Milestone (project management)

In many instances, milestones do not impact project duration. Instead, they focus on major progress points that must be reached to achieve success. Milestones can add significant value to project scheduling. When combined with a scheduling methodology such as Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) or the Critical Path Method (CPM), milestones allow project managers to much more accurately determine whether or not the project is on schedule. By constraining the dates associated with milestones, the critical path can be determined for major schedule intervals in addition to the entire project. Slack/float can also be calculated on each schedule interval. This segmentation of the project schedule into intervals allows earlier indication of schedule problems and a better view into the activities whose completion is critical.