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Work Breakdown Structure 2-Project Managment-Handouts, Lecture notes of Project Management

Indian Institute of Management (IIM)Project Management

What is project management? What its need? How to work in team, alone on a project? What are its parts? How to divide work? How to plan? What is project scope? This course has answer for how to make organization successful. This handout includes: Preparation, Breakdown, Guide, Methods, Plans, Statement, Discussed, Similarly, Structure

Typology: Lecture notes

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Project Management –MGMT627 VU
© Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 159
LESSON 23
WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE
BROAD CONTENTS
Preparation Guides for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Checklists for Preparing Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Methods for Structuring Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Why Do Plans Fail?
23.1 Preparation Guides for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):
We have already discussed the preparation guides for the Statement of Work (SOW). Similarly
there are several preparation guides for the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). These are as
follows:
• Firstly, develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) structure by subdividing the total
effort into discrete and logical sub elements. Usually a program subdivides into projects,
major systems, major subsystems, and various lower levels until a manageable -size
element level is reached. Wide variations may occur, depending upon the type of effort
(e.g., major systems development, support services, etc.). Include more than one cost center
and more than one contractor if this reflects the actual situation.
• It is important to check the proposed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and the
contemplated efforts for completeness, compatibility, and continuity.
• Determine that the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) satisfies both functional
(engineering/ manufacturing/ test) and program/project (hardware, services, etc.)
requirements, including recurring and nonrecurring costs.
• Remember to check to determine if the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) provides for
logical subdivision of all project work.
• Establish assignment of responsibilities for all identified effort to specific organizations.
• Finally, check the proposed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) against the reporting
requirements of the organizations involved.
23.2 Checklists for Preparing Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):
In addition to the preparation guides, there are also checklists that can be used in the preparation
of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):
• Focus to develop a preliminary Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to not lower than the top
three levels for solicitation purposes (or lower if deemed necessary for some special
reason).
• Remember to assure that the contractor is required to extend the preliminary Work
Breakdown Structure (WBS) in response to the solicitation, to identify and structure all
contractor work to be compatible with his organization and management system.
• Following negotiations, the Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) included in the
contract should not normally extend lower than the third level.
• It is essential to assure that the negotiated Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS)
structure is compatible with reporting requirements.
• Assure that the negotiated Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) is compatible with
the contractor's organization and management system.
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LESSON 23

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

BROAD CONTENTS

Preparation Guides for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Checklists for Preparing Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Methods for Structuring Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Why Do Plans Fail?

23.1 Preparation Guides for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):

We have already discussed the preparation guides for the Statement of Work (SOW). Similarly there are several preparation guides for the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). These are as follows:

  • Firstly, develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) structure by subdividing the total effort into discrete and logical sub elements. Usually a program subdivides into projects, major systems, major subsystems, and various lower levels until a manageable -size element level is reached. Wide variations may occur, depending upon the type of effort (e.g., major systems development, support services, etc.). Include more than one cost center and more than one contractor if this reflects the actual situation.
  • It is important to check the proposed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and the contemplated efforts for completeness, compatibility, and continuity.
  • Determine that the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) satisfies both functional (engineering/ manufacturing/ test) and program/project (hardware, services, etc.) requirements, including recurring and nonrecurring costs.
  • Remember to check to determine if the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) provides for logical subdivision of all project work.
  • Establish assignment of responsibilities for all identified effort to specific organizations.
  • Finally, check the proposed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) against the reporting requirements of the organizations involved.

23.2 Checklists for Preparing Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):

In addition to the preparation guides, there are also checklists that can be used in the preparation of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):

  • Focus to develop a preliminary Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to not lower than the top three levels for solicitation purposes (or lower if deemed necessary for some special reason).
  • Remember to assure that the contractor is required to extend the preliminary Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in response to the solicitation, to identify and structure all contractor work to be compatible with his organization and management system.
  • Following negotiations, the Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) included in the contract should not normally extend lower than the third level.
  • It is essential to assure that the negotiated Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) structure is compatible with reporting requirements.
  • Assure that the negotiated Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) is compatible with the contractor's organization and management system.

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  • Review the Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) elements to ensure correlation with the following:

o The specification tree o Contract line items o End-items of the contract o Data items required o Work statement tasks o Configuration management requirements

  • Also, define Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) elements down to the level where such definitions are meaningful and necessary for management purposes (WBS dictionary).
  • Clearly specify reporting requirements for selected Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) elements if variations from standard reporting requirements are desired.
  • Always assure that the Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) covers measurable effort, level of effort, apportioned effort, and subcontracts, if applicable.
  • Lastly, Assure that the total costs at a particular level will equal the sum of the costs of the constituent elements at the next lower level.

In case of simple projects, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be constructed as a "tree diagram" or according to the logic flow. The tree diagram can follow the work or even the organizational structure of the company (i.e., division, department, section, unit). The second method is to create a logic flow and cluster certain elements to represent tasks and projects. In the tree method, lower-level functional units may be assigned to one, and only one.

Figure 23.1: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Elements

23.3 Methods for Structuring Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):

It is seen that a tendency exists today to develop guidelines, policies, and procedures for project management, but not for the development of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Since it

must have flexibility built into it, the tendency is to avoid limiting the way the Work docsity.com

project fails because of a poor definition of the requirements, then the project manager is totally at fault.

It is important that the project managers must be willing to accept failure. Sometimes, a situation occurs that can lead to failure, and the problem rests with either upper-level management or some other group. As an example, consider the major utility company with a planning group that prepares budgets (with the help of functional groups) and selects projects to be completed within a given time period. A project manager on one such project discovered that the project should have started ''last month" in order to meet the completion date. In cases like this, project managers will not become dedicated to the projects unless they are active members during the planning and know what assumptions and constraints were considered in development of the plan.

In some cases, sometimes, the project manager is part of the planning group and as part of feasibility study is asked to prepare, with the assistance of functional managers, a schedule and cost summary for a project that will occur three years downstream, if it is approved at all. Suppose that three years downstream the project is approved. How does the project manager get functional managers to accept the schedule and cost summary that they themselves prepared three years before? It cannot be done, because technology may have changed, people may be working higher or lower on the learning curve, and salary and raw material escalation factors are inaccurate.

Small mistake accumulate to cause big damage. Sometimes project plans fail because simple details are forgotten or overlooked. Examples of this might be:

  • Neglecting to tell a line manager early enough that the prototype is not ready and that rescheduling is necessary.
  • Neglecting to see if the line manager can still provide additional employees for the next two weeks because it was possible to do so six months ago.

In addition to this, sometimes plans fail because the project manager "bites off more than he can chew," and then something happens, such as his becoming ill. Even if the project manager is effective at doing a lot of the work, overburdening is unnecessary. Many projects have failed because the project manager was the only one who knew what was going on and then got sick.

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