Schedule Management — Planning Time

Steps to create a schedule:

1. Define activities (decompose WBS work packages)

2. Sequence activities (identify dependencies)

3. Estimate activity durations

4. Develop schedule (build the schedule model)

5. Control schedule (monitor and update)

Network diagrams — Activity dependencies:

FS (Finish-to-Start) — B can't start until A finishes (most common)

SS (Start-to-Start) — B can't start until A starts

FF (Finish-to-Finish) — B can't finish until A finishes

SF (Start-to-Finish) — rare

Critical Path Method (CPM):

The longest path through the network = project duration

Activities on critical path have zero float (delay = project delay)

Float (slack) = latest start − earliest start

Schedule compression:

Crashing — add resources to critical path activities to shorten duration; increases cost

Fast-tracking — perform activities in parallel that were planned sequentially; increases risk

Reference:

Wikipedia: Critical Path Method

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_path_method