Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

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 Work Breakdown Structure
 Today
- Work Breakdown Structure
- Examples

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Work Breakdown Structure

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Definition of a WBS
• A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a fundamental project
management technique for defining and organizing the total
scope of a project, using a hierarchical tree structure.

• A well designed WBS describes planned outcomes instead of

planned actions. Outcomes are desired ends of the project,
such as product, service or result and can be predicted
accurately.

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Purpose of WBS:
• Sub-divide the work of the project into manageable
work packages which can be estimated, planned and
assigned to a responsible person / department for
completion.

• Must reflect the entire scope of the project

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 Work Breakdown Structure
• Work breakdown structures (WBS) help organize the
activities required to meet the objectives of the
project

• Focus is on the deliverables

• May be organized:
- By phase of the project
- By component

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Work Packages:
• The areas of work in the WBS can be further broken
down into Work Packages
- May be assigned as a subproject
- May be subordinated into WBS structure for estimating purposes

• Work Packages can be further broken down into

tasks, sub-tasks and activities for time and duration
estimates

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Work Package

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 Work Breakdown Structure
WBS Dictionary
• A WBS dictionary is a companion document to the WBS that
describes each element. For each WBS element, the WBS
dictionary includes a statement of work, a list of associated
activities, and a list of milestones

• Other information can include the responsible organization,

start and end dates, resources required, an estimate of cost,
charge number, contract information, quality requirements,
and technical references

• WBS elements should be cross-referenced as appropriate

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Work Breakdown Structure

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 Work Breakdown Structure
The 100% Rule
• The 100% rule states………that the WBS includes 100% of the
work defined by the project scope and captures ALL
deliverables - internal, external, interim – in terms of the
work to be completed.

• The 100% rule is one of the most important principles guiding

the development, decomposition and evaluation of the WBS.

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 Work Breakdown Structure
W5 Concept
 What has to be done?

 Where does it take place?

 Who has to do it?

 When does it have to be done?

 How much will it cost?

When the Project Manager has this
information, the PM has the basis for control!

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 Work Breakdown Structure
WBS helps Managers:
• Facilitates evaluation of cost, time and technical performance of the
organization on a project

• Provides management with information appropriate to each

organizational level

• Helps in the development of the organization breakdown structure which

assigns project responsibilities to organizational units and individuals

• Helps manager plan, schedule and budget

• Defines communication channels and assists in coordinating the various

project elements

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Reasons for creating a WBS in a project

• Accurate and readable project organization

• Accurate assignment of responsibilities to the project team

• Indicates the project milestones and control points

• Helps to estimate the time, cost and risk

• Illustrate the project scope, so the stakeholders can have a

better understanding of the same

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Process of WBS
• First, lets look at what we need to get started. There are
several inputs you will need to get you off the right foot:

 The Project Scope Statement

 The Project Scope Management Plan
 Requirements Documentation
 EEF
 OPA
 Approved change requests - (PMBOK Guide)

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Process of WBS

• You will use certain tools as well

 Decomposition
 Expert judgment (PMBOK Guide)

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Process of WBS

• Finally, using these inputs and tools, you will

create the following outputs
 WBS
 WBS Dictionary
 Scope baseline
 Project document updates (PMBOK Guide)

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 Work Breakdown Structure
How to build a WBS
• Begin with the Charter, focusing on objectives and
deliverables
• Break the main product(s) down into sub-products
• Set the structure to match how you’ll manage the project
• Lowest level not too detailed, not too large
• Is there a need for integration?
• Identify support activities
• Check for completeness – is all the effort included?
• Develop a coding structure if needed
• Assign work package managers

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Pitfalls
There are common pitfalls to creating a WBS. If you can
keep these few possible, you and your team will be much
more successful at creating a useful and accurate WBS
• Level of work package detail
• Deliverables not activities or tasks
• WBS is not a plan or schedule
• WBS updates require Request Change Control
• WBS is not an organizational hierarchy

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Construction of a WBS

• Identifying the main deliverables of a project is the starting point

for deriving a WBS

• This important step is usually done by the mangers and subject

matter experts (SME’s) involved in the project. Once this step is
completed, the SME’s start breaking down the high level tasks into
smaller chunks of work

• In the process of breaking down the tasks, one can break them
down into different levels od detail. One can detail a high level task
into ten sub-tasks while another can detail the same high level task
into 20 sub-tasks

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Work Breakdown Structure

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Work Breakdown Structure Visualization

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Example of outlined WBS

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WBS Example 1

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WBS Example 2

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WBS Example 3 – By Phase

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WBs Example 4 – By Levels

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 WBS Example 4 in Tabular Format
1.0 Concept
1.1 Evaluate current systems
1.2 Define Requirements
1.2.1 Define user requirements
1.2.2 Define content requirements
1.2.3 Define system requirements
1.2.4 Define server owner requirements
1.3 Define specific functionality
1.4 Define risk and risk management approach
1.5 Develop Project Plan
1.6 Brief web team
2.0 Website Design
3.0 Website Development
4.0 Rollout
5.0 Support

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 Work Breakdown Structure
Goals of the WBS

• Giving visibility to important work efforts

• Giving visibility to risky work efforts

• Illustrate the correlation between the activities and

the deliverables

• Show clear ownership by tasks leaders

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 Work Breakdown Structure
In Conclusion, a WBS:

 Is a way to identify and organize tasks

 Identifies descending levels of detail

 Is deliverable-oriented

 Uses summary tasks and work packages

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