The project management body of knowledge defines the work breakdown structure as a deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team. The lowest levels of wbs shows the project deliverables. Figures 1 and 2 provide examples of a wbs for the building of a table. There are two methods for the presenting a work breakdown structure is the wbs outline and the wbs diagram.
For the purpose of examples, the phase is at level 1. Seeing how complex projects are actually broken down can help you do the same in your projects. Such templates permit the exact estimation of the undertakings length, decide the required assets and also help. Wbs work breakdown structure is a deliverableoriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables. Its a hierarchy of tasks that represents the project teams understanding of the composition of work, and of the size, cost, and duration of each component or task. The development of work breakdown structure involves subdividing the major project activities or subactivities into smaller, more manageable activities until the activities are defined in sufficient detail to support the management and development of project works. How many pms produce wbs in a formal or consistent manner for each project. A4500 hov project2 work breakdown structure and dictionary 2. It presents all of the work that will be carried out by the project team during the life of the project, including the project management work. Creating the work breakdown structure by kim colenso, managing principal, artemis management systems the work breakdown structure wbs is the foundation for project planning and control. To explain, there are many project management tools and techniques that use the wbs or its. This document is a great source of analyzing the way of work through different parts of project.
Nevertheless, i strongly suggest you to try using work breakdown structure on your project to the full extent. The project is not part of the wbs, just like the topic is not part of the outline. A work breakdown structure template is a crucial document which helps to break down your work into small pieces for easily determining its procedure of completion. The following discussion will examine the current trends and practice regarding work breakdown structures. The wbs is designed to help break down a project into manageable chunks that can be effectively estimated and supervised. P a g e 3 work breakdown structures a work breakdown structure is a deliverableoriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables. Pdf the work breakdown structure in software project management. Work breakdown structure examples and overview of wbs. A work breakdown structure, commonly abbreviated wbs, is a key project deliverable that is utilized to organize a project teams work and responsibilities into compact sections that. This work breakdown structure example shows that all the elements are listed under wbs levels.
This handbook is an update to milhdbk881, work breakdown structures for defense materiel items. In order to save space in this template we only developed the wbs examples down to the third level. The work breakdown structure presented here represents all the work required to. Work breakdown structure is a powerful and valuable tool in project management. Work breakdown structure rev e, june 2003 work breakdown structure a project work breakdown structure wbs is a deliverable or product oriented grouping of project work elements shown in graph ical display to organize and subdivide the total work scope of a project. Like the outline, the wbs is also a hierarchical tree structure. Pdf the work breakdown structure wbs is a vehicle for breaking an engineering project down into. It would take a long process for you to get to where you want your business to be. A work breakdown structure wbs proposes a graphical nature that helps project managers predict results based on various scenarios. Work breakdown structures a work breakdown structure is a deliverableoriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables. T he work breakdown structure wbs is a hierarchical breakdown of the complete project scope. Uat testing work breakdown structure this is an example of a highlevel work breakdown structure for user acceptance testing it includes training, roles, test sites and the testing tasks. It is the connecting point for work and cost estimates, schedule information, actual work effortcost expenditures, and accountability. It is a product oriented structure, not an organizational structure.
Defining a work breakdown structure a work breakdown structure wbs is defined as a hierarchy of tasks that are representative of the real work flow of a construction project. Figure 1below depicts a sample work breakdown structure with three levels defined. Nasa work breakdown structure wbs handbook page viii preface p. How to develop work breakdown structures online available. Festival editable work breakdown structure template on. Work breakdown structure relativistic heavy ion collider. Customize your work breakdown structure template and include every level and sublevel. Think of the wbs as a visual model of the project that identifies each piece of the scope of work. It organizes and defines the total scope of the project.
Deliverableoriented wbs structures are the preferred type according to. As a hierarchical decomposition of the project work, each descending level of the wbs is increasingly detailed. The importance of the wbs experienced project managers know there are many things that can go wrong in projects. Work breakdown structures overview finance dynamics. A work breakdown structure in every project management and system engineering is an effective tool that is used for defining and group the discrete elements of work in any project so that it can help the organization, build it in some way and boost the work scope of the whole project. Work breakdown structure sample pdf besttemplatess123. To develop and maintain a wbs, you must have a clear understanding of the projects.
Doe office of management, budget and evaluation work breakdown structure project management practices guide, revision e dated june 2003. This zip file contains the white paper the work breakdown structure. How to improve productivity with a work breakdown structure. It is often described as a resultoriented tree that covers all project procedures in an organized way. A4500 hov project1 work breakdown structure and dictionary 1. Use pdf export for high quality prints and svg export for large sharp images or embed your diagrams anywhere with the creately viewer. The template includes instructions to the author, boilerplate text, and fields that should be replaced with the values specific to the project. It is important to remember this coding system when wondering how to create a work breakdown structure. Work breakdown structure information, software and wbs samples. You can edit this template and create your own diagram. What is wbs work breakdown structure in project management. Creately diagrams can be exported and added to word, ppt powerpoint, excel, visio or any other document. The contents of the template are shown below and hints and tips are includes in the template. Tasks and activities will be grouped under these lowest levels.
Work breakdown structure wbs in project management an introductory tutorial work breakdown structure wbs is yet another very important aspect and deliverable of the project planning process. Without a full and complete schedule, the project manager will be. One work breakdown structure example that will make it clear. It will take a lot of patience and cunning to work your way up. Milhdbk881a is based on the cooperative efforts of the. Work breakdown structure wbs template free visio excel. The best way to understand how work breakdown structures work is by looking at different wbs examples. Once the elements of the wbs have been defined, resource requirements are determined for each element.
However, as with all trades, maintaining a business even in a field with so many willing clients is still hard work. The template is fully editable with excel and can be converted or changed to suit specific project requirements. From the time the first edition of the practice standard for work breakdown structures was being developed a little more than five years ago, there has been a vast expansion in rapid electronic access to information through the internet, cdroms. In this stage, you break the project into small and atomic individual activities that can be. Within the project is a hierarchical structure that defines the content of the project, just like the outline defines the content of the topic. Applying the work breakdown structure to the project.
This document is a template of a work breakdown structure dictionary document for a project. Instead, wbs provides useful inputs for cost estimating and budgeting, scope control, activity definition, and more. Work breakdown structure the first step in creating a wbs is identifying the project deliverables and subdeliverables, and the achievements and subachievements. Systems development life cycle sdlc methodology information technology services july 7, 2009 version 1 authors. The project schedule should reflect all of the work associated with delivering the project on time.
A work breakdown structure wbs is a description of the work that will be done for a project. Resources on the project will look at the wbs dictionary to determine the scope of the work package. This example work breakdown structure can identify the entire projects tasks, and provides a standard framework for managing the works effectively. Each deliverable or achievement must equal the sum of its subelements. This is a free work breakdown structure wbs template in excel and pdf. Pdf impact of various workbreakdown structures on project. A work breakdown structure is a key project deliverable that organizes the teams work into manageable sections. Activities are where deliverables are assigned to an individual. See a large image and download a visio or pdf of this wbs for uat. Pdf many people have mistaken wbs as a list of tasks, a schedule or an organization chart. Typical examples of the contribution the wbs makes to other processes are described and elaborated in the practice standard for work breakdown structures second edition.
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