The critical path will vary from project to project. "Criticality" is not a
characteristic of tasks per se but rather an issue of timing and sequencing.
Whatever the chain of events is that constitutes the longest direct chain of
events from the start of the earliest task until the last one finishes
determines the overall project duration and that is the critical path. As I
said, it can vary with the specifics of an individual project and indeed,
can change any number of times as the project evolves and gets executed.
BTW, the critical path in MS Project is a read-only calculated value and is
not something one can designate - you can only observe what it is.
Take a look at the templates included with Project and also the Microsoft
web site
www.microsoft.com/project and look over the templates found there.
You might find something you can readily adapt to your own needs.
