Project management involves multiple activities which are tightly dependent on each other. These dependencies lead to strict deadlines failing which the project falls behind schedule. Zoho Projects displays the critical path of the project, which is the longest stretch of dependent activities in a project. These activities or tasks cannot be delayed without delaying the overall project. Identifying critical path lets you effectively devote time and resources to such tasks.

Benefits of Critical Path

• Identify activities that require more focus. Delay in these activities can throw projects off-track
• Determine activities that can be completed in a shorter time (crashing) and reduce project duration
• Use the critical path timeline as a benchmark and measure the actual progress against it
• Track multiple critical paths if available
• Identify non-critical activities and economize resources

All you need to do is create tasks, set duration, and establish task dependencies. Zoho Projects gives a visual representation of the critical path on a Gantt chart. You can also view non-critical activities and their slack time be hovering over the activity.

Critical Path in Zoho Projects

Constructing a house involves numerous tasks which are dependent on each other. Considering a broad level list of tasks, let’s see how Zoho Projects displays the critical path for the below schedule.

The critical path of the project is highlighted in red. Non-critical tasks are shown in blue. The dotted line denotes the slack for non-critical tasks.