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Work Breakdown Structure in Project Management

Project managers in the current project environment are finding high value in creating

work breakdown structures (WBS) when beginning the project management process. Project

success is highly attributed to the effective use of a work breakdown structure. A WBS is an

essential element of the planning process in project management as it helps define the scope of

the project, which ensures delivery of the project’s objectives and outcomes. When used

effectively, a WBS ensures more clarity of the scope and the there is articulation of the project

before beginning the actual work. When the WBS is used before beginning the project, the

chances of the project becoming successful also increase. WBS is an intelligent structure of work

breakdowns, which is a precursor to effective project management (Susiawan et al., 2019).

Experienced project managers know that they cannot work without a WBS as many things could

wrong, regardless of how successfully the work was planned and executed. Therefore, making a

WBS marks the first step towards developing a project schedule and a successful project.

A perfect context is creating a work breakdown structure that will lay down the work

plan of a commercial building construction project. Such a project is very complex but creating a

WBS takes away the complexity and boils the project scope down to simpler tasks that make the

project manageable.
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Commercial Building Project

Planning Execution Control Closeout

Initiation

Evaluation Scope statement Lay foundation Resource

Audit
management
Excavate
Charter Project team
Cost
Site cleanup
Pour concrete management
Plan schedule

Risk Document
Budget Interior work management handover

Electrical

Plumbing

Exterior work

Finishing
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The WBS used in this case is a phase-based work breakdown structure. A phase-based

WBS displays the final deliverable on top, with the other WBS levels below showing the other

five phases of project, which are planning, initiation, execution, control, and closeout. The

project phases are divided into project deliverables and specific work packages.

At the top of the WBS is the final deliverable, which in this case is the construction

project. What follows in the second level are the main project phases that the project manager

has to execute to achieve project success. The third level, which is also the lowest shows the

different work packages. Most WBS charts consist of the three main levels but more can be

added depending on the nature of the project. The second level contains five project phases,

which are initiation, planning, execution, control, and closure. The phases act as control accounts

and branch off the main deliverable that sits at the top (Susiawan et al., 2019). Once a decision is

made on which phase to use, they are then broken down into a series of deliverables based on the

objectives of the project. For instance, in the initiation phase, creating the project charter and site

evaluation are the chore activities that characterise the phase.

When using the WBS for the construction project, a work package will be necessary to go

with each of the project deliverables. For instance, in the execution phase, we can look at the

interior work deliverable. The interior work deliverable in this case is divided into two distinct

work packages, which are setting up the electricity and installing the plumbing. Therefore, the

WBS for the construction project will act as the roadmap to guide the project manager to

successful completion of what would seem very complicated project scope. When the project

scope is broken down with a WBS, scheduling, project planning, and resource planning become

much more manageable (de Heredia Scasso & Larenas, 2017).

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Characteristics of an effective Work Breakdown Structure

An effective WBS should be able to measure the start or completion period. When using

the WBS, the project manager should be able to ask for the status of any project activity at any

point in time when the activity is open for work. If the activity is properly defined, then the

question is easily answered. Also, the answer should consist of all activities that have been

executed, how much time was required to complete the work, how much work is left, and how

long more the activities need to be completed (de Heredia Scasso & Larenas, 2017). Therefore,

an effective WBS should be able to answer and measure all these questions.

The WBS have definitive events that mark the beginning and end of the project. For the

construction project, large of the work has been scheduled at the beginning of the project and the

WBS should be able to clearly show this. Most of the project’s effort is usually dedicated to

ensuring the project is completed at the stipulated and an effective WBS should depict this

through the scheduling process (Brotherton et al., 2008). The schedules are important in showing

when the projects tasks will begin and when they will end.

An effective WBS should ensure the activities listed in the project have deliverables. This

will mean having a detailed and clear description for all the team members involved in the

project, the specific operations and functionalities that will be performed during the construction

process, alignment with all requirements provided by the client and a clear establishment of the

client’s expectations. An effective WBS should provide a way to share the project deliverables

with key stakeholders and coordination of all tasks to achieve the main project objectives. Once

the work has began, the WBS should list how the deliverables will be updated and the team or

parties responsible for this activity (de Heredia Scasso & Larenas, 2017). The project team needs
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to be up to date with status reports of the construction process. Also, in listing the deliverables,

an effective WBS should be able to measure the success of the project upon its completion.

The WBS should measure the work assignments of each phase and ensure they are

independent. The effectiveness of the WBS will be tested when each individual task is not

independent on the other for completion. The WBS should give each team member ownership

over their portion of the project to ensure independence. Each of the members should then be

responsible for the quality and timely completion of their respective tasks in each phase

(Susiawan et al., 2019). The independence creates accountability, making it easier for the WBS

to account each success to the responsible individual. Also, through independence of tasks, an

effective WBS should help the project leaders identify and address any significant that may arise

from the project implementation process such as delays or resources missing for the completion

of specific tasks.

Importance of applying a WBS to the project management cycle

When using a WBS during the project management cycle, it prevents work from slipping

through the cracks. The WBS shows the project deliverables in cycle phase of project cycle and

the work that needs to be done in the project. Therefore, it acts as a guide to the project team on

what needs to be done and when to be done in an organized fashion (Brotherton et al., 2008). In

this way, all unnecessary work and activities not directly within the project scope can be

eliminated, which helps the project team to focus on the project scope only and achieve success.

A WBS will provide the project team members a comprehensive understanding of where

their pieces fit into the overall project management plan within the project management cycle.

The WBS will provide an indication of the impact of their work on the project as a whole. For

instance, in the commercial building construction project, the project team member working on
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the plumbing work package will be able to see how their activities will help to complete the

overall project and product scope (Brotherton et al., 2008). Considering there will be several

project team members, WBS will help the project team to see how each activity or deliverable

helps in completing the product and project scope.

Applying a WBS in the project management cycle will facilitate cooperation and

communication among the project team and other engaged stakeholder. The WBS shows the

hierarchy of the project work and deliverables of project scope, completed work, remaining

work, and project team members working on the same work package, and so on (Brotherton et

al., 2008). So, all of these can be easily communicated to project stakeholders with the help of a

WBS. Since there will be several smaller parts under work packages, and these will be assigned

to project team members, the WBS will be helpful for the cooperation between project team

members for completing project activities respectively.

A WBS will provide the best basis for estimating or calculating costs, staff and time in

the project management cycle. It is always hard to make estimations about staff requirements,

cost and time for a big amount of work. There will be a higher possibility of deviations in actual

results if estimations are done over bigger work packages. However, if all work is divided into

smaller parts, it will be easier to do an estimation. The deviation amount and possibility will be

reduced respectively (Brotherton et al., 2008). For instance, in the commercial building project, it

is not easy to make an estimation about a whole building and development process. Therefore,

breaking down the project work into smaller pieces and making an estimation for each smaller

part such as plumbing and electricity installation will be strategic to the success of the project.

Through a WBS, smaller pieces will be estimated easily and more accurately by the project team.
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References

Brotherton, S. A., Fried, R. T., & Norman, E. S. (2008, October 19). Applying work breakdown

structure to project lifecycle. Pmi.org. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/applying-

work-breakdown-structure-project-lifecycle-6979

de Heredia Scasso, R., & Larenas, G. S. (2017). Project-breakdown structure: the tool for

representing the project system in project management. International Journal of Project

Management, 9(3), 157–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/0263-7863(91)90040-3

Susiawan, T. A., Latief, Y., & Riantini, L. S. (2019). Development of WBS (Work Breakdown

Structure) risk-based standard for safety planning at seaport project. Journal of Physics:

Conference Series, 1360, 012007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1360/1/012007