Protect yourself by viewing tasks that can slip without affecting the critical path. You can view other potentially risky tasks by showing multiple critical paths in a project. If a non-critical series of linked tasks slips its dates enough, that series of tasks will become the critical path. Review series of tasks that may become the critical path. Save a baseline and use the Tracking Gantt view to see slipped tasks. If a critical task slips, so does your finish date. Monitor these tasks regularly to see if any of them slip. Any task on the critical path is a critical task. The critical path can change as critical tasks are completed or as other series of tasks are delayed.Ĭlosely monitor critical tasks. Be aware that the critical path can change from one series of tasks to another as you progress through the schedule. To get the most out of critical path analysis: If you have saved a baseline for your project, the critical path can show you if your project will finish on time and where the danger points are. To display all tasks again, select No Group in the group list. On the Gantt Chart, choose View > Group By > Critical. To display all tasks again, select No filter in the filter list. On the Gantt Chart, choose View > Filter > Critical. Work with multiple projects in one scheduleĬhoose Schedule, scroll to the bottom, and then select Inserted projects are calculated like summary tasks. Try these tips to make better use of multiple critical paths in a project once you’ve set them up. If it falls behind schedule, the whole project falls behind schedule. Project management tip: When viewing multiple critical paths, don’t forget that there's still only one main critical path. To keep an eye on any series of tasks for any reason. To track the progress of different phases or milestones. To make sure each subproject of a master project is on time. But you might need to see more than one for a couple reasons: You can set up your project schedule to display as many critical paths as you need to keep tabs on your project.Ĭhoose Advanced, scroll down to the bottom, and then select Calculate multiple critical paths.Ĭhoose Format, and then select Critical tasks.īy default, Project shows only one critical path, the one that affects the project’s finish date. But you can tell Project to include tasks with one or more days of slack on the critical path so you can see potential problems coming from farther away.Ĭhoose Advanced, and then scroll down to the Calculation options for this project area.Īdd a number to the Tasks are critical if slack is less than or equal to box. Change what tasks show up on the critical path That is, it only applies to the master project you’re working on. Tip: This setting does not affect other projects.

Ms project view timeline and gantt