Introduction
The critical path represents the longest sequence of tasks that determines the project duration. The feature highlights tasks on the critical path with the red color.
Tasks on the Critical path are also listed in the Gantt module Infobar.
The critical path is based on strong dependencies between tasks (soft dependencies do NOT affect it).
Once you establish task dependencies, the App automatically highlights the Critical path (to display it, click on View > Critical Path).
Critical path tasks must have start/end dates. Tasks without dates can’t be visualized on the timeline and aren’t included in the critical path.
When one tasks on a critical path doesn’t have start/end dates, the entire critical path is disrupted. Once the start/end dates are provided the critical path will be calculated normally and include all the connected tasks.
Dependency path calculation
Use strong dependencies to determine the correct order of tasks.
The path is calculated from the end (the last task(s) in the project)
The algorithm works backward looking for strong links connecting tasks
The most direct path (without a time gap between tasks) is highlighted
A gap between tasks is allowed only if an ASAP link has "lag time" added
Non-working days
The non-working days have no effect on the critical path calculation. This means that if there are two tasks with a dependency on the critical path and the predecessor ends before a non-working day, the App will move the successor to start on the first working day and both will remain on the critical path:
Critical path tab
Tasks that are a part of the critical path are listed in the Infobar > Critical Path tab.
Dependency lag time and ASAP mode
Some activities will depend on the completion of others. Use strong links to determine the correct order. When creating a dependency you can set the lag time or the ASAP which both condition whether the task is on the Critical path or not.
For example, if a gap between linked tasks (End to Start) is greater than the defined lag time, the preceding task will not be on the Critical path. If the gap between linked tasks (End to Start) is one or more days and the ASAP mode is disabled, the preceding task will not be on the Critical path:
