What is critical path?
A
critical path is the longest sequence of activities in Zoho Projects. These activities have to be completed on time for a project to stay on track. Project Managers can use critical path to identify critical tasks and allocate resources judiciously.
How can I view critical tasks?
Zoho Projects gives you a visual representation of the critical tasks on a Gantt chart.
To view critical tasks you need to:
- Create tasks
- Set duration
- Establish task dependencies.
How can I set task dependencies?
Task dependency helps associate the tasks together and determine an order to work. Dependencies can be set by:
dragging the mouse pointer from one task to another.
entering the dependent or successor task in the list view.
Can I track multiple critical paths?
Yes. If multiple critical paths are available in your project they will all be highlighted in red.
What is a critical task?
A critical task or activity is a task that directly impacts the project's planned completion date. An increase in the duration of a critical task will delay the successor tasks and as a consequence, delay the project.
What are non-critical activities?
Activities that can be pushed beyond their allotted deadline (up to the slack time) without affecting the project due date are called non-critical activities. You can view non-critical activities and their slack time by hovering over the activities.
How does dependency across projects affect the critical path?
The critical path is based on the order of the tasks. The dependencies represent the relationship between tasks.
For example, if Task B is a critical task and is dependent on Task A, the start or the finish date of task A has to be met before beginning task B and task A will also be a critical task.Is critical path user centric or applicable to the whole project?
Critical path applies to the whole project. The critical tasks are those tasks in a project whose deadlines cannot be extended without disrupting the project's schedule. These are not user-specific and are applicable for the entire project and for all users.
Is critical path available in all plans of Zoho Projects?
Critical path feature is available in the user based Enterprise plan of Zoho Projects.
What is slack?
A slack is the acceptable delay in a task without delaying in the project. It is represented by a dotted line. Tasks which have slack are not a part of the critical path and are known as non-critical tasks or activities.