Purposes of Critical Path Method in Construction Projects
What Could The Critical Path Method Tell You?
When a project manager uses the critical path method he knows what particular path could not be compromised in the completion of the project. You could have multiple paths available to complete the project but not all of them serve the same purpose. You might have two paths in a project with one of them showing you little time for completion of the project and other showing you a longer time.
While it looks great to have a path that needs little time to complete the project but the critical path is the one that takes into account all the activities in the project and even the predecessors of tasks that are involved within the project.
By following this path you are sure to reach the deadline within a specific time but compromising on any of the components on this path could be fatal to the deadline. The critical path method tells you about this particular path, the correlation between the components and dates when the tasks will start and end: remember, when you are working on a very small task, the dates could even be replaced with minutes.
With the critical path method representation, you have a clear understanding of all essential and non-essential components of the project. If one of the tasks is delaying, you will know what factors are resulting in this delay and working on them could easily enable you to quickly take on the task for faster completion.
How Could Critical Path Method Play A Role In Construction Projects?
Construction projects could be small and long and their intricacies could be varied depending on the duration of the project. Having a critical path method applied to the project could help you in following ways:
- With critical path method you know the critical path that must be followed in order to reach the completion of a project. If this path is not followed, you might not be able to continue with the project at all. The all the tasks, their predecessors and correlating tasks must be completed to end the project within time and critical path method informs you of all that.
- When a construction project is in place, you need to get the machinery and raw material ready but if no machinery would be useful unless you have the raw material ready for construction. At the same time, you need to manage the workforce to operate the machines. All of this needs to be in place in order for you to progress with your project and critical path method gives you a comprehensive look of it all.
- Construction projects are highly prone to changes and delays in tasks. Imagine for example that one of the heavy machines on site stops working right in the middle of the task: you have to be ready with a alternative and replacement to have that task performed before the absence of that machine starts delaying your project.
- With the help of critical path method you are sure at any point what steps need to be taken for the completion of the task in time. You know what tasks are interdependent and based on this fact you can plan your project accordingly. This method could be used to work on the most critical parts of your construction project before the ones that are of secondary importance.
There are many other ways a critical path method could assist in managing a construction project and millions of people around the world have already taken benefit from it. You could research on the internet to know more about how it could serve you as the most appropriate and useful tool in your projects.