APPLICATION OF CRITICAL CHAIN PROJECT MANAGEMENT TO CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS: A REVIEW

The three constraints of any project are Time, Cost & Scope that affect the quality of project & are interrelated to each other. In today’s competitive environments it is very important to complete the project with the least possible time. So, it is very important for project managers to plan & schedule the project effectively such as to achieve their targets on time.  One of the traditional methods used worldwide is Critical Path Method (CPM) which leads to ineffective scheduling. In CPM, the task estimates are based on guess work which leads to increase in the project completion duration. Also the availability of resources is not considered by the scheduler to develop optimal schedules. To overcome the shortcomings of CPM, a new project management methodology called “Critical Chain Project Management” (CCPM) was developed in 1990’s by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt after which various additions were given by different researcher to his research. CCPM is based on the philosophy of “Theory of Constraints” (TOC) which believes that every system has a constraint & without eliminating this constraint the system cannot progress. CCPM achieves its goal through buffer management. The developing countries like India mostly face the problems of project delays so CCPM can be applied to save the projects from time and cost overruns. This paper aims at presenting the current status and past studies in the area of CCPM.