![]() ![]() But they don’t show you the critical path. Gantt charts are the more day-to-day administrative tool in the tool box. They are far more intuitive and communicate the schedule better. These are charts that show the durations of each task in horizontal bar format. ![]() But the truly great tool in the project manager’s toolkit is called a Gantt chart. Network diagrams are calculation tools that are meant to determine the critical path and floats. Tasks that have very little float can very quickly affect the project completion date when things change, so they could also be actively managed.Ī little bit of cleanup and our final network diagram is very exciting! Well, in a project manager sort of way. Often the critical path is highlighted to allow the project manager to more actively manage those tasks. Tasks that have zero float are on the critical path. Our network diagram example now look like this: Note that you have to subtract one because the Start and Finish dates are inclusive of the number of days.įloat = Bottom right corner – Bottom left corner Enter ES = 1 for the first task (it starts on day 1).This is done using the following procedure. Perform a Forward Pass to determine the Early Start (ES) and Early Finish (EF) dates. The task durations (in days) are entered into the top, middle box. The procedure for drawing the network diagram is as follows: Step 1: Enter Durations Finally, the float is calculated, which is an output of the network diagram. The four corners will be calculated, starting with the ES and EF via a forward pass, then the LF and LS via a backward pass. The Duration box is known prior to drawing the network diagram. Late Finish (LF): The latest possible date that the task will be able to finish without affecting the overall project completion date.Late Start (LS): The latest possible date that the task will be able to start without affecting the overall project completion date.Early Finish (EF): The earliest possible date that the task will be able to finish.Early Start (ES): The earliest possible date that the task will be able to start.The duration and float are in the middle, and the four task dates are in the corners, like this: Creating the Network DiagramĪ task box is usually drawn with six boxes. It sounds complicated, but suffice it to say that Finish to Start (FS) relationships are by far the most common and if you stick to those, you won’t get into much trouble. In project management software, there is usually only a lag time specified, and a lead time is simply entered as negative lag. A lead time means that Task B doesn’t start until a period of time has elapsed, and a lag time means that Task B starts before Task A finishes. Start to Finish (SF): Task B cannot start until Task A start (this one is rare).Īlso, the tasks do not have to line up exactly.Start to Start (SS): Task B cannot start until Task A starts.Finish to Finish (FF): Task B cannot finish until Task A completes.Finish to Start (FS): Task B cannot start until Task A completes.Hence, if you are in a project management class make sure they are all dependent upon one another. In theory, every task must be dependent on at least one other (except the first task) else it would not be part of the project. Prior to the network diagram, the project manager must have determined the dependencies of each task. If I forced myself to perform each task one after the other, I might be taking too long. Interestingly, several of these tasks can be done in parallel. Tasks should not be too small, or they become prone to micromanagement, or too large, hence they lose the benefit of project control (a large task is no different than a whole project).Ī simple task list for a small convention I recently organized was: ![]() Prior to the construction of the network diagram, the project needs to have been broken down into its constituent tasks. Critical path tasks have a float of zero. They cannot finish late, or be moved, or the overall project completion date will change by the same amount.įloat: The amount that a task can move without affecting the completion date of the project. It is used to determine the critical path, as well as the float of each task.Ĭritical Path: The tasks which define the completion date of the project. In project management, the network diagram is a graphical depiction of a project schedule which uses boxes to represent each task. ![]()
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