Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT:
It is generally recognized by project management professionals that the work breakdown structure (WBS) is the foundation of planning, estimating, scheduling, and monitoring activities. Although the lower-level elements of a WTS need to be schedule-oriented, the Upper levels can (and should) be deliVerable-oriented. The upper levels of a WBS are often either resource-oriented or schedule-oriented, primarily because they are somewhat more convenient to create. Even though it is more difficult and somewhat unfamiliar to develop a deliverable-oriented WBS that contains deliverables at the top levels, schedule- or resource-oriented structures are not as efficient in project monitoring, evaluation, and plan modification when compared to work breakdown structures that are created with a deliverable structure in mind. This article presents the rationale and methods for modifying the traditional breakdown structure philosophy in order to obtain a WBS that is focused on deliverables. A deliverable-oriented structure has the added advantage of providing project historical information that can be useful when planning future projects.
Key Words: work breakdown structure, deliverables, project management, organizational breakdown structure, resource breakdown structure
It is generally recognized by project management professionals that the work breakdown structure (WBS) is the foundation of planning, estimating, scheduling, and monitoring activities. This article presents the rationale and methods for modi@,Ing the traditional breakdown structure philosophy in order to obtain a WBS that is focused on deliverables. A deliverable-oriented structure has the added advantage of providing project historical information that can be useful when planning future projects.
Before discussing the work breakdown structure (WBS), I want to provide the proper perspective for project structures. There are three separate structures that need to be created, defined, or modified for a project: the organizational breakdown structure, the resource breakdown structure, and the work breakdown structure.
The organizational breakdown structure (OBS) is the most readily available structure. Since companies frequently go through large organizational changes, care must be taken to use the most recent data and to make updates as changes continue to occur within the organization. For a project management system, the normal organizational chart must be augmented by unwritten responsibilities and by any "dotted-line" relationships that affect the execution of the project.
The resource breakdown structure (RBS) is a logical and useful classification of the resources...