What is a critical path? How is a critical path analysis done?

What will be an ideal response?


A critical path is a sequence of activities that determine the earliest date by which a
project can be completed. The earliest date is the date determined by considering the longest path
through the network of activities. Paying attention to task dependencies, a planner can compress
tasks as much as possible. Those tasks that cannot be further compressed lie on the critical path.
Microsoft Project and other project-planning applications can readily identify critical path tasks.
Managers can use the critical path to perform critical path analysis. If a task is on the critical
path, and if that task runs late, the project will be late. Hence, tasks on the critical path cannot be
allowed to run late if the project is to be delivered on time. Additionally, tasks not on the critical
path can run late to the point at which they would become part of the critical path. Hence, up to a
point, resources can be taken from noncritical path tasks to shorten tasks on the critical path.
Using critical path analysis, managers can move resources among tasks so as to compress the
schedule.

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