Scheduling a project by CPM: What are the essential steps? When preparing a CPM schedule for an engineering project, which set of actions correctly describes the overall process?

Introduction / Context:
CPM (Critical Path Method) is a deterministic scheduling technique used to plan, monitor, and control project timelines. It relies on a clear breakdown of work, time estimates, precedence logic, and a network representation from which critical paths and floats are computed.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The project is suited to CPM (deterministic activity durations).
• All activities can be identified and sequenced logically.
• Accurate time estimates are available or can be developed.

Concept / Approach:
The CPM workflow includes: breaking the project into discrete activities; establishing logical relationships among them; estimating durations; and drawing the network (AOA or AON). This allows a forward and backward pass to compute earliest and latest times, floats, and identify the critical path.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Identify activities and milestones.Sequence activities using precedence logic.Estimate durations based on productivity data and resource plans.Draw the network and run time analysis to find the critical path and floats.

Verification / Alternative check:
Any CPM tutorial or worked example follows these steps, confirming that all listed points collectively form the correct process rather than any single step alone.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Options a–c each capture only a fragment. CPM requires all steps to work together.

Common Pitfalls:

• Skipping proper activity definition, leading to overlaps or gaps.
• Ignoring precedence constraints while estimating durations, causing unrealistic schedules.

Final Answer:
All the above (activities defined, durations estimated, logical sequence set, and the network drawn)