![]() ![]() Set lead time between dependent tasks where applicable.Īssign additional resources to work on critical path tasks. Revise task dependencies to enable more scheduling flexibility. Shorten the duration or work on a task on the critical path.Ĭhange a task constraint to allow for more scheduling flexibility.īreak a critical task into smaller tasks that can be worked on at the same time by different resources. This is also known as crashing a project. If you want your project to have an earlier finish date, you must bring in the dates of your critical path tasks. For critical path tasks (tasks that have no slack), the early finish and late finish dates are identical. The difference between early finish and late finish dates determines the amount of slack. A late finish date is the latest date that the task can finish without delaying the project finish. An early finish date is the earliest date that the task could finish, based on its start date and scheduled duration. Slack is determined by the early finish and late finish dates of the tasks in your schedule. This is helpful if you want to be alerted to tasks becoming critical when you still have a day or two of buffer. For example, you can make a task critical if it has one or two days of slack. However, you can change when a task becomes critical. Projectdefines critical tasks as those that have no slack (float). How does Project calculate the critical path? It has a finish date that is the same as or beyond its deadline date.Ī task stops being critical when it's completed, because it can no longer affect the completion of successor tasks or the project finish date. It has an As Soon As Possible (ASAP) constraint in a project scheduled from a finish date. It has an As Late As Possible (ALAP) constraint in a project scheduled from a start date. It has a Must Start On (MSO) or Must Finish On (MFO) date constraint. Critical tasks make up the schedule's critical path.Ī task is critical if it meets any one of the following conditions: In a typical project, many tasks have some slack and can therefore be delayed a bit without delaying other tasks or affecting the project finish date.Īs you modify tasks to resolve overallocations, adjust costs, or revise scope, be aware of the critical tasks and that changes to them will affect your project finish date. Tasks that cannot be delayed without affecting the project finish date are the critical tasks. Note: The critical path can change as critical tasks are completed or as tasks in another series of tasks are delayed. ![]() Although there are likely to be many series of interrelated tasks in your project plan, the series of tasks that will finish the latest is the project's critical path. If a critical task takes longer than expected or a resource is suddenly unavailable for a critical task, the project will not be completed by the original finish date.Ī series of tasks is generally interrelated by task dependencies. If it's important for your project to finish on schedule, pay close attention to the tasks on the critical path and the resources assigned to them. In the Detail Gantt view, total slack appears as a thin teal line. Total slack (or float) is the amount of time this sequence of tasks can slip before it affects the finish date of the project. In the Detail Gantt view, noncritical tasks appear in blue. The lower sequence of tasks does not drive the finish date of the project, and therefore the tasks are not critical. In the Detail Gantt view, critical tasks appear in red. All tasks in this sequence are on the critical path and are called critical tasks. The top sequence of tasks has no slack (also called "float"), and therefore drives the finish date of the project. How does Project calculate the critical path?Ĭan I see the critical path across multiple projects?īy knowing and tracking the critical path for your project, as well as the resources assigned to critical tasks, you can determine which tasks can affect your project's finish date and whether your project will finish on time. What does the critical path show about your project? If one task on the critical path moves, the end date of the project will move as well. You may wonder, "What ultimately determines the length of my project?" The answer is the critical path, which is the series of tasks that dictates the finish date of the project. ![]()
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