Critical Path Method Application: Project Plan and Article Review

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the critical path method (CPM) in project management. It begins with a critical review of five journal articles, ultimately selecting one for further analysis and application. The chosen article, focusing on delay analysis methods, provides insights into the role and utilization of CPM for managing projects, evaluating time and cost, and identifying potential delays. The report then outlines a project plan for developing software for an organization, detailing the scope, work breakdown structure (WBS), and scheduling milestones. The WBS divides the project into key activities such as initiation, planning, development, implementation, and closure, with each stage further broken down into sub-activities. The scheduling milestone table provides a detailed timeline, resource allocation, and cost estimation for each task, demonstrating the practical application of CPM principles in project planning and execution. The analysis emphasizes the importance of CPM in managing complex activities, estimating time and cost, and mitigating potential delays, enhancing the overall efficiency and effectiveness of project management.

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Introduction
The critical path is an impotent element for managing project which helps to understand
and identify the time and cost of each activity of the project. The consideration of the critical
path in the planning and scheduling of a project increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the
project to meet the desired outcome. The report will critically analyze 5 journals for critical path
creditability and validation and choose one for developing the project. Moreover, the report will
develop a project plan and define activities as well as utilization of critical path for scheduling of
the project.
1. Critical analysis of articles on critical path
Article 1: According to the article of optimization of project scheduling activities in
dynamic CPM and PERT networks, the Critical Path Method (CPM) is used for identifying the
optimal set of project planning and scheduling that help to gain the insight of cost and time that
requires for completing the project. The CPM is helpful in analyzing the duration between the
tasks and developing the network that supports to identify the genetic algorithm (GA) for the
scheduling of the project in a proper manner. The purpose of using GA in project management
scheduling is to optimize the complex problem to make the correct decision for implementing the
project activities (Calp, & Akcayol, 2018). Therefore, the consideration of CPM can be useful
for obtaining a shorter time for completing the task. However, the articles have provided
information related to the time, cost and errors that occur during the management of project but it
lacks in the complete control of CPM functions to supply the best optimal solution for the
project. Apart from that, the article offers the information related to the importance of the critical
path in the planning of the project as it is used for measuring the length of the project and delay
in the activities.

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Article 2: The article for Critical Path Analysis in a project network using the ranking
method suggests that CPM is a vital tool for planning and controlling the complex project. The
critical path is useful for deciding for controlling the cost and time of the project that has been
used by the organization for managing production and business operations. Moreover, the article
has offered brief information related to the application of the fuzzy set for developing the
network of the project. The ranking method is helpful for defining the procedures on intuitionist
fuzzy numbers that applied for getting the critical path (Porchelvi, & Sudha, 2015). However, the
article has provided useful information for the preliminary concept of critical path focusing on
the fuzzy set and fuzzy numbers for developing the critical path, but it lacks in theoretical
explanation to understand the application of the ranking method for defining the critical path for
managing the project.
Article 3: The article of Delay analysis methods for construction projects has provided
discussion over role and utilization of the critical path method for managing the project.
According to the article, the CPM programming is based on the network modeling technique for
evaluating the time and cost of the project as well as identifying the sequence of the activities
which cause the delay in the project. The CPM is the most commonalty used method for
planning and scheduling the tasks for a project. This technique is helping managers to forecast
the likely effect of the changes in the activities of the project and manage the composition of the
events (Vasilyeva-Lyulina, Onishi, & Kobayashi, 2015). Moreover, the article suggests that the
CPM programming uses the network analysis technique which is based on the two variables like
activity duration and activity relationship. The CPM uniquely calculates the necessary time for
completing the project and support to develop the structure that systematically describes the
project schedule. The article has provided in-depth knowledge for identifying the approach of

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CPM in project management and development of a valid plan for managing the project
effectively, but it is lacking in offering the numerical representation of the calculating the critical
path time and cost.
Article 4: The article for Integrated LBMS, LPS, and CPM has discussed the merits and
demerits of the CPM methods for project management planning and scheduling. According to
the article, a critical path method is an essential tool for analyzing the efficiency and
effectiveness of the project plan to minimize the cost and time for completion of the project. For
managing daily activities and evaluating the issues that might cause a delay in the project, the
CPM can be helpful to forecast the complex situation in the project in planning and controlling
of a project. The advantages that proposed in the article for CPM include the development of an
integrated plan for the project and identifying the delay (Olivieri, Seppänen, & Granja, 2016).
Moreover, the article has highlighted the disadvantage of CPM like lack of offering potential
solutions for handling the complicated situation. The article is good in terms of gaining
information related to the CPM and its traditional utilization for managing project. Moreover, the
article has stated that CPM is important for understanding the contractual aspects of the project
to manage the relation and allocation of role and responsibilities to the team members. The
article lacks in describing the factors and most likely consequences of the CPM that could
influence the approach of project manager and interdependency of the tasks.
Article 5: The article is about integrating task fragmentation and earned value methods.
The article has provided theoretical information for utilizing the CPM in project management. As
per the analysis of the article, the CPM algorithm is used for managing commercial activities in a
project that plays a vital role in the planning and achievement of goals. The CPM provides
benchmarking for handling the time and cost for the project in a realistic manner. The

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consideration of the start and finish date for project management is essential for maintaining the
better control and defining the relationship for the project. In addition to this, the critical path
method is a very efficient scheduling procedure for larger projects and analyzing the issues that
could influence the proposed outcome of the project. However, the project manager has
knowledge and information for managing project in a professional manner, but lack of utilization
of the CPM techniques can affect the forecasting of the project completion time and duration
between each activity (Ponz-Tienda et al., 2015). To overcome the time between activities, the
critical path can help the manager to assign additional labor for minimizing the time. However,
the use of additional labor will increase the cost of the project but assist in eliminating the
situation of the delay in a project which cause the penalty.
By considering the critical analysis of selected articles for critical path method for project
management and planning, I found the article number 3 as most appropriate for gaining the
understanding of the CPM technique for managing complex activities of a project in estimated
time and cost. The knowledge that gained from these articles will be helpful for implementing
the CPM and investigating the delay that causes issues in the completion of the project.
2. about selected article
The article Delay analysis methods for a project: mathematical modeling was most
relevant for defining critical path method for project management. The key features of this article
in a relationship with critical path method involve the explanation of interdependency, of
numbers of tasks in a project, investigation of potential delay and utilization of it as planned
programming. The article has discussed a theoretical model of CPM programming as the large
project involves numbers of activities and requires the validation for developing the integrated
approach that supports in the calculation of time and cost. Moreover, the article has suggested

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that the CPM programming is used as a tool to simulate this “What-if” scenario for project and
analysis of the impact of the delay on the project management. The features of the article related
to CPM involves the approach of increasing and decreasing the hours available a working week
and identification of the link between the existing activities in programming. In addition to this,
the article has stated that the critical path is useful for managing the resources in a better manner
as the CPM provide clear directions and enhanced the visibility into the activities and support to
add ownership (Serrador, & Turner, 2015). The manager could assign role and responsibilities to
team members by focusing dependency of events and set the priorities for the team members to
achieve the goals and objectives.
3. Critical path and project management
By gaining the knowledge and understanding from the analysis of articles related to
critical path and project management, I have undertaken a project for developing the software for
an organization to manage the information. The project development approach has been used for
planning and scheduling of the activities to achieve the goals and objectives in estimated time
and cost for the selected project. Following are the key elements of the plan of developing
software for an organization:
The scope of the project:
The scope management for project refers to the analysis of requirements and arrangement
of the resources to meet the objectives. The scope of the current project involves the
development of information software for collecting and managing the data for an organization
that helps in decision making for products design and customer handling (Kerzner, & Kerzner,
2017).
Table 1: Scope planning

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Approaches Authority Deliverables
Scope Project manager Resources and expected
outcome
Requirements analysis Project team Knowledge related to needs
WBS Project manager Major activities
Validation Technical team Acceptance
Monitoring Supervisor Review of effectiveness
Work Breakdown structure:
Figure 1: WBS of project
The WBS of the project provides information related to key activities and helps the
manager to divide the tasks into sub-activities which increase the monitoring and considerations
of effectiveness in managing the quality. The primary functions of the current project involve
Project
Initiation
Planning
Requriment
analysis
Meeting with
stakeholder
Risk identification
Scope
Planning
Design
specification
Development
stages
Human resources
Fund
Risk managment
Development
Technical sources
Training to team
Desigining
Testing
Implementation
Deployment
Compliance
Functioning
Monitoring
Controlling
Identification of
changes
Implementation
of changes
Analysis of further
requirements
Design
Testing
Implementation
Closure
Post-
implementation
support

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initiation, planning, development, implementation, changes, and closing. By utilizing WBS, the
manager has divided the large tasks into small activities. As the initiation stage involve planning
of requirements, meeting with stakeholders, risk, and role of team members. The planning stage
of the project includes the sub-activities of design, development stages, human resources and
financial aspects (Schwalbe, 2015). Moreover, the development stage makes an emphasis on
arranging technical resources, training, testing, and validation of the design. The implementation
stage will involve activities like deployment, compliance, mentoring and control as well as
identification of changes. The last task of the project will include the analysis of further
requirements, design, and testing as well as the closing of the project.
Milestone:
Table 2: Scheduling
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors Resource Names Cost
Project 75 days
Mon 28-
01-19
Fri 10-05-
19 $90,560.00
Initiation 15 days
Mon 28-
01-19
Fri 15-02-
19
Administration
team, Project
manager $17,520.00
Planning 5 days
Mon 28-
01-19
Fri 01-02-
19
Project
manager,
Technical team $3,600.00
Requirement
analysis 3 days
Mon 04-
02-19
Wed 06-
02-19 3
Project
manager $1,200.00

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Meeting
with stakeholder 2 days
Thu 07-
02-19
Fri 08-02-
19 4
Administration
team, Project
manager $1,280.00
Risk
identification 2 days
Mon 11-
02-19
Tue 12-
02-19 5 Technical team $640.00
Scope 3 days
Wed 13-
02-19
Fri 15-02-
19 6
Project
manager $1,200.00
Planning 13 days
Mon 18-
02-19
Wed 06-
03-19 7
Project
manager,
Technical
team $15,120.00
Design
specification 3 days
Mon 18-
02-19
Wed 20-
02-19 7 Technical team $960.00
Development
Stages 2 days
Thu 21-
02-19
Fri 22-02-
19 9 Technical team $640.00
Human
resources 2 days
Mon 25-
02-19
Tue 26-
02-19 10
Project
manager $800.00
Fund 3 days
Wed 27-
02-19
Fri 01-03-
19 11
Project
manager $1,200.00
Risk
management 3 days
Mon 04-
03-19
Wed 06-
03-19 12
Project
manager,
Technical team $2,160.00
Development 18 days
Thu 07-
03-19
Mon 01-
04-19 13
Project
manager,
Technical
team $19,920.00
Technical
sources 2 days
Thu 07-
03-19
Fri 08-03-
19 12 Technical team $640.00

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Training to
team 3 days
Mon 11-
03-19
Wed 13-
03-19 15
Project
manager $1,200.00
Designing 10 days
Thu 14-
03-19
Wed 27-
03-19 16 Technical team $3,200.00
Testing 3 days
Thu 28-
03-19
Mon 01-
04-19 17
Supervisor ,
Technical team $1,920.00
Implementatio
n 14 days
Tue 02-
04-19
Fri 19-04-
19 18
Project
manager ,
Supervisor,
Technical
team $19,840.00
Deployment 3 days
Tue 02-
04-19
Thu 04-
04-19 18 Technical team $960.00
Compliance 2 days
Fri 05-
04-19
Mon 08-
04-19 20 Technical team $640.00
Functioning 2 days
Tue 09-
04-19
Wed 10-
04-19 21 Technical team $640.00
Monitoring 3 days
Thu 11-
04-19
Mon 15-
04-19 22 Supervisor $960.00
Controlling 2 days
Tue 16-
04-19
Wed 17-
04-19 23
Project
manager ,
Technical team $1,440.00
Identification of
changes 2 days
Thu 18-
04-19
Fri 19-04-
19 24 Supervisor $640.00

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Implementatio
n of changes 15 days
Mon 22-
04-19
Fri 10-05-
19 25
Project
manager ,
Technical
team $18,160.00
Analysis of
further
requirements 2 days
Mon 22-
04-19
Tue 23-
04-19 25
Project
manager ,
Supervisor $1,440.00
Design 3 days
Wed 24-
04-19
Fri 26-04-
19 27 Technical team $960.00
Testing 2 days
Mon 29-
04-19
Tue 30-
04-19 28 Technical team $640.00
Implementation 2 days
Wed 01-
05-19
Thu 02-
05-19 29
Project
manager,
Technical team $1,440.00
Closure 3 days
Fri 03-
05-19
Tue 07-
05-19 30
Administration
team ,Project
manager $1,920.00
Post-
implementation
support 3 days
Wed 08-
05-19
Fri 10-05-
19 31 Technical team $960.00
The scheduling table suggests that the project will be complete within 75 days as it will
start on 26-1-2019 and complete by 10-5-2019. The overall cost of the project will be approx
$90,560.00. The manager will try to manage tasks as per the scheduled plan which will help to
meet the objectives and deliver the project within the expected time and cost (Lock, 2017).
Gantt chart:

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Figure 2: Gantt chart
The Gantt chart offers information related to the schedule of tasks and allocation of
resources for the monitoring of the work. The project manager can identify approach and
progress in the project by considering the Gantt chart for the project (Todorović et al., 2015).
Critical path:

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Figure 3: Critical path
The critical path of the project provided information on the interdependency of the tasks
and highlighted the critical activities of the software development project. According to the
analysis of critical path, it has carried out that critical path is useful for managing the resources in
a better manner as the CPM provide clear directions and enhanced the visibility into the activities
and support to add ownership (Schroeder, R., Goldsetien, & Rungtusanatham, 2010). By
focusing on the time duration of activities the project manager will be able to assign the role and
responsibilities to the team members and effectively arrange the resources to achieve the goals.
Conclusion
From the study, it has carried out that, a critical path method is a vital tool for managing
the project planning and monitoring of the activities. The report has critically evaluated five
different articles for gaining knowledge related to the effectiveness of the critical path.
Moreover, the report has developed a project management plan and make use of critical path for
analyzing the time and cost of activities as well as interdependence.

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REFERENCES
Calp, M. H., & Akcayol, M. A. (2018). Optimization of Project Scheduling Activities in
Dynamic CPM and PERT Networks Using Genetic Algorithms. Süleyman Demirel
University Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences (SDU J Nat Appl Sci), 22(2), 615-627.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Lock, D. (2017). The essentials of project management. Routledge.
Olivieri, H., Seppänen, O., & Granja, A. D. (2016). Integrating LBMS, LPS and CPM: a
practical process. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the International
Group for Lean Construction, Boston, EE. UU.
Ponz-Tienda, J. L., Pellicer, E., Alarcón, L. F., & Rojas-Quintero, J. S. (2015). Integrating task
fragmentation and Earned Value Method into the last planner system using spreadsheets.
In Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean
Construction, Perth, Australia.
Porchelvi, R. S., & Sudha, G. (2015). Critical path analysis in a project network using ranking
method in intuitionistic fuzzy environment. International Journal of Advanced
Research, 3, 14-20.
Schroeder, R., Goldsetien, S. & Rungtusanatham, J. (2010). Operations Management: Operations
Management in the Supply Chain: Decisions and Case, 6th edition. ISBN:978-0073525242
Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Serrador, P., & Turner, R. (2015). The relationship between project success and project
efficiency. Project Management Journal, 46(1), 30-39.

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Todorović, M. L., Petrović, D. Č., Mihić, M. M., Obradović, V. L., & Bushuyev, S. D. (2015).
Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based approach in project
management. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), 772-783.
Vasilyeva-Lyulina, A., Onishi, M., & Kobayashi, K. (2015). Delay analysis methods for
construction projects: Mathematical modelling. Int. J. Transp, 3(1), 27-36.