Build Your First Schedule

This walkthrough takes you from an empty account to a working CPM schedule with a critical path. If you already have a schedule in Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project, skip to Import a Primavera P6 .xer file or Import from Microsoft Project.

Create the project

On the home page ("Portfolios & schedules"), under All projects:

1. Type a New project name.
2. Leave Create mode on Blank, or choose From template if your company has saved one.
3. Click Create project.

The project opens on its Overview tab.

Set the project dates

On Overview, under Schedule settings:

• Front scheduled (from start) runs the network forward from the Project start date. This is the normal choice.
• Schedule from finish (must be done) pulls the network back from a Must be done date. Use it when you're working backward from a contractual finish.

Fill in the client and jobsite address if you like, then click Save and Open schedule.

Add activities

Click into the add row at the bottom of the grid ("Add activity — Enter · paste rows · right-click"), type a name, and press Enter. Each new activity starts with a 3-day duration. Change it in the Dur column.

To build faster:

• Paste rows straight from Excel. See Paste activities from Excel.
• Press Insert to add an activity below the one you've selected.
• Use Ctrl+] and Ctrl+[ to indent and outdent, which builds a WBS of summary rows and children.
• Right-click a row and choose Toggle milestone for zero-duration events like Notice to Proceed or Substantial Completion.

Link the activities

A CPM schedule is only as good as its logic. Every activity except the first should have a predecessor, and every activity except the last should have a successor. The quickest ways to link:

• Type predecessor IDs into the Preds column, for example 3 or 3FS+2, 5SS.
• Click Draw link in the toolbar, click the predecessor bar, then the successor.

See Link activities: FS, SS, FF, SF and lag for every method.

Read the critical path

The schedule recalculates on the server after every change. Critical activities, with total float of zero or less, are highlighted in the Gantt and marked CP in the grid. Tick Critical only in the toolbar to see just the critical path. TF shows each activity's total float in working days.

If an activity lands somewhere you don't expect, open Commands & help and run Why is this scheduled here? to see what's driving it.

Check it

Open Analysis ▾ → Validation to run the DCMA 14-point checks and list open ends, negative float, long lags, and other problems, with one-click fixes for many of them. See Check schedule quality with DCMA 14-point validation.

Baseline and share it

When the plan is agreed, Analysis ▾ → Capture baseline saves it for comparison later. Share & reports ▾ → Share link gives the owner a read-only view with no login. See Set a baseline and compare progress and Share a read-only schedule link.

New to CPM? The blog's critical path method explained covers the concepts behind all of this.