A work breakdown structure cannot be developed in isolation. Rarely can one person know everything required to complete a project, least of all a project manager, who may not be a subject matter expert. Creating the WBS is a
team effort
. A WBS does not specify how or when tasks will be done.
How do you create a work breakdown structure?
- Estimate the cost of a project.
- Establish dependencies.
- Determine a project timeline and develop a schedule.
- Write a statement of work (or SOW, one of your other acronyms).
- Assign responsibilities and clarify roles.
- Track the progress of a project.
- Identify risk.
Why is WBS created?
A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a tool that can be used for projects, programs, and even initiatives to understand the work that has to be done to successfully produce a deliverable(s). The benefits of creating a WBS include:
it defines and organizes the work required
. … it provides a way to estimates project costs.
What is WBS example?
For example, here’s a WBS example for
an aircraft system
: … Thus, you might have one group responsible for building an aircraft. Within this group, you might have one team focused on building the airframe, another on creating a propulsion system, and so on. It’s common to have three levels of decomposition in the WBS.
What makes a good WBS?
A good work breakdown structure (WBS) includes only deliverables and activities. The best approach in WBS is
placing deliverables as summary activities and breaking down these summary activities into detailed activities based on the work required to meet such deliverables
.
What are the levels of WBS?
At the top level is the project ultimate goal, the second level contains the project outcomes, the third level has the project outputs, and the
fourth level with activities
. Depending on the size and complexity of the project, the WBS may contain a fourth level that describe the tasks.
How do you explain WBS?
The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines WBS as “
a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables
.”
What are the different types of WBS?
There are two types of work breakdown structures commonly employed in project management:
the process-oriented WBS and deliverable-oriented WBS
. Contrary to popular belief, both structures can (and should) be used when defining your project scope.
What is a work package example?
What is a Work Package?: A Workpackage Example. There are teams involved:
the carpenters, roofers, architects, and painters
; you can break it down into smaller tasks (paint the deck by tomorrow, finish the kitchen in a month, etc.); and it has an overall manager. Voila! Those are your workpackages.
What does a Work Breakdown Structure WBS break down *?
What does a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) “break down?”
The structural elements of the project facility and equipment are broken down for inventory and tracking purposes
. Project deliverables are broken down into tasks and activities. Project costs are broken down into the departments where they are charged.
What is a WBS in SAP?
A WBS (
Work Breakdown Structure
) element is a cost objective in SAP that collects expenses and revenues related to sponsored projects. WBS elements are both research and fund accounts. Projects often include several WBS elements forming a WBS hierarchy.
What is the 8 80 rule?
The “8 and 80” exception allows
employers to pay one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate for all hours worked in excess of 8 in a workday and 80 in a fourteen-day period
.
What is the 4 40 rule?
The 4/40 rule says that
no work package (task) should be shorter than four hours or longer than 40 hours in duration
. … The reasoning behind these rules is that tasks that are too large are not only harder to estimate accurately, but they’re also more complicated to schedule and track.
What are the two different ways of creating a WBS?
There are essentially two ways to create a Work Breakdown Structure –
the top-down or the bottom-up approach
. The top-down approach, in my opinion, generates a complete and more accurate WBS. In this approach, the WBS is derived by decomposing the overall project into sub-projects or lower-level tasks.
What are the 4 WBS levels?
- The Top Level: The project title or final deliverable.
- Controls Account: The main project phases and deliverables.
- Work Packages: The group of tasks that lead to the controls account level.
- Activities: The tasks needed to complete the work package.
What is a Level 1 WBS?
At WBS Level 1 it
shows 100 units of work as the total scope of a project to design and build a custom bicycle
. At WBS Level 2, the 100 units are divided into seven elements. The number of units allocated to each element of work can be based on effort or cost; it is not an estimate of task duration.
