Module 2(a)

Module 2 ENG3182 Business & Project

Management
Unit 2 (a) Lecture 2 Project Management

Study Element Time Planning.

Work breakdown structures
Student Hours

‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’

Old adage.

‘Planning is an unnatural process. It is much more satisfying to do something and the nicest thing
about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a
long period of worry and depression.’

Sir John Harvey, c1800

The planning process

To call project planning a process could imply that there is a well defined route for the planners to
take. However this is not always very clear and a generic model of planning is difficult to construct.
Planning as a process in civil engineering involves the consumption of resources, labour, materials,
plant etc. In other words it has costs associated with it. Therefore the project manager has to decide on
the balance between the costs incurred in the process and consequently the benefits that will be gained
from it.

Complex projects will require a systematic approach to planning, and this will include the following;

 Breaking down complex activities into manageable sections. (WBS).

 Determining logical sequences of activities. (Networks/Bar Charts)
 Providing a time frame or durations to the activities. (Scheduling)
 Providing a basis for subsequent management decisions. (Estimates, Resources Levelling,
Cost Optimisation)
 Providing a control mechanism (comparing achieved results against the original plan. PERT
Cost).
 A communications document to the project team.
 Allows for lessons to be learned from practice.

Work Breakdown Structures

Why use a Work Breakdown Structure at all?

The work breakdown structure approach allows us to visually see the work that is needed in order to
complete a project. The bottom line is by using a work breakdown structure it reduces the number of
surprises and improves the ability to better estimate future projects.

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The purpose of the work breakdown structure (WBS) is to subdivide the scope of work into
manageable work packages that can be estimated, planned and assigned to a responsible person or
department for completion.

The WBS was originally developed in the 1960’s as part of the drive towards improved project
definition and it soon became the backbone of the planning and control system.

Turner defines WBS as ‘………a cascade of deliverables, in which the overall product or objective of
the project is broken down into sub-products, assemblages and components’

WBS then is a technique by which the work of a project is divided and sub-divided for management
and control purposes.

Over time the work can be developed through successive increasing levels of detail.

The WBS is a hierarchical structure that is best represented by a graphical sub-division of the scope of
the work in boxes. This logical sub-division of all the work elements is easy to understand and
assimilate, thus helping the project team to quantify their responsibility and gain commitment and
support.

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WBS Levels.

With each level of the WBS the scope of work is subdivided into more work packages with a
corresponding increase in the level of detail. For most practical purposes three or four levels should be
sufficient to achieve the desired level of planning and control, anymore than that the WBS starts to
become unwieldy.

For Project Management purposes, work is normally broken out to the level of key operations.

For Construction Management purposes, the construction work can be progressively broken down
from operations to activities. Where necessary, from Activities to Tasks.

1. Successive levels of details may be evolved as relevant information is generated.

2. Work can be allocated into packages and procured and controlled accordingly.
3. The Project Manager may call for Reports from Project Contributors based on work content at
appropriate levels.
4. The Construction Manager may call for Reports from site section managers at Level 5 and
below.
5. Different Levels of Breakdown and Work Packages require different project Contributors
with different responsibilities. These can be defined.
6. Time flows from Left to Right and at each level may be made to mirror the timing of the work
and facilitate a rolling wave of nested programmes from Project Level down to the lowest
task orientated package level.
7. Production Information and Drawing programmes may be related to each package of work
and programme.
8. Facilities pre-production/procurement programmes.
9. Each Work Package can be identified with a unique cost code and actual and planned cost
variances compared. (See Unit –PERTCOST)
10. Each Work Package can be fully described, i.e. content, what is included and what is
excluded, in a Package Scope Statement. (Management Fee Contractors define packages of
related work in a similar way in a Work Package Index).
11. The progressive breakdown of the work progresses from packages, to operations, to activities,
to tasks and then ultimately to jobs.

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Example of the use of ‘levels’ in the WBS.

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A project is not a deconstructed activity. It is the opposite, it requires construction, therefore the WBS
is a way of illustrating the building up of the project from sub-projects and activities, so it could be
said that the work breakdown structure provides the first attempt at modelling the project and the
processes involved in its delivery. The bottom level will be a list of activities which will be the basis
of the network planning to follow.

Tutorial Questions

1) What is the purpose of a work breakdown structure?

2) What are the two main variables that a project manager has to balance in the planning
process?
3) Describe the concept of work packages, and how they may be applied to the planning process.

G.J. Bailey 2022

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