Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to
accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.
Some Important Notes on WBS
➢ WBS can be deliverable wise or phase wise.
➢ WBS is created by decomposing total scope of work into small manageable components.
➢ During decomposition, don’t need to keep in mind the sequence. Only focus what to deliver.
➢ The planned work is contained within the lowest level of WBS components, are called work packages.
➢ Work package is deliverable. Activities are the effort required to produce the deliverable.
➢ Work package is noun and activity is verb. But sometimes work package sounds like verb such as
“Obtain Approval”. This is actually noun-verb.
➢ The length of work packages should be follow 8/80 rule. Not more than 80 hrs and not less than 8 hrs.
➢ Summation of all work packages must be 100%.
➢ A WBS should be created by the project manager using input from the team and other stakeholders.
➢ WBS workshop is very good team building activity. By doing this workshop team can realize his area of
contribution to project and how it is related to the project.
Sequence Activities
❑ Dependency Determination & Integration:
➢ Mandatory: Mandatory dependencies are those that are legally or contractually required or inherent
in the nature of the work. (Hard logic/Hard Dependency)
➢ Discretionary: Discretionary dependencies are established based on knowledge of best practices
within a particular application area or some unusual aspect of the project where a specific sequence
is desired, even though there may be other acceptable sequences. (soft logic)
➢ External: External dependencies involve a relationship between project activities and non-project
activities.
➢ Internal: Internal dependencies involve a precedence relationship between project activities.
Sequence Activities
❑ Precedence Diagramming Method:
In this method nodes (boxes) are used to represent activity and arrows show activity dependencies.
Predecessor
Activity A
Activity B
Successor
PDM includes four types of logical relationships
➢ Finish to Start (FS): When start of succeeding activity depends on finish of preceding activity.
➢ Start to Start (SS): When start of succeeding activity depends on start of preceding activity.
➢ Finish to Finish (FF): When finish of succeeding activity depends on finish of preceding activity.
➢ Start to Finish (SF): When finish of succeeding activity depends on start of preceding activity.
Predecessor Predecessor Predecessor Predecessor
Activity A Activity A Activity A Activity A
Activity B Activity B Activity B Activity B
Successor Successor Successor Successor
Finish to Start (FS) Start to Start (SS) Finish to Finish (FF) Start to Finish (SF)
Sequence Activities
❑ Lead & Lag:
A lead is the amount of time a successor activity can be advanced with respect to a predecessor activity.
Predecessor Predecessor Predecessor
Activity A Activity A Activity A
Activity B Activity B Activity B
Successor Successor Successor
Lead Lead Lead
Finish to Start (FS) Start to Start (SS) Finish to Finish (FF)

A lag is the amount of time a successor activity will be delayed with respect to a predecessor activity.
Predecessor Predecessor Predecessor Lag
Activity A Activity A Activity A
Activity B Activity B Activity B
Successor Successor Successor
Lag Lag
Finish to Start (FS) Start to Start (SS) Finish to Finish (FF)
Sequence Activities (Output)
❑ Project Schedule Network Diagram:
It is a graphical distribution of logical relationship, also referred to as dependencies, among the project
schedule activities.
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Step-1: Find the longest path
Start
4
A ▪A-B-C-F-G-H-I-K-L=4+5+2+8+3+3+1+4+2=32
5
B ▪A-B-C-D-E-G-H-I-K-L=4+5+2+2+4+3+3+1+4+2=30
2 2 4 6 4 2
C D E J K L
▪A-B-C-D-E-J-K-L=4+5+2+2+4+6+4+2= 29
8 3 3 1
F G H I Finish
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Step-2: Find Path Float/Slack (Scheduling Flexibility)
➢ Total float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project end date.
➢ Free float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of its
successor.
➢ Project float is the amount of time a project can be delayed without delaying the externally imposed
project completion date. Path Float
Start ▪A-B-C-F-G-H-I-K-L=4+5+2+8+3+3+1+4+2=32 0
4
A
▪A-B-C-D-E-G-H-I-K-L=4+5+2+2+4+3+3+1+4+2=30 32-30=2
5
▪A-B-C-D-E-J-K-L=4+5+2+2+4+6+4+2= 29 32-29=3
B
2 2 4 6 4 2
C D E J K L

8 3 3 1
F G H I Finish
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Step-3: Find Activity Float/Slack (Scheduling Flexibility) Path Float
Start ▪A-B-C-F-G-H-I-K-L=4+5+2+8+3+3+1+4+2=32 0
4
A
▪A-B-C-D-E-G-H-I-K-L=4+5+2+2+4+3+3+1+4+2=30 32-30=2
5 ▪A-B-C-D-E-J-K-L=4+5+2+2+4+6+4+2= 29 32-29=3
B
2 2 4 6 4 2
Activity Float
C D E J K L A=0 J=3 D=? 2
8 3 3 1
B=0 E=? 2
F G H I Finish C=0
F=0
G=0
H=0
I=0
K=0
L=0
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Step-4: Figure out ES, EF, LS, LF
➢ Forward pass technique is use to identify the early start and early finish date of each activity in the
network diagram.
➢ Backward pass technique is use to identify the late start and late finish date of each activity in the
network diagram.

ES + Duration-1=EF LF – Duration+1=LS

Float = LF-EF=LS-ES
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Step-1: Find the longest path

▪A-B-D-G-H-I=5+3+2+6+2+4=22
▪A-C-E-G-H-I=5+4-2+7+2+4=20
▪A-C-E-F=5+4-2+6=13
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Step-2: Find Path Float/Slack (Scheduling Flexibility)

Path Float
▪A-B-D-G-H-I=5+3+2+6+2+4=22 0
▪A-C-E-G-H-I=5+4-2+7+2+4=20 22-20=2
▪A-C-E-F=5+4-2+6=13 22-13=9
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Step-3: Find Activity Float/Slack (Scheduling Flexibility)
Activity Float
A=0 F=9 C=? 2
B=0 E=? 2
D=0
G=0
H=0
I=0
Path Float
▪A-B-D-G-H-I=5+3+2+6+2+4=22 0
▪A-C-E-G-H-I=5+4-2+7+2+4=20 22-20=2
▪A-C-E-F=5+4-2+6=13 22-13=9
Critical Path Method (CPM)
Step-4: Figure out ES, EF, LS, LF
➢ Forward pass technique is use to identify the early start and early finish date of each activity in the
network diagram.
➢ Backward pass technique is use to identify the late start and late finish date of each activity in the
network diagram.

ES + Duration-1=EF LF – Duration+1=LS

Float = LF-EF=LS-ES
Resource Optimization:
Resource Levelling is a technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints.
Resource leveling can often cause the original critical path to change.

Resource smoothing is a modified form of resource leveling, where resources are leveled only within the limits
of the float of their activities, so the completion dates of activities are not delayed.
Schedule Compression:

Crashing is a technique to short the duration of schedule by adding additional resources.

Fast Tracking is a technique to short the duration of schedule by overlapping the activities.
Develop Schedule (Output)
❑ Project Schedule:
The project schedule presents linked activities with planned dates, durations, milestones, and resources.
At a minimum, the project schedule includes a planned start date and planned finish date for each
activity.
Although a project schedule model can be presented in tabular form, it is more often presented
graphically, using one or more of the following formats:
➢ Project Schedule Network Diagrams
➢ Bar Charts
➢ Milestone Charts
Develop Schedule (Output)
❑ Project Schedule: