WBS

The Work Break-down Structure

| First Things First |

Do you need a WBS if you have a Time Schedule? The answer is .... it depends! It depends on may factors, complexity, PM experience, preference, scope, deliverables, etc.... Up to you to decide. We recommend doing a WBS exercise with the SME's. Doing a WBS and TS separately helps clarity!

What is the difference between a WBS and a Time Schedule?

The WBS defines the scope and the work to be done. See beside board. It resembles more an organizational chart where work is brocken up into its details.
The Time Schedule on the other hand, assigns dates and durations to those work packages work identified in the WBS. The TS will allow you to track progress of the single packages.

The good thing is that once the WBS is done and you fully understand the steps to successfully execute the project, you can transfer the WBS into the Time-schedule and have one working document will all work in one document.

Developing a WBS is a four-step process:

Understand the Project objective and the customers vision of the project.

Identify the specifically the deliverables (equipment, products, services, results, devices, etc....) to provide to the customer.

Identify all direct & collateral areas of the project which directly or indirectly affects your scope of work.

You want to ensure 100% of the work necessary to fulfil the project is identified and addressed.

Any gaps must be addressed with the customer in the Concept meeting.

Think about how much you have to divide the scope into sub-packages until the complexity becomes manageable.

The goal is to subdivide the Scope into "Work Packages" that become manageable and controllable.

The 100% Rule - This MUST be respected!

The WBS is a logical subdivision of the work to be perfomed until it becomes manageable. One most important point to get it right is the 100% rule.
The 100% rule says that every lower level decomposition of an element (work package) must represent 100% of the next higher level.

Explanation of the 100% Rule - See left picture, the project at L1 contains 100% of the entire project.

The project is split into 3x sub-packages a 30% | 30% | 40% --> This 3x packages contain still 100% of the total L1 project.
One of these 3x packages are sub-devised further down to 30% | 30% | 40% --> You can see that the 3x packages still represents 100% one level up.
Again, one of these 3x packages is sub-devised further down to 30% | 30% | 40% --> And again, the lower level represents 100% of the higher level.
and so on .... hope this makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions.

The WBS should be developed in collaboration with the SME. They understand their field and will ensure that the WBS sub-divide process is accurate, complete and manageable.

How to develop a WBS:

There are two ways to develop an WBS:

Top-down.
Bottom-up.

Both work well. Some may prefer the one or the other way. Our preference is to develop the WBS Top down for complex projects that include equipment, services, engineering, manufacturing, shipping, etc....

For projects with services only, I like to work from a bottom-up approach. Anyway, both ways work for any project.

Important!

Ask yourself at each level if the sum of the lower-level package represents 100% of the higher-level package! Respect the 100% Rule!
Did I consider the work to be done and any collaterals?

Once the WBS is done, you can start updating your Time-Schedule!

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