274108639.

xls, Page 1, Directions

CritPath.XLS: Project Planning by the Critical Path Method

Version 3.12

10/27/2007

John O. McClain
Johnson Graduate School of Management
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
This is a very simple program, intended for teaching purposes. You are welcome to use it in any manner,
and change it as you see fit. This model comes without any guarantee whatsoever, and is distributed free
of charge.
The calculations are done by a Macro. Before running the macro, first enter the data on a new
worksheet according to the instructions below. Then run the macro using the following menu options:
Excel 2003: Tools, Macro, Macros, CPM, Run
Excel 2007: View Tab, Macros, CPM, Run
Note: If the macro does not appear, or does not work, or if you get a message to the effect that "the
macros have been disabled", you need to "Enable Macros". For instructions, click on the link below:
Help with macro security
INPUT Data: Enter the data on any sheet as follows (see the Example sheet):
The top row is for titles.
Column A must have activity names. A title for this column should appear at the top.
Column B must have activity times (durations). The time units do not matter, but must be the same for all
activities.
Column C and subsequent columns must contain the predecessor activities, one predecessor per cell. Be
careful that the name of the predecessors are exactly the same as the names you used in the first
column.
MODEL: The CPM calculations of Earliest Start (ES), Earliest Finish (EF), Latest Start (LS), Latest Finish
(LF) and Slack (sometimes called Float) will appear on the sheet on which the data reside.
The model also produces input cells, in which you may put both a start time for the project and a deadline
for project completion.
DIAGRAM: A Gantt Chart is produced, showing the activities starting at their Earliest Start times. Each
activity is represented by a bar with length proportional to its duration. However, the predecessor
relationships, usually shown as arrows in a CPM diagram, are not included. Instead, each activity's label, on
the left of the chart, includes a list of all of its Successor activities.
COMPATIBILITY WITH @RISK: The CPM Macro puts formulas into the Excel Spreadsheet rather than
just numbers. Therefore, after running the macro, you may use @RISK to simulate uncertain activity times.
To do this requires that you have @RISK installed on your computer.
Replace the Activity times with @RISK Distribution Functions such as =RiskUniform(1,3).
Indicate as Output any cells for which you want a report. I suggest the cells containing Earliest Project
Completion Time and all of the Slack values.
The @RISK simulation will then tell you the mean project completion time, along with a range of
completion times that happened in the simulation. You may also view a histogram.
@RISK will report the same statistics for the Slack values. The histogram for a slack will tell you what
percentage of the time a given activity had Slack=0, and hence was on the critical path.

Activities
A
B
C
D
E
F
G

Time
2
4
3
5
3
5
2

Predecessors

A
B
C
C
E

Ta s k s a n d t h e ir S u c c e s s o r s

0
19
19
0
Activities Sequence
A-->C,E
1
B-->D,F
2
C-->E,F,G
4
D-->C
3
E-->G
5
F-->G
6
G
7

Sample CPM Problem. To calculate a solution,

With Excel 2003, use Tools, Macro, Macros, CPM, Run
With Excel 2007, select View Tab, then Macros, CPM, R
D
A
B
F

Project Start Time

Page Down to see the Project Gantt Chart
Project Deadline
Earliest Project Completion Time
Slack for Project Completion Time
ES
EF
LS
LF
Slack Successor Activities
0
2
7
9
7
C
E
0
4
0
4
0
D
F
9
12
9
12
0
E
F
4
9
4
9
0
C
12
15
14
17
2
G
12
17
12
17
0
G
17
19
17
19
0

Gantt Chart with Activities at ES Times

A-->C,E
B-->D,F
C-->E,F,G
D-->C
E-->G
F-->G
G
0

10

12

14

16

18

ate a solution,
acro, Macros, CPM, Run.
ab, then Macros, CPM, Run.

Slac
k
T
ask
s

16

18

20

274108639.xls, Warning, p. 4 of 7

WARNING: YOU NEED TO ENABLE THE MACROS IN THIS FILE

Try these steps. If step 1 does not work, then go to step 2.
STEP 1: Try to enable the macros
For Excel 2007,
A. If you see the Security Warning in your menu bar, proceed with step B.
If the Security Warning is not there, go to STEP 2.
B. In the Security Warning, Click Options.
C. In the Alert Window that appears, click Enable This Content and click OK.

For Excel 2003,

A. Close this file. Then open it again.
B. In the window that appears, click Enable Macros.
If a window like this one
does NOT appear, then go to STEP 2.

STEP 2: If Step 1 does not work

If you DID NOT get a Security Message, then your security setting is too high.
Here is what you should do:
For Excel 2007,
A. Click the Microsoft Office Button at the top-left of the screen:
B. Click Excel Options.
C. Click Trust Center, then Trust Center Settings, and then Macro Settings.

274108639.xls, Warning, p. 5 of 7
D. Click Disable all macros with notification
E. Exit from Excel. Closing the file is not enough. On the menu bar, select File, and then Exit.
F. Open this file again and follow the instructions in STEP 1 to enable the macros.
For Excel 2003,
A.
B.
C.
D.

On the menu bar at the top of this page, select Tools, then Macro, then Security.
On the Security Level tab, select Medium and click OK.
Then exit from Excel. Closing the file is not enough. On the menu bar, select File, and then Exit.
Open this file again and follow the instructions in STEP 1 to enable the macros.

274108639.xls, Warning, p. 6 of 7

274108639.xls, Warning, p. 7 of 7