Creating-a-Work-Breakdown-Structure-with-Microsoft Project

Creating a Work Breakdown Structure with Microsoft Project

By Mark Piscopo The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of the project objectives into deliverable-oriented tasks that are executed by the project team to accomplish the overall project goals. The WBS forms the backbone of all the project planning activities. The WBS divides the scope of the project work into smaller, manageable work packages for maintaining better control of the project activities. As you move from the higher levels of the WBS to the lower levels, the definition of the project works gets more detailed with the upper levels representing the major phases of the project. It is imperative to remember that the WBS represents 100% of all the work defined in the project scope. Anything that is not included in the WBS is considered out of scope for the project.

Uses of the WBS

The WBS addresses the following requirements of the project: Defining the project scope in terms of deliverables and components. Providing the framework on which the project status and progress reports are based. Facilitating communication regarding the project scope, schedule, risk, performance, cost etc with the stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle. Providing inputs for other project management processes like estimation, scheduling, risk assessment etc. While creating the WBS, it is important to ensure that the WBS format is standardised across an entire portfolio of projects. This will ensure that data from a specific project can be easily retrieved and a repository comprising project data can be formed for future reference over a period of time.

Components of the Work Breakdown Structure

The essential components of a WBS are detailed below: WBS Levels: All the work to be done on the project is categorised into hierarchical levels with the upper levels depicting the major deliverables for the project and the lower levels depicting the granular level activities needed to be...