Critical Path Method and Earned Value Management

The main objective of the critical path method (CPM), as its name implies, is to find the critical path of tasks or activities through a project, where the critical path is defined as the pathway of interconnected tasks for which there is no extra time available to perform the tasks. For instance, based on the fact that durations are used as the foundation for planning in the program evaluation and review technique (PERT)/CPM, a full plan can be developed with questionable and unrealistic task durations. Most PERT/CPM project planning tools available exacerbate the issues that are related to a nonresource focus. In many PERT/CPM tools, resources can be added to or removed from a task with no impact on the productivity of labor that is applied to the task. The actual management decisions and actions that project managers take during a project are not included in the PERT/CPM.