Critical Path Method Applied to Research Project Planning: Fire Economics Evaluation System (FEES)

摘要

The critical path method (CPM) of network analysis: (a) depicts precedence among the many activities in a project by a network diagram; (b) identifies critical activities by calculating their starting, finishing, and float times; and (c) displays possible schedules by constructing time charts. CPM was applied to the development of the Forest Service's Fire Economic Evaluation System (FEES)--a simulation model for evaluating fire program options. A computerized CPM package analyzed 47 activities, and produced basic schedules and labor required for each. One program in the package was used to alter a basic schedule to produce one that required less variable levels of labor. The CPM approaches can be applied to a variety of resource management and other forestry-related projects.