The HCP Method

The registered patent HCP (Hidden Critical Path) Method is a unique algorithmic approach to analyzing a project schedule in order to reveal and extract a wealth of detailed information critical to understanding the key aspects of any project schedule.

A primary output of the HCP analysis is a detailed list of the hidden critical paths (and near-critical paths) within the project, and the tasks requiring the most management attention. These "hidden critical tasks," often numbering in the dozens or hundreds, are key tasks on which project managers might not otherwise know to focus their attention (because they do not appear in the traditional CPM critical path). The analysis also details flaws and inconsistencies in the schedule, hidden risk factors and various opportunities for improving the overall schedule.

What is a Hidden Critical Path?

A path within a schedule is a sequence of tasks which, together, form a process with a beginning and an end. In order for a project to succeed, all of these processes, or paths, must meet their planned timelines, budgets and specifications. A hidden critical path is a path which is somewhat shorter in duration than the longest path in the project. If any of the hidden critical paths extend beyond their planned time frame, the entire project schedule is in jeopardy.

Benefits of the HCP Deep Schedule Analysis

The benefits of obtaining an HCP Deep Schedule Analysis report on your project schedule include:

• Highlight tasks requiring special attention
• Identify serious flaws in schedule integrity
• Identify opportunities for dramatic schedule improvement
• Reveal hidden risks in the schedule
• Ensure alignment between different perspectives on the project
• Receive an overall confidence measure of a project's likely success

Read more detail about each of these benefits on the HCP Benefits page.

Applications of the HCP Method

For details and examples of how the HCP Method can help for particular applications, select one of the following application-specific information pages:

• Schedule evaluation, schedule analysis and schedule assessment
• Project management and control
• Risk management
• High-level Management Perspective
• Construction claims and disputes

HCP Deep Schedule Analysis Report

With an HCP Deep Schedule Analysis™ report in your hands, you will be able to dramatically improve project management, reduce risk and save millions on your construction or infrastructure project.

The HCP Deep Schedule Analysis report condenses into a single document a wealth of critical information you need to know about your project schedule.

The first section of the report is an executive summary containing a unique Project Success Expectation graph, which presents a high-level, at-a-glance assessment of the integrity and robustness of the project schedule. The second section contains a detailed Schedule Integrity Analysis, in which important errors and inconsistencies are detailed. The third and final section, HCP Critical Path Analysis, reveals crucial information hidden deep within the project – information you cannot get anywhere else.

For most projects, the most valuable information in the report can be found in the final section, HCP Critical Path Analysis. Here, you will find previously-hidden critical paths and the crucial activities/tasks within them. Managing a project without focusing on these highlighted paths and activities is taking on an unnecessary and dangerous amount of risk

Table of Contents

The following sections are included in every HCP Deep Analysis report:

			1. Executive Summary
			1.1. Key Schedule and Analysis Statistics
			1.2. Project Success Expectation
			1.3. Schedule Integrity Analysis Highlights
			1.4. HCP Critical Path Analysis Highlights

			2. Schedule Integrity Analysis Report
			2.1. Schedule Integrity Overview
			2.2. Activities Unlinked to Successors
			2.3. Start-to-Finish (SF) Links
			2.4. Activities with Predated Successors
			2.5. Activities with Calendar Inconsistencies
			2.6. Overdue Activities
			2.7. Summary Activities with Link Issues

			3. HCP Critical Path Analysis Report
			3.1. HCP Critical Path Analysis Overview
			3.2. Activities in the HCP Critical Paths
			3.3. Opportunities for Bringing Forward the Schedule's End Date
			3.4. Overlapping Activities in the HCP Critical Paths
			3.5. Activities in the HCP Near-critical Paths
			3.6. Difficult-to-Track Activities
			3.7. Unstarted (Overdue) Paths
			3.8. Identified HCP Paths
			3.9. Redundant HCP Paths
			3.10. Enhanced Schedule File
			

Sample HCP Deep Analysis Report

The best way to understand what you gain from having an HCP Deep Analysis report on your project is to upload your project schedule now so that we can prepare you a free introductory analysis on your current project. The second best way to understand the value of this report is to take a look at a sample HCP Deep Analysis report.