Product breakdown structure
Product Breakdown Structure Toolkit
1. Overview
If your are familiar with PRINCE2 pre-20091, you’ll know that it recommended the use of a number of techniques, one of which is Product Based Planning. A Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) is an essential part of this, its purpose being to define the products (deliverables) of a project and how they relate to each other.
Product Based Planning has four components:
•
Product Description: a description of the overall project deliverables. In practice the Business case should describe what the project is to deliver, so MMU does not require a formal Product
Description separately from the Business case.
•
PBS, which is the subject of this toolkit.
•
Product Descriptions: detailed descriptions of each product (deliverable) that goes to make up the final product. In practice a large project may have hundreds of products and it is felt that the creation and maintenance of individual Product Descriptions may be unnecessary. Each project manager should decide whether this is an appropriate part of their project documentation. A Product Description template is available if required.
•
Product Flow diagram: this shows the sequence that the products will be delivered. This is covered in a separate Activity Network toolkit.
2. Why have a PBS?
PRINCE2 describes a PBS as “a hierarchical structure that breaks down a final product into its constituent sub-products. It helps the planner to think of what other products are needed to build the final product, and to clarify all necessary work for the creation of that final product.”2
Another similar technique used by project managers is to create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). A
WBS is the same idea, but instead of identifying the products, you identify the work. PBS seems a more logical approach as the aim of a project is to create the products, and the work is a by-product of that.
So PBS focuses on products first – the work identification
1. Overview
If your are familiar with PRINCE2 pre-20091, you’ll know that it recommended the use of a number of techniques, one of which is Product Based Planning. A Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) is an essential part of this, its purpose being to define the products (deliverables) of a project and how they relate to each other.
Product Based Planning has four components:
•
Product Description: a description of the overall project deliverables. In practice the Business case should describe what the project is to deliver, so MMU does not require a formal Product
Description separately from the Business case.
•
PBS, which is the subject of this toolkit.
•
Product Descriptions: detailed descriptions of each product (deliverable) that goes to make up the final product. In practice a large project may have hundreds of products and it is felt that the creation and maintenance of individual Product Descriptions may be unnecessary. Each project manager should decide whether this is an appropriate part of their project documentation. A Product Description template is available if required.
•
Product Flow diagram: this shows the sequence that the products will be delivered. This is covered in a separate Activity Network toolkit.
2. Why have a PBS?
PRINCE2 describes a PBS as “a hierarchical structure that breaks down a final product into its constituent sub-products. It helps the planner to think of what other products are needed to build the final product, and to clarify all necessary work for the creation of that final product.”2
Another similar technique used by project managers is to create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). A
WBS is the same idea, but instead of identifying the products, you identify the work. PBS seems a more logical approach as the aim of a project is to create the products, and the work is a by-product of that.
So PBS focuses on products first – the work identification