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  SCHEDULING DEFINITONS  
 


FOR REFERENCE ONLY

Schedule Definitions
ITEM
DEFINITION
Activity The smallest work unit within a project; the basic building block of a project.
Bar Chart A Bar Chart shows the start and finish dates using horizontal lines to represent the activities duration.
CPM (Critical Path Method A planning, scheduling and control technique whereby a construction project is completely planned and scheduled and an arrow diagram drawn to show the interconnected individual tasks involved in constructing the project. CPM concentrates on the tradeoff between the cost of a project and the time needed to complete it.
Critical Path The set of activities that must be completed on time for the project completion date to be met. Activities on the critical path have no slack time.
Currant Date Line A vertical line on the chart indicating the currant date.
Duration The length of an activity, excluding holidays and other non-working days.
Finish Date The date that an activity or project is completed.
Gantt Chart The schedule of activities for a project. A Gantt Chart shows start and finish dates, critical and non-critical activities, slack time, and predecessor relationships.
Milestone An activity with a duration of zero (0) and by which progress of the project is measured. A milestone is an informational marker only; it does not affect scheduling.
PERT (Program Evaluating and Review Technique) A project planning and reporting that is useful in situations where it is difficult to accurately estimate the time needed for individual activities.
PERT Chart A type of flow chart showing the order and interrelationships of a project's activities.
Predecessor An activity that must be completed before another activity can begin.
Slack Time The flexibility with non-critical jobs that allows their start dates to be adjusted without affecting the project completion date.
Start Date The date that an activity or project begins.
Successor An activity whose start depends on the completion of one or more predecessors.