Critical Path Segments Scheduling Technique
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 136, Issue 10
Abstract
While the critical path method (CPM) has been useful for scheduling construction projects, years of practice and research have highlighted serious drawbacks that hinder its use as a decision support tool. This paper argues that many of CPM drawbacks stem from the rough level of detail at which the analysis is conducted, where activities’ durations are considered as continuous blocks of time. The paper thus proposes a new critical path segments (CPS) mechanism with a finer level of granularity by decomposing the duration of each activity into separate time segments. Three cases are used to prove the benefits of using separate time segments in avoiding complex network relationships, accurately identifying all critical path fluctuation, better allocation of limited resources, avoiding multiple-calendar problems, and accurate analysis of project delays. The paper discusses the proposed CPS mechanism and comments on several issues related to its calculation complexity, its impact on existing procedures, and future extensions. This research is more beneficial to researchers and has the potential to revolutionize scheduling computations to resolve CPM drawbacks.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 136 • Issue 10 • October 2010
Pages: 1078 - 1085
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 2, 2009
Accepted: Mar 2, 2010
Published online: Sep 15, 2010
Published in print: Oct 2010
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