Microsoft Project 2013: The Missing Manual

Reviewing the Schedule and Cost

The fat lady won’t sing until the finish dates in Project meet the project’s deadlines and the project’s cost is right. Your job is to keep fine-tuning the schedule until both the schedule and the cost are in line. This second round of work is also a good time to correct any errors lurking in the schedule, as the box on Double-Checking the Schedule describes. In this section, you’ll learn how to review dates and costs in your Project file, and how to find the best tasks to change.

Understanding the Critical Path and Slack Time

Stakeholders usually care deeply about when the project is going to finish. The critical path determines the project’s finish date, which is why it gets a lot of attention during project planning and execution. This section explains why the critical path is critical and how slack time determines which tasks are on the critical path.

The critical path is the longest sequence of tasks in the project schedule. It starts on the project start date and runs to the project finish date. The tasks on the critical path are called critical tasks. Why is the critical path critical? Because a delay in any of its tasks delays the project’s finish date.

REALITY CHECK: Double-Checking the Schedule

Mistakes will always linger in your project schedule, no matter how many times you check it. Moreover, as you refine the schedule, you might introduce mistakes that weren’t there before. So it’s a good idea to stay on the lookout for errors. For example, ...