Node (AON).
Boxes are used to represent activities and arrows show dependencies.

B C

Start A Finish

D
E

PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811

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 Project Management Professionals
Hot Topics & Challenges - Time Management
2 1 4

A B C

6 3 3

Start D E F Finish

3 5 3

G H I

Critical Path : The Critical Path is the longest duration path through a network diagram and determines the shortest
time to complete the project.
Lets look at the Paths:
Start-A,A-B,B-C, C-Finish = 7 wks , Start-D, D-C, C-Finish = 10 wks, Start-D, D-E, E-F, F-Finish = 12 wks = Critical
Path!
If the longest or Critical Path is 12 weeks long, the estimated duration of our project is also 12 weeks.
Few important points are listed below about critical path:
It identifies how much individual activities can be delayed without delaying the project.
It is the path with least (usually zero) float so none of the activities in the critical path can slip.
Delays experienced with any activity on the critical path translate directly into delays of project completion
date.
Near Critical Path: Path with very small float (slight delay can shift critical path).
PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811
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 Project Management Professionals
Hot Topics & Challenges - Time Management
Float/Slack or Buffer Calculation: Activities in the critical path have no float as any delay
will increase the duration of the project.
Now to calculate the float or buffer for activities not in the critical path we can use the
following techniques
Find out the largest path the activity is on
Subtract the largest path duration of that activity from critical path duration
2 1 4

A B C

Start Finish

6 3 3

D E F
3
Start-A,A-B,B-C, C-Finish = 7 wks
Start-D, D-E, E-F, F-Finish = 12 wks = Critical Path!
Start-D, D-C, C-Finish = 10 wks
Buffer for A = 12 7 = 5 wks, buffer for B = 12 7 = 5 wk, buffer for C = 12 10 = 2 wks

PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811

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 Project Management Professionals
Hot Topics & Challenges - Time Management
Other values calculated in CPM include:
Early Start: The soonest a task can begin.
Early Finish: The soonest a task can end. Buffer:
Early Finish= Early Start + Duration -1 A ,5 wks
Late Start: The latest a task can begin without effecting the project duration. B, 5 wks
Late Start= Early Start + Float C, 2 wks
Late Finish: The latest a task can end without effecting the project duration.
Late Finish= Late Start + Duration -1
A Forward Pass is used to calculate Early Start and Early Finish.
A Backward Pass is used to calculate Late Start and Late Finish.

2 1 4
1 2 8 8 9 12
A B C
6 7 13 13 11 14 Forward Pass
ES = 3 EF = 3
B
Start Finish
Float = LF EF or LS - ES
6 3 3

1 6
LS = 8 LF = 8
D E F
1 6 Backward Pass

PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811

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 Project Management Professionals
Hot Topics & Challenges - Time Management
Types of Float/Slack
Free Float: Amount of time an activity can be delayed without affecting the Early Start of its
successor.
Total Float: Amount of time an activity can be delayed without effecting the Project Completion
date.
9 10 4
1 9 10 19 20 23
A B C
35 38

9 6
1 9 10 15
Start D E Finish

13 14 11

F G H

For E
Total Float: Critical path duration Longest path of E = 38 19 = 19 wks
Free Float: 16,17,18,19 = 4 wks
PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811
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 Project Management Professionals
Hot Topics & Challenges - Time Management
Draw a network diagram and answer the questions.
Activity 1 can start immediately and has an estimated duration of 3 weeks.
Activity 2 can start after activity 1 is completed and has an estimated duration of 3 weeks.
Activity 3 can start after activity 1 is completed and has an estimated duration of 6 weeks.
Activity 4 can start after activity 2 is completed and has an estimated duration of 8 weeks.
Activity 5 can start after activity 4 is completed and after activity 3 is completed. It has an estimated duration
of 4 weeks.

3 3 8 4

Start Act1 Act2 Act4 Act5 Finish

6 11

Act3 Act6

1. What is the duration of the critical path? Start, Act1, Act2, Act4,Act5, Finish = 18 wks
2. What is the float of activity 3? 18 13 = 5 wks
3. What is the float of activity 2? 0
4. What is the float of the path with the longest float? 5 wks
5. A new activity 6 is added to the project. It will take 11 weeks to complete and must be completed before
activity 5 and after activity 3. Management is concerned that adding the activity will add 11 weeks to the
project. How much longer the project will take?
New critical path is Start,Act1, Act3, Act6, Finish = 24 wks, Old critical path was 18 wks. We are adding 24
18 = 6 wks.

PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811

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 Project Management Professionals
Hot Topics & Challenges - Time Management
Activity Preceding Estimate in 1. What is the duration of the critical path?
Activity Month Start, D, E, G, H, C, Finish = 32 wks
Start 0 Start, D, F, G, H, C, Finish = 31 wks
Start, D, F, B, Finish = 16 wks
D Start 4 Start, A, F, B, Finish = 18 wks
A Start 6 Start, A, F, G, H, C, Finish = 33 wks , crtical path

F D,A 7 1. To shorten the length of the project, the sponsor has offered to
E D 8 remove the work of activity E from the project, making activity D
the predecessor to activities G and F. What will be the effect?
G F,E 5 No impact
B F 5 1. What is the float of activity B? 33 18 = 15 wks
2. What is the float of activity E? 33 32 = 1 wk
H G 7 3. What is the float of activity D? 33 32 = 1 wk
C H 8
End C,B 0

8
4 8 5 7

D E G H C

Finish
Start 6 7 5

A F B

PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811

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 Project Management Professionals
Hot Topics & Challenges - Time Management

Questions?

PMP Bootcamp , Sohel Akhter (PMP, ISMS, CCNA) - sohel_akhter_pm@yahoo.com, 347-536-2811

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