Core concepts
Schedule, float and the critical path
How Srishti works out every date from one start date, durations and predecessors; what float, the critical path and near critical mean; when dates move; and how to read the Gantt tab.
- PM
- Everyone
Nobody types activity dates into Srishti. You give Activity 1 a start date, every activity a duration and its predecessors, and Srishti works out the rest: each start and end, the forecast launch, each activity's float and the critical path.
Because the dates are calculated, they stay consistent. Change one duration and everything that waits on it moves with it. This page explains the method so you can read the plan and see why a date is what it is.
Calculating the schedule
The schedule is first calculated while the project is created, in the step Configure activities & schedule:
Works out every date, the float and the critical path. It reads Recalculate schedule once you have calculated.
Activities, unassigned ones, ones without tasks, total duration against the template, forecast launch and how many activities are on the critical path.
This activity is on the critical path.
Whole calendar days. A parent's duration comes from its sub-activities.
What this activity waits for, such as
1 FS.
- Set the start date of Activity 1. Pick it in Activity 1's Start cell. This is the project's start date.
- Choose Calculate schedule. Srishti fills in every start and end date, the float and the critical path, and shows the summary.
- Recalculate after every change. Change a duration, a predecessor or the start date and the step shows "Schedule out of date — recalculate to continue" until you choose Recalculate schedule.
The rule is the same for every activity. One with no predecessors starts on the project's start date. Any other starts the day after its last predecessor finishes, plus any lag. It ends after its duration, counting the start day: a 10-day activity that starts on 2 Nov 2026 ends on 11 Nov 2026. The forecast launch is the latest end date in the plan.
On a running project there is no Calculate button: the schedule is recalculated every time the PM saves a change. How activities, predecessors and sub-activities work is on Activities and tasks.
Calendar days, not working days
Durations and lags are whole calendar days. Weekends and holidays count like any other day; Srishti has no working-day calendar. If an activity needs ten working days, give it the calendar days that covers, for example 14.
Float
Float is how many days an activity can slip without moving the forecast launch. An activity with 25 days of float can finish up to 25 days late and the launch date stays where it is. Srishti works it out by also scheduling the plan backwards from the launch date: float is the gap between when an activity is planned to finish and the latest it could finish.
The Float column on the Activities tab shows it in days. On the critical path it reads 0 CP, and the side panel shows 0 (Critical path).
Critical path and near critical
- Critical path
- The activities with zero float. Every day one of them slips, the launch slips by a day. Shown with a red edge on the Activities tab, a CP badge while creating, and a Critical path chip in My Activities.
- Near critical
- An activity that is not on the critical path, but whose float is 5% of the project's length or less. A short delay would put it on the critical path.
- Critical (status)
- A critical-path activity with less than 20% of its own duration left before its planned end.
These feed the project's health. One Critical activity, or two or more near-critical ones, make the project At risk before the launch date has moved at all. See Projects and project health.
When dates move
- The PM changes the plan. A new duration, predecessor or activity is saved and the whole plan is recalculated at once. The baseline does not move.
- An activity finishes. Its real finish date replaces the planned one, so the activities after it move earlier or later to follow it. A finished activity's dates never move again.
- An activity runs late. Passing its planned end does not move anything by itself: it shows as Delayed. The activities after it move when it actually finishes.
- A plan waits for approval past its start date. If an approver approves an over-template plan after its chosen start date, the project starts the day after the approval and every date is recalculated from there.
- A new baseline is approved. Its changes are applied and the plan is recalculated. See Baselines and re-baselines.
The Gantt tab
The Gantt tab draws the same activities, dates and statuses as the Activities tab on a timeline. Open it from the tab bar or with View Gantt at the top of the project.
Tick to colour every critical-path bar red.
Show or hide sub-activity rows. Offered when the project has sub-activities.
Draw the current baseline, an earlier one, or None beside today's plan.
Week, Month or Quarter.
Click a bar or a row to open the activity's side panel.
- Bar colour
- The activity's status: Not started, In progress, Complete / Ahead, Near critical, Critical or Delayed.
- Baseline
- A thin bar under the current one showing the compared baseline's dates. It is left out when the two are the same.
- Float
- A line after the bar, as long as the activity's float.
- Added after baseline
- A faded bar for an activity that is not in the compared baseline.
- Today
- A red line marks today. The chart opens with today about a third of the way across.
- Dev.
- In the list, the days the activity is ahead (+) or behind (−) the compared baseline.
The Gantt is for reading. To change the plan, use the side panel or the Activities tab.
Forecast launch
The forecast launch is the latest planned end date across the plan. It moves whenever the plan does. Days to launch on the Overview counts calendar days from today to it, and Schedule deviation compares it with the baseline launch.