Work Breakdown Structures

(WBS)

Planning the Project

Describing Tasks and Work Flow
Developing the Plan

The project is defined in terms of time,

scope and cost

• Example: To introduce a new household

cooking product in 10 months and within
a budget of $2M meeting consumer
defined standards.
 The Project Environment

Assess the environment, you must:

• Know the Project Sponsor and
stakeholders
• Know and chart who has power and
influence on the project success
• know who is ‘for’ or ‘against’ the project
• Know the project culture
Planning Environment Cont’d

• Know the External Factors that affect the

project: inclusive of acts of god, risks, fiscal
policy, corporate strategy, market conditions
and statutory regulations etc.

• Know the Work Factors : inclusive of the

technical capacity, support services,
management skills, resources,
communication network, procedures and
systems, and attitudes of project parties.
Document Project Assumptions

Your assumption in the project may include:

– The project start date, approval dates etc
– The resources that are approved and expected
– The authority of the Project Manager
– Project Sponsor expectations
– The project deliverables
– The specifications and standards to be adopted
– Information that will be provided
– The procurement processes
Document Your Constraints

Document the project constraints like:

– Triple constraints time, cost and scope
– Lack of commitment from executives
– Stakeholder unrealistic expectations
– Lack of skilled staff
– Poor communication

Example of a constraint: The project MUST

be complete by 2/3/11.
Work Planning Actions

Action1: Begin your actual planning using

tools that link your objects to the goal.

Action 2: Describe the actual work

needed to accomplish the goals.

Action 3: Breakdown the work into work

packages or slices: Work Breakdown
Structures (WBS) and logical networks.
WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURES
(WBS)

Using a WBS to eliminate future crises by

preventing required activities from “falling
through the cracks.”
It answers the questions:
– What will be accomplished?
– How it will be accomplished and by whom?
– How much will it cost?
WBS EXAMPLE
Project: Clean up Yard
Question/answer: What must be done?
WHY USE WBS ?

The purpose of the WBS is to divide the project

into small pieces, sometimes called work
packages.

Dividing the project into work packages makes

it possible to prepare project schedules,
procurement plans, cost estimates and the
assignment of responsibilities.
 HOW TO PREPARE WBS?
• No magic formula!! Prepare WBS by:
– Functional or technological disciplines
– design/manufacturing/marketing/sales/finance
– Organizational structure
– Vendor/subcontractor responsibilities
– Physical location
– Systems and subsystems
– Or any combination, but generally end-product or
hardware-oriented.!!

REMEMBER the rule that the people who must do the

work should participate in planning it.
At what WBS level do you stop?

• Stop when you reach a point at which you can

estimate required resources to the desired
degree of accuracy
• Or when the work will take an amount of time
equal to the smallest units you want to schedule
days, weeks, months, etc.
• Or stop when the element is .5 to 2.0% of the
project.
• Or stop once you’ve identified a “work package”
PLANNING TOOLS

Planning tools such as Gantt

Charts, tables etc.
GANTT CHARTS
A Gantt Chart is a simple planning tool. The Gantt
Chart places the activities in logical order and time. The
time is displayed horizontally against the activity, for
example:
Time in Days
Activity Dur.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Task1 2            
Task 2 4                
Task3 3                

Task4 8                    
Task5 2      
Task6 4          
Task7 2    
Task8 1  
Personnel Symbol                            
Project Manager PM                            
Team Member 1 TM1                            
Team member 2 TM2                            
Contractor C                            
Engineer E                            
PLANNING TABLES
A table is another simple planning tool. The activities
are placed in logical order and time, for example:

PROJECT ACTIVITY TO BE DONE DURATION START DATE COMPLETION

BY DATE
1. Conduct a survey of the existing Consultants 1/2 months Sept. 2003 Sept. 2003
building, prepare work plans and a report

2. Review and confirm Architects’ and Consultants 1 months Oct. 2003 Oct. 2003
Users Briefs for the proposed facilities
3. Confirmation of design requirements Consultants and 1/2 months Oct. 2003 Oct. 2003
presented by Consultants TTECO
4. Design of facilities, preparation of Consultants, 3 months Nov. 2003 Jan. 2004
tender documents and costing (submit TTECO review
documents for review) and request
revisions
5. Contract Construction Firms for the Consultants and 3 months Jan. 2004 May 2004
construction TTECO
6. Construction works Contractors 10 months May 2004 Feb. 2005
7. Supervise, monitor, evaluate work Consultants 10 months May 2004 Feb. 2005
carried out and make recommendations provide site
for payment supervision,
monitored by
TTECO
 MILESTONES

Milestones can be used to aid planning of projects. A

milestone is a scheduled event signifying the
completion of a major deliverable or a set of related
deliverables.

CRTICAL PATHhas
A milestone NETWORKS
zero durationAND PERT
and no effort DIAGRAMS
-- there is
no work associated with a milestone. It is a flag in the
work plan to signify some other work has been
completed; for example:
Milestone Initial Estimated Completion Date
Draft Terms of Reference April 21, 2010
Review and edit April 30, 2010
Issue RFP to Bidders May5,2010
 CRITICAL PATH AND PERT DIAGRAMS

Planning can be carried out by using software applying

Critical Path and PERT analysis. The critical path is logical
network with the longest duration.

CRTICAL PATH NETWORKS AND PERT DIAGRAMS

PROCUREMENT PLANS

A procurement plan outlines the actions in a

procurement activity:

Project Background
Project Strategy
Procurement Plan / Contract for services
Procurement Timeline/Schedule
The Evaluation Methodology
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Committee Plan
Award process