Critical Path Method Scheduling and Control Training Course

Course overview

Projects rarely fail because teams cannot list activities; they fail because the schedule does not show which work actually governs completion, what float is genuinely available, or how a delay will propagate through the network. Project managers, planners and controls professionals need more than a Gantt chart: they need a defensible critical path model that reflects scope, logic, calendars, constraints, progress and risk. This course addresses the practical challenge of building and maintaining schedules that can support delivery decisions, recovery actions and credible reporting to sponsors, clients and contractors.

Participants develop a working command of Critical Path Method (CPM) scheduling from network logic through schedule control. They create work breakdown structures, define activities and relationships, calculate early and late dates, interpret total and free float, identify driving paths, apply calendars and constraints, and test the effect of changes. The course also covers baseline governance, status updating, progress measurement, schedule quality checks, delay analysis, resource and cost considerations, earned value indicators, and recovery planning. Participants learn to distinguish a mathematically calculated critical path from a practical completion risk path requiring management attention.

Teaching combines instructor-led demonstrations with a progressive project case built in Microsoft Project or Oracle Primavera P6. Participants review flawed schedules, correct logic defects, run calculations, update a baseline, analyse variances and prepare control actions. They leave with a completed CPM schedule pack: network logic, baseline schedule, statused update, critical-path narrative, variance analysis and a schedule recovery recommendation suitable for discussion with a project sponsor or client.

The programme is designed for professionals who already work with project plans and must now create, interrogate or govern integrated schedules for capital projects, technology delivery, construction, engineering, operations change or complex programmes.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Build a CPM network schedule from a work breakdown structure, activity register and defined milestones
• Calculate early dates, late dates, total float and free float using forward-pass and backward-pass logic
• Identify the driving critical path and near-critical paths across calendars, constraints and multiple workstreams
• Configure activity relationships, lags, leads, calendars and constraints in Microsoft Project or Oracle Primavera P6
• Establish a controlled schedule baseline with approval points, coding structures and change-control records
• Update a schedule using progress rules, actual dates, remaining duration and forecast completion data
• Perform schedule quality checks for open ends, excessive lags, hard constraints, negative float and logic anomalies
• Produce a critical-path variance report and time-recovery action plan for a delayed project

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Project Managers — who need to challenge schedule forecasts and make defensible completion decisions
• Project Planners and Schedulers — who build, maintain and report integrated CPM schedules
• Project Controls Engineers — who connect schedule status, cost performance and forecast dates
• Construction Managers — who coordinate trade sequencing, access constraints and recovery actions
• Programme Managers — who manage dependencies and milestone commitments across multiple projects
• PMO and Assurance Professionals — who review schedule quality and test the credibility of delivery forecasts

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience working on projects and be comfortable reading a Gantt chart, work breakdown structure and basic milestone plan. Familiarity with common project terms such as scope, dependencies, duration, baseline, actual start and forecast finish is assumed. Participants should be able to use spreadsheets and ideally have introductory exposure to Microsoft Project or Oracle Primavera P6, although advanced software expertise is not required. This is not a beginner project management course; no prior knowledge of CPM calculations, earned value management, coding standards or formal delay analysis is required.

Training methodology

The five days use a single, realistic project case that develops from scope definition to a delayed, statused schedule. The instructor demonstrates CPM calculations and scheduling-tool workflows, then participants build and test their own network in Microsoft Project or Oracle Primavera P6. Short exercises diagnose defective logic, constraints and float before group reviews compare alternative sequencing and recovery choices. Participants use schedule-quality checklists, update data and variance reports rather than passive examples. The final workshop converts analysis into an implementation plan for the participant's own project environment.

Course outline

Day 1: CPM foundations and schedule architecture

• Critical Path Method principles and assumptions
• Work breakdown structures and control accounts
• Activity definition, duration estimating and milestones
• Precedence diagramming method network construction
• Finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish and finish-to-start relationships
• Project calendars, working time and non-working exceptions
• Forward-pass and backward-pass date calculations

Workshop: Build a precedence network for a project case and calculate early dates, late dates and initial float values.

Day 2: Critical path modelling and schedule development

• Total float, free float and interfering float interpretation
• Driving relationships and identification of critical paths
• Near-critical path analysis and float path reporting
• Leads, lags and alternative logic modelling
• Mandatory, discretionary and external dependencies
• Constraints, deadlines and negative float
• Microsoft Project and Oracle Primavera P6 activity setup

Workshop: Configure the case schedule in a planning tool, identify its driving path and document the highest-risk near-critical path.

Day 3: Baselines, schedule quality and credible forecasts

• Schedule baseline approval and version-control practices
• Activity coding, WBS codes and reporting layouts
• Schedule quality tests for open ends and dangling activities
• Logic-density checks and excessive lead-lag detection
• Hard-constraint review and negative-float diagnosis
• Duration reasonableness and high-float activity review
• Schedule narratives and basis-of-schedule documentation

Workshop: Audit a deliberately flawed baseline schedule and produce a schedule-quality findings log with corrective actions.

Day 4: Status updating, variance analysis and control

• Data dates and periodic schedule update cycles
• Actual start, actual finish, remaining duration and forecast dates
• Physical progress, duration progress and rules of credit
• Out-of-sequence progress and retained-logic treatment
• Baseline-versus-current variance analysis
• Milestone trend analysis and critical-path narrative reporting
• Schedule performance indicators and earned value schedule integration

Workshop: Status the case schedule at a reporting date, recalculate the forecast and prepare a milestone variance report for management.

Day 5: Delay diagnosis and schedule recovery

• Delay events, concurrent delay and criticality concepts
• Impacted as-planned and time-impact analysis principles
• Critical path changes over successive schedule updates
• Compression options: crashing, fast tracking and resequencing
• Resource constraints and practical feasibility of recovery plans
• Change control, mitigation ownership and decision logs
• Executive recovery recommendations and schedule assurance reviews

Workshop: Analyse a delay scenario, test recovery options and produce a critical-path control pack with a recommended action plan.

Tools & standards covered

Oracle Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, PMI Practice Standard for Scheduling, AACE International Recommended Practice 52R-06

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions