I was wondering if there is an easy way to create a filter for the longest path leading to a certain activity which is not actually on the longest path.
I know it can be done by adding an artificial activity or lag which exceeds the current longest path or filtering a certain activity and tracing the logic backwards. But surely there must be a quicker neater way? Thanks.
This is also now a feature on Asta PowerProject called 'Path to Task' - comes in very useful.
If you have the following:
Activity 1 : duration 5 days, resource one unit of A, no successors no predecessors, priority 10
Activity 2 : duration 5 days, resource one unit of A, no successors no predecessors, priority 10
Activity 3 : duration 5 days, resource one unit of A, no successors no predecessors, priority 10
Activity 4 : duration 5 days, resource one unit of A, no successors no predecessors, priority 10
There are 2 units of resource A available.
What is the longest path to Activity 1, to Activity 2, to Activity 3, to Activity 4? They are all interchengeable.
Maybe longest path calculations are flawed under resource constrining as well as under other constraints such as date constraints. If so then it is of not much value when your model requires use of resource leveling and date constraints.
John,
Try using the filter and trace logic.
Hi John - not trying to sound like an advertisement - The Acumen Fuse software allows you to select any task in the schedule and illustrate the driving path from any other task/milestone (including the start milestone) to the particular path. This is sort of a "critical path to task you select" functionality. Fuse has many functions for schedule quality assessment... but this logic trace function is one of the "unsung hero" capabilities of the tool. Full disclosure - I work for Deltek, who vends this tool, however, I was a user/customer beforehand and experienced great benefits from the tool.
We'd be happy to demonstrate this capability if you're interested - just let me know.
Tom Polen
[email protected]
Assuming your project has no out of sequence working or constraints tthat are interefering with your float (ie longest path = critical path), then you can add a temporary mandatory constraint to the activity in question which forces a negetive float path upstream of it.
Then just filter on TF < 0.
If that's not an option, your suggestion of adding a dummy sucessor with a very large duration is your best bet
I agree it would be nice to be able to just press a button and see the driving path for a given activity without the above fudges, but I don't think it's a feature Oracle have given us (yet).
Cheers,
G