UNIVERSITY OF THE EAST – CALOOCAN

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ECE DEPARTMENT

Work
Breakdown
Structure
SUBMITTED TO:
ENGR. ROMMEL RAMOS
ECE PROFESSOR
SUBMITTED BY:
BIANCA M. DEL MUNDO
20141117320
NEC 526 - 1EC

JANUARY 22 2018
DATE SUBMITTED
WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE 101
 According to Haughey, D. (2017), the Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS) is a tool used by project managers to break projects down into small
pieces manageable. It is considered as the ‘foundation’ of project planning.

A WBS is a hierarchical stage of the work needed to complete a

project. It breaks the project down into manageable work packages that can
be scheduled and have costs and resources assigned to them. As a rule, the
lowest level should be two-week work packages. Another rule commonly
used when creating a WBS is the 8/80 rule. This rule says no single activity
should be less than 8 hours or greater than 80 hours. (Haughey, 2017)

Haughey, D. stated that these are some of the benefits of a WBS:

 Provides an ideal tool for team brainstorming

 Provides a solid foundation for planning and scheduling

 Breaks down projects into manageable work packages

 Provides a way to accurately estimate project costs

 Makes sure no important deliverables get forgotten

 Helps a project manager with resource allocation

 Provides a proven and repeatable approach to planning projects

With regards to creating a Work Breakdown Structure, a WBS is

actually easy to build. Once the aims and objectives of the project are
understood, a meeting can be arranged where the project team breaks down
the manageable project details needed to complete the given project.
(Haughey, 2017)

In addition to this, Haughey, D. (2017) also states that there are two
formats in expressing a WBS – tabular form and graphical form. A
spreadsheet is used to create the tabular form by numbering each level and
sub-level. On the other hand, the graphical form can be created using
drawing software, creating a tree-style diagram.

CREATING A WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

A Work Breakdown Structure or WBS starts with a large project and

breaks it down into smaller, more manageable pieces that can be evaluated
and assigned to teams. Moreover, a WBS generally focuses on concrete,
measurable milestones. These milestones may also be called work
packages, tasks, sub-tasks, or terminal elements. (Christensen, 2017)

According to Christensen, E. (2017), the following rules is used to make a

Work Breakdown Structure:

1. The 100% rule. WBS must include 100% of the work necessary to
complete the overall goal without including any unrelated work.

2. Mutually exclusive. A sub-task for any amount of work should not

be included twice. Doing so would violate the 100% rule and will
result in miscalculations.

3. Outcomes, not actions. Focus on outcomes rather than on actions.

 4. The 8/80 rule. A work package should take no less than eight hours
of effort but no more than 80. Other rules suggest no more than ten
days (which is the same as 80 hours if you work full time) or no more
than a standard reporting period.

5. Three levels. A WBS should include about three levels of detail.

6. Make assignments. Every work package should be assigned to a

specific team or individual.

SYSTEM APPROACH TO PLANNING, SCHEDULING, CONTROLLING

Kerzner, H. (1979) stated that the projects are run by communications.

The work is defined by the communications tool known as the work
breakdown structure or WBS. It is tagged as the easy part of
communications, where everything is well defined. Unfortunately, project
managers cannot document everything they wish to say or relate to other
people, regardless of the level in the company.

The project manager sometimes becomes severely overloaded with

work. This situation can occur in-house when a line manager begins to
mistrust a project manager, or vice versa. There may suddenly appear an
exponential increase in the flow of paperwork, and everyone is writing
“protection” memos. (Kerzner, 2017)

Moreover, successful accomplishments from both the corporate and

contract objectives requires a plan that defines efforts, assigned
responsibilities, and established budgets along with the schedule, for work
or activity. In planning a project, the person – in – charge must consider the
elements of the work to be manageable, independent, and measurable in
terms of progress. (Kerzner, 2017)
REFERENCES:

 Christensen, E. (2017). How to Create a Work Breakdown

Structure and Why You Should. Retrieved from: https://
www.lucidchart.com/blog/how-to-create-a-work-breakdown-
structure-and-why-you-should.

 Haughey, D. (2017). Work Breakdown Structure 101.

Retrieved from: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/work-
breakdown-structure-101.php.

 Kerzner, H. (1979). System Approach to Planning,

Scheduling Controlling. New Jersey. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.