Preview

What Is a Work Breakdown Structure (Wbs)?

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1559 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is a Work Breakdown Structure (Wbs)?
What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)? http://www.adeak.com/2010/01/what-is-a-work-breakdown-structure-wbs/ Once we have identified all of the things that we are supposed to produce in the project, it is necessary to develop the specific items of work that must be done to complete all of the work. The work breakdown structure takes the project and divides it into smaller pieces. These can be called subprojects. The subprojects can be broken down into smaller pieces. This process of breaking down the project can continue until the project is broken into small, more manageable pieces.

The work breakdown structure allows us to approach the formidable task of finding all of the work that is necessary for completion of the project. This is done by taking the formidable project and dividing it into small projects that can be looked at one by one, allowing the project to be attacked one piece at a time. When the work breakdown structure is not used, it is very likely that many of the tasks will be missed. Since this is the place in the project where the work is defined, we find the work breakdown structure useful in determining much of the information we will require in our project plans.

To make work breakdown structures even easier, they are not restricted to only dealing with work. Many work breakdown structures start out as product breakdown structures. That is, the first few levels of the WBS are the breakdown of the products of the project from major products into smaller subproducts. For large projects this frequently makes the construction of the WBS much easier. If, for example, you were to consider the construction of the U.S. space shuttle, you would first see a product breakdown followed by a work breakdown.

Some of the major components of the space shuttle program were construction of the launch facility, construction of the space shuttle vehicle, construction of the solid rocket boosters, construction of the external fuel tank, modification

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Huntsville Plant

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A Work Breakdown Structure can be the key to assurance that the employees will know what task that they are responsible for completing.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    References: Chapman, James (2004) Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Retrieved on July 14, 2008 from http://www.hyperthot.com/pm_wbs.htm…

    • 3456 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Pm 592 Week 1

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Below is a graphic representation of the detailed Work Breakdown Structure to facilitate the project on hand:…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Pm Ch. 13 Notes

    • 4461 Words
    • 18 Pages

    1. Setting a goal. Project goal setting goes beyond overall scope development to include setting the project baseline plan. The project baseline is predicated on an accurate. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) process. Remember that WBS establishes all the deliverables and work packages associated with the project, assigns the personnel responsible for them, and creates a visual chart of the project from highest level down through the basic task and subtask levels. The project baseline is created as each task is laid out on a network diagram and resources and time durations are assigned to it.…

    • 4461 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Is3350 Unit 1 Assignment

    • 3307 Words
    • 14 Pages

    For this purpose the company has hired our services in order to manage the whole project. This project is to be split into two major parts; first, the construction of a new premises and second, the transfer of resources from old to new premises. The project manager therefore, needs to plan the whole project first with taking all areas of the project into consideration so that nothing is left behind one of the most reliable and suggested to do this is through using the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This will allow the manager to have a wide-ranging grip into all concerned areas of the project, by breaking the project into smaller tasks and assigning these tasks to individuals who are considered most suitable for them. This will enhance the level of specialisation and expertise implied into the project by planning all the phases of the project with specialised human as well as capital…

    • 3307 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Work Breakdown sometimes is not requested, like when the task is simple and don’t need to be broken in several steps. The milestone in poor planning will not be accurate due the lack of information or miss use from engineer, and will request a bunch of change orders. Therefore the Statement of work is affected by a planning with lack of expertise. However all of them is important for the planning of a project but the most important part in my opinion is the Specification, which tell us in detail all the dimensions and what need to be done, all the goals and objectives for the project…

    • 1006 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    For your project, you know that your final deliverable is when your project is completed. The purpose of the WBS is for you to work through the process of decomposing your plan into discrete list of deliverables that lead to this final goal.…

    • 2212 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Project Management Plan

    • 2196 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The work breakdown structure is breakdown of the hardware, services, and data that is required to help produce the finish product or service. It will show how the work will be performed and will reflect in project costs and data will be reported. (Kerzner, 2013) The purpose of the work breakdown structure for this scenario will provide all the executives with internet access smartphones. The company has decided to expand the program to all their employees that have cell phones or laptops in the hope to save them money.…

    • 2196 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    A work-related project analysis is an investigation to help an organization to make better choices when considering a new system. A project analysis will identify issues or complaints made by the organization in an effort to better the system. An assessment of the issues and alternative methods will be explored which will include and benefits and any risks of the alternative methods. All benefits and any risks must be explored in order for the client and the developer to make a choice of methods for improvement. Project analysis is an important tool for making the proper decisions for any organization. One organization that…

    • 1482 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    mis 302

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Project Management Activities: Planning-Objectives Resources Work Break-down Structure Organization Scheduling- Project Activities, Start & End Times, Activity Network Controlling-Monitor, Compare, Revise, Action Work Breakdown Structure: WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the project into phases, deliverables and work packages. 1.Project 2. Major Tasks in the project 3. Subtasks in the major tasks 4.Activities (or “work packages”) to be completed Project Controlling: Close monitoring of Resources, Costs, Quality, Budgets. Feedback enables revising the Project Plan and Shift Resources. Computerized tools produce extensive reports Six Steps PERT & CPM: 1. Define the Project and prepare the Work Breakdown Structure 2. Develop relationships among the activities - decide which activities must precede and which must follow others 3. Draw the network connecting all of the activities 4. Assign Time and/or Cost Estimates to each activity 5. Compute the longest time path through the network – this is called the Critical Path 6. Use the network to help Plan, Schedule, Monitor, and Control the project Perform a Critical Path Analysis: The Critical Path is the Longest Path Through the Network…

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Defining Project

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Quality and ultimate success of a project is defined as meeting or exceeding the expectations of the customers or management in term of time (schedule) cost (budget) and performance (scope) of the project…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    5. Which of the following is provided by a project network but not by the work breakdown structure?…

    • 8544 Words
    • 50 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Work Breakdown Structure

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Work Breakdown Structure diagram expresses the project scope in simple graphic when tasks in a project do not need to be completed in a linear fashion.…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    E-voucher management system project is a nonprofit project for development and implementation of a computerized system for managing kilimo kwanza vouchers. The motivation for proposing this project results from the fact that, the current vouchers for farm inputs are very expensive to produce; in most cases, the process of producing and distributing the vouchers takes excessively long time in such a way that, they delay to reach the targeted farmers. Moreover, there are complains…

    • 4966 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Waiters on Wheels

    • 1781 Words
    • 8 Pages

    ← Identify the breakdown of work associated with the chosen methodology which would be undertaken. (Note: the tasks should be limited to the analysis and design stage, i.e. not including the development / coding and stages thereafter).…

    • 1781 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays