Critical path and baselines

Critical path #

The critical path is the chain of linked tasks that sets the finish date. A slip anywhere on it moves the finish.

Click Critical path in the toolbar to turn it on. Click it again, or Turn off in its banner, to turn it off. It's a view on your screen: nothing in the schedule changes.

What it shows #

• The banner says how many tasks are on the path, the finish date, and the task where the chain ends. Click that task's name to select it.
• The Gantt highlights the tasks on the path, and the links between them run red. Everything else turns gray, unless you change that in the settings.
• The task details say whether the task is On the critical path, or how many days of float it has. Driven by names what sets its start: a predecessor (click it to jump there), its own start date, the project start, or its steps.
• The table adds Float and Driven by columns.

Float is how many working days a task can slip before the finish moves (calendar days when Business days is off). A task on the path has no float.

Link tasks to get a real path #

The path follows dependencies. A task that isn't linked to anything can only be on the path by finishing last. If few tasks are linked, the banner says so: link predecessors to see the real chain. See Tasks and dependencies.

Sub-milestones are never on the critical path. A task on a dependency loop shows its float as —.

Critical path settings #

Click the gear next to Critical path:

• Also highlight near-critical tasks: highlight tasks with this many working days of float or less. 0 turns it off.
• Everything else: how tasks off the path look. Grayscale, Fade or Leave as is.

These settings are saved on this device.

Compare with a snapshot #

A snapshot taken at a key moment works as a baseline. Compare the live schedule with it to see what moved since.

1. Take a snapshot when the plan is agreed, like "Baseline for permit". See Snapshots.
2. Later, open Share / Snapshots.
3. Click Compare on that snapshot's row.

The live schedule stays open and editable. Comparing only changes what you see.

Read the comparison #

• The banner names the snapshot and counts how many finishes are later, how many are earlier, and how many tasks were added or removed.
• Ghost bars with an outline show where each task sat in the snapshot, under today's bars.
• The Gantt's Δ column shows how far each task's finish moved, in working days. + is later. new marks a task added since.
• The table's Δ start / finish column shows how far both the start and the finish moved.

Click Changes in the banner for the list of task changes since the snapshot. Click one to select that task. Hide changes closes the list.

Click Stop comparing when you're done.

Related #

• Snapshots
• Tasks and dependencies
• Views and filters