Practical Importance of CPM in Scheduling

CPM Scheduling January 15, 2021

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Importance of CPM in Scheduling

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CPM scheduling has been a very common technique in project planning. Creating a CPM schedule, the way you want, will not actually help you in completing the project successfully. You need to come up with a Critical Path Method schedule which is practical and realistic.

There are many project managers who allot either too little time, due to strict deadlines or pressure from the top. If you allot too little time for activities, you might be satisfied and happy at the start of the project especially if you are in tight schedule.

An incorrect CPM schedule might give you an impression that you can complete the project in too little time. But the fact is that you will have to request the client for time even for minor changes. Moreover, your team members might not be able to perform well because of the deadline tensions.

There are a very few project managers who allot too much time for each activity. If you allot too much time for activities, then there are chances that employees become inert because of the feeling that they have more than enough time to complete the work. Moreover, the initial pricing will be greater than required in this case. So, the ideal option is to develop a realistic and practical CPM schedule.

In fact, the project schedule affects the management effort from the day the project is accepted till its completion. If the schedule is realistic and practical, then it can fulfill a number of managerial requirements effectively.

The CPM Schedule

For example, if the CPM schedule is well ready before the start of the project, then it will help the management team in deciding manpower requirements and also in establishing reasonable payment. This will reduce the chances of resource wastage. You will be able to decide the impact of changes easily and forecast the completion date and project milestones. This will help in maintaining a better client relationship. In short, there are a number of benefits for having a realistic CPM scheduling.

cpm-in-scheduling

If the CPM schedule is not practical or realistic, the project completion forecast may be incorrect. This might create problems from the start of the project. There could be issues in manpower management as well. You might allot more than required employees for the project which will result in wastage of resources or allot not enough employees which will make it difficult to complete the project in time. You might make the project bid wrong, either high or low, if the schedule is wrong. This might make your organization not successful because of frustrated clients or disappointed management.

CPM in Scheduling

While developing your schedule, you should consider all your strengths and weaknesses for cpm in scheduling. Then only, you can come up with realistic milestones and schedules. You should not miss out any of the activities that are necessary for project completion.

You should make sure that the deadlines are really achievable. In other words, you should not set milestones that are not at all possible just because that you need the project completed on so and so date. The final schedule should include the realistic duration of all individual tasks or activities. Altogether, you will be able to enjoy the benefits of CPM scheduling only if it is realistic and practical.

When considering a software program to manage your critical path method projects, we find that Microsoft Project a very effective solution. Some of the advantages are: