Float Path Analysis and Visualization

Overview of Oracle Primavera P6's Multiple Float Path Feature

Primavera P6’s Multiple Float Path feature is great to analyze not just the critical path, but also near-critical paths that could impact project timelines. The tool ranks float paths in descending order of criticality, helping users focus on the most crucial sequences of activities that might delay the project if not properly managed.

However, despite its usefulness, In my opinion, there are some limitations that can hinder a comprehensive analysis ( if you have different views, please comment ):

1. Limited Visualization of Paths: P6 displays each task only once in the float path analysis output. If a task appears in multiple float paths, it is only shown in the first path it appears in, making it challenging to understand how tasks are interconnected across different paths
2. Missed "Hidden" Paths: The MFP feature may overlook certain paths where all activities have already appeared in other, higher-ranked paths. This can result in some paths within the schedule network being missed, potentially leading to an incomplete understanding of the project's logic
3. Float Visibility Issues: P6 does not provide information on cumulative float along a path, limiting the user’s ability to gauge the true criticality of each path in relation to the overall project timeline
4. Unidirectional Analysis: P6 primarily performs its float path analysis in a backward direction, focusing on predecessors leading to a specific activity or milestone. This approach can sometimes miss out on identifying missing or improper relationships that could be revealed through a bi-directional analysis
5. Path Calculation Limitations: P6 restricts the number of float paths that can be calculated and analyzed, which might not be sufficient for large, complex projects where user want to figure out activities are linked or not (leekage on relationships).

Simple Network for Demonstration

Let's look at a simple activity network:

When we run Multiple FLoat Path for "FINISH" activity, here is the result from P6:

However, when we examine the relationship floats, the paths should be as follows:

When we compare expected paths with P6 MFP, here are the observations:

1-First 4 paths are same.

2-P6 MFP ranked Expected Paths : Path-06 as 5th and Path-05 as 7th. It does not seem to be correct. When I add 15 days to Activity R and S, this time it makes the Path-05 is the most critical, which shows that previous P6 ranking was misleading. Here are the result, if we increase the duration in each path for 15 days.

3- Path-10 in Expected Paths is ranked as 6th in P6 MFP. It does not seem to be correct.

4-Path-07 and Path-08 are tie-breaks. Therefore, the order is fine, whichever is first.

5- 2 paths in Expected Paths are not shown since all the activities in those paths are appeared in previous paths. We were expecting to have 11 paths but we can see 9 paths in P6 MFP (since activities are not repeated)

Introducing a Solution: Enhancing Float Path Analysis

In response to these limitations, I've developed a tool that I believe enhances float path analysis and visualization in project scheduling:

1. Comprehensive Path Visualization: Unlike P6, this tool allows activities to appear in multiple float paths, providing a complete view of how tasks interrelate across various paths. This ensures that no connections are overlooked.
2. Uncovering "Hidden" Paths: This tool calculates and displays all paths, even those that would be hidden in P6’s analysis, ensuring a thorough examination of the project schedule.
3. Enhanced Float Visibility: The tool offers detailed insights into cumulative float for each path, giving users a clearer understanding of the criticality of different paths.
4. Bi-Directional Analysis: The tool performs both forward and backward analyses, helping to identify missing relationships and ensuring that all activities are properly connected within the schedule.
5. Unlimited Path Calculations: There are no restrictions on the number of paths the tool can analyze, making it suitable for even the most complex projects.
6. Powerful Visualization Options: Beyond just numerical data, the tool provides multiple graph layout options (such as Hierarchical, Circular, and Organic etc.) for better visualization of the project network. These can be customized to fit the specific needs of your presentation or report.
7. Flexible Export Options: The results can be easily exported to CSV for further analysis or saved as images/PDFs for inclusion in reports and presentations.

Comparison of Results

Let's look at the results of the tool for the afore-mentioned simple schedule network:

Here are the expected paths:

Here are the results from the tool:

Here is the visual graph from the tool:

And here are the full paths view:

Large Schedule Performance

The tool performs well for large network as well. In order to calculate the paths, we do not need to draw the full graph layout, the data is already loaded. That is why, calculations for paths is fast in general.

Although it is not very feasible to draw full graph for large schedules for visualization purposes, the tool still can do that in a reasonable time. The tool can load large graph data in seconds but if the user want to apply the layout, it might take a bit time. The tool have option to only draw sub-graph for the paths for the selected source/target activities, which will be more meaningful for large schedules. The time complexity based on the number of activites and relationships but still performs well. Some layout options are performs much better such as Hierarchical (which is the generally the preferred layout for scheduling), Circular, Radial layouts are the fastest ones, Organic layout and Orthogonal layout might not be feasible for large graphs.

Here is an example of indermediate size schedule :

Conclusion

The developed tool provides users with deeper insights and greater control over their schedules. I believe that it allows for more accurate identification of potential issues and helps optimize project timelines effectively.

? You can purchase the tool in below link : (as per request trial key can be provided)

https://projeex.com/product/schedule-path-analysis-tool/

?? Youtube Video: