What is the critical path?
The critical path is a sequence of tasks that if delayed, would delay the end date of the entire project. It also determines the shortest time the project can take.
Switch on the critical path
To switch on the critical path , click on the Cog button and tick Show Critical Path. Optional settings include switching on Slack to view this on the chart too.
The critical path will be highlighted in red (both tasks and links) and displayed as follows:
Criteria
The critical path is determined if the following criteria are met:
- A task is considered critical if it has 0 days of slack and any delay would directly affect the project completion date.
- Slack time is the time that a task can slip without affecting other tasks or the project's completion date.
- The chart will show all links as critical where they are attached to a critical task.
Examples
1. No critical path because there is slack between the last task and the end milestone.
2. Critical path is shown because there is no slack between the last task and end milestone and no slack across the series of linked tasks.
3. The critical path is shown for a parent task and the child tasks with 0 days slack.
This applies to any tasks that are sub tasks of the parent task - it is not determined by the dependency links. Task 1.1.1 below is a subtask of Tasks 1 and 1.1, but is does not have a link.
