Pacific Southwest Research Station

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General Technical Report

Title: Critical path method applied to research project planning: Fire Economics Evaluation System (FEES)

Author: Anderson, Earl B.; Hales, R. Stanton

Date: 1986

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-93. Berkeley, Calif.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 12 p

Station ID: GTR-PSW-093

Description: 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 Economics 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 approach can be applied to a variety of resource management and other forestry-related projects.

Key Words: research planning, CPM, PERT, project scheduling

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Citation

Anderson, Earl B.; Hales, R. Stanton  1986.  Critical path method applied to research project planning: Fire Economics Evaluation System (FEES)  Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-93. Berkeley, Calif.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 12 p.