Editing Critical path method (section)

=== Expansion ===
{{unreferenced section |date=April 2018}}
Originally, the critical path method considered only logical [[Dependency (project management)|dependencies]] between terminal elements. Since then, it has been expanded to allow for the inclusion of resources related to each activity, through processes called activity-based resource assignments and resource optimization techniques such as [[Resource Leveling]] and [[Resource smoothing]]. A resource-leveled schedule may include delays due to resource bottlenecks (i.e., unavailability of a resource at the required time), and may cause a previously shorter path to become the longest or most "resource critical" path while a resource-smoothed schedule avoids impacting the critical path by using only free and total float.<ref>{{cite book
|title=A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)
|page=720
|chapter=6.5.2.3 Resource Optimization 
|edition=6th
|isbn=978-1-62825-382-5
|date=2017
|publisher=[[Project Management Institute]]
}}</ref> A related concept is called the [[critical chain]], which attempts to protect activity and project durations from unforeseen delays due to resource constraints.

Since project schedules change on a regular basis, CPM allows continuous monitoring of the schedule, which allows the [[project manager]] to track the critical activities, and alerts the project manager to the possibility that non-critical activities may be delayed beyond their total float, thus creating a new critical path and delaying project completion. In addition, the method can easily incorporate the concepts of stochastic predictions, using the PERT and [[event chain methodology]].