MS Project 2007 Critical Path

[mrswift]

Working on a timeline that needs to show critical path. Unfortunately, it's not showing CP throughout the duration of the project, only starting midway through. I've looked for constraints but can't seem to find any that would impact CP. Any suggestions? I've attached a de-identified file as reference.

Thanks,

 

[JulieInMaine]

Add the total slack field to the table. You have some tasks with relatively low amounts of total slack (2 days) and others with huge amounts. It appears in a quick glance that you have several series of tasks that are independent networks - without any link to tasks later on in the project. You can see the critical path for each network by turning on "Calculate multiple critical paths" in Tools > Options, Advanced.

 

[mrswift]

Thank you Julie for your input. After quite a few consultations it turns out the issue was mixed durations. Both "days" and "edays" are in the timeline. After changing all to "days" the critical path was calculated correctly. I've been told this is a common issue.

Regards.

 

[JulieInMaine]

Yes, mixing elapsed duration will interrupt critical path - as when you are using elapsed time, the task could end during non-working time. For example (and really more for people reading this after - it sounds like you have it sorted) I have 3 tasks all linked F to S. Task 1 has a duration of 1 day, Task 2 is 12 h, and task 3 is one day. All tasks are critical. I change the duration of task 2 from 12 h to 12 elapsed h. The task now begins at 5:00 pm (following the end of Task 1) and ends 12 hours later at 5:00 am. Task 3 doesn't start until 8:00 am because that's is the start of the working day. Task 2 is not critical because of the 3 hours of slack between the finish of Task 2 and the start of Task 3.