The Critical Path methodology identifies the paths of tasks most likely to impact the project completion date. This technique is used to help project managers to determine the shortest possible project duration and the level of flexibility that exists in the project. The critical path method calculates the early dates (Early Start and Early Finish), late dates (Late Start and Late Finish) and total slack.

After you consolidate files into a master project file, the tasks from subprojects files remain separate, resources are combined from all subprojects.

You can change resource information in the master project and the changes will be replicated in the subproject's source file.

You can view all resources in the master project and subprojects together in the Resource Sheet view, the resource can be edited /assigned.

If the same resources are used in multiple subprojects, you see the resource names just once because the resources are combined. However, it is recommended to use organization Team Members, then assign the resources in different subprojects.

Keep in mind that if you use the same resource in multiple projects, in Master Resource Sheet will appear one resource. If that resource uses different Std rate values in the subproject source file, the Master Project file will calculate an average value based on std rate value and cost per use.

By knowing and tracking the critical path for your project, as well as the resources assigned to critical tasks, you can determine which tasks can affect your project's finish date and whether your project will finish on time.

For more benefits of using the Critical Path, please check the Manage Critical Path page, which also includes a video.

In order to save a Master Project file, go to menu File - Save. In the dialog that appears click:

1. "Yes" to Save just in Master Project file

2. "Yes to All" to also save the changes in subprojects

The Master Projects can be also saved in a Division. For more information, please read the Manage Divisions funk.

To see the Baseline Information, on the File menu – Info tab – Project Statistics.

The changes made to the baseline fields do not cause the project to be recalculated.

After you set a baseline, you can still edit baseline values. However, edited baseline values do not cause any recalculation of baseline work fields.

The best approach to using the Baseline Work field, would be to make the desired changes to the Work field then set a baseline.

The best way to achieve this is to use the Cost column.

The total cost is automatically calculated by the application in the summary task.

To enter the costs for a task you can either insert a value in the Cost field or you can assign specific resources to your tasks and the cost is automatically calculated.

Apply a deadline to a task when you want to track a deadline for a specific task, but don't want to lock your schedule by setting an inflexible constraint such as Must Finish On or Finish No Later Than. Such constraints affect scheduling, while the Deadline field simply causes an indicator to show if a task has not been completed by its deadline. Certain tasks in your project should finish by specific target dates. However, you don't want these dates to actually affect how Project Plan 365 schedules the tasks; you just want to be alerted if the tasks are not completed by these dates. Add the Deadline field to the Entry table of the Gantt Chart view, and set the deadline dates for these tasks.

By setting a task deadline, instead of imposing an inflexible constraint for a task to mark its finish date, you can achieve a more flexible and dynamic project schedule. A dynamic schedule is properly sequenced and is free of any task constraints. The benefit is that the project manager can assess changes to the project end date (via the critical path) without experiencing constraint errors.

Deadlines can be added to any task in the project schedule. You may want to add specific deadlines based on the tasks on the critical path or on important milestones. The deadline gives you flexibility in setting a commitment date that isn’t tied directly to a baseline finish date.