Can someone pls tell me how to draw up a Critical Path Analysis for project management?

Question

I have a business assignment and I need to draw up a critical path analysis. I already have the activities and the duration details.
I need the diagram with the boxes and arrows.
Thanks

Answer 1

You want a pert chart?

Put a circle on the right, that's the end of your project. Draw the final activities that create it as lines coming in from the left. Give each one a duration and a name. If an activity depends on a previous activity then it must be drawn connecting to the node before that activity. You can start on the left with the requirement spec of invitation to tender too and then work the project forward from there.

Eventually you'll have a flow from left to right. The nodes are usually numbered. You can then work from left to right adding up the duration down each path until you get to the end. The path that is latest to the end is the critical path, at each node as you work back from right to left you can show this critical path. Hope that makes sense, drawing is so visual ;-)

Answer 2

The critical path is those activities which set the final completion date of your project. For instance, lets say that tasks A, B, C and D will take a total of 30 days. Tasks E, F,and G form another path, that occurs in parallel to the first path, but if this path takes only 20 days, then the first path is the critical path.

In other words, some tasks can slip, take longer than expected, but they will not affect the project completion date. These tasks have "slack". The set of tasks that have no slack are tasks that are in the critical path.

As a project manager, you would be wise to worry about those tasks in the critical path.