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LESSON 22
WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE
Broad Contents
Introduction Characteristics of various levels of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Characteristics of Work Package Guidelines for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) by Contractor Criteria for Developing Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Decomposition Problems Uses of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
22.1 Introduction:
In order to successfully accomplish both contract and corporate objectives, a plan is required that defines all effort to be expended, assigns responsibility to a specially identified organizational element, and establishes schedules and budgets for the accomplishment of the work. The preparation of this plan is the responsibility of the program manager, who is assisted by the program team assigned in accordance with program management system directives. The detailed planning is also established in accordance with company budgeting policy before contractual efforts are initiated.
Keeping this in view, in planning a project, the project manager must structure the work into small elements that are:
- Manageable, in that specific authority and responsibility can be assigned
- Independent, or with minimum interfacing with and dependence on other ongoing elements
- Integratable so that the total package can be seen
- Measurable in terms of progress
After project requirements definition, the first major step in the planning process is the development of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a product-oriented family tree subdivision of the hardware, services, and data required to produce the end product. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is structured in accordance with the way the work will be performed and reflects the way in which project costs and data will be summarized and eventually reported. Preparation of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) also considers other areas that require structured data, such as scheduling, configuration management, contract funding, and technical performance parameters. It is the single most important element because it provides a common framework from which:
- Total program can be described as a summation of subdivided elements
- Planning can be performed
- Costs and budgets can be established
- Time, cost, and performance can be tracked
- Objectives can be linked to company resources in a logical manner
- Schedules and status-reporting procedures can be established
- Network construction and control planning can be initiated
- Responsibility assignments for each element can be established
Note that the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) acts as a vehicle for breaking the work down into smaller elements, thus providing a greater probability that every major and minor activity
will be accounted for. docsity.com
Although a variety of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) exist, the most common is the six- level indented structure shown as Figure 22.1 below:
Figure 22.1: Six-Level Indented Structure
As the figure shows, Level 1 is the total program and is composed of a set of projects. The summation of the activities and costs associated with each project must equal the total program. Each project, however, can be broken down into tasks, where the summation of all tasks equals the summation of all projects, which, in turn, comprises the total program. The reason for this subdivision of effort is simply ease of control. Program management therefore, becomes synonymous with the integration of activities, and the project manager acts as the integrator, using the work breakdown structure as the common framework.
It is important that careful consideration must be given to the design and development of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). It can be used to provide the basis for the following:
Figure 22.2: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for Objective Control and Evaluation
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To explain them further, work packages are natural subdivisions of cost accounts and constitute the basic building blocks used by the contractor in planning, controlling, and measuring contract performance. A work package is simply a low-level task or job assignment. It describes the work to be accomplished by a specific performing organization or a group of cost centers and serves as a vehicle for monitoring and reporting progress of work. Documents that authorize and assign work to a performing organization are designated by various names throughout industry.
Here, it is important to know what a work package is. "Work package" is the generic term used in the criteria to identify discrete tasks that have definable end results. Ideal work packages are 80 hours and less than 2–4 weeks. However, this may not be possible on large projects.
It is not necessary that work package documentation contain complete, stand-alone descriptions. Supplemental documentation may augment the work package descriptions. However, the work package descriptions must permit cost account managers and work package supervisors to understand and clearly distinguish one work package effort from another. In the review of work package documentation, it may be necessary to obtain explanations from personnel routinely involved in the work, rather than requiring the work package descriptions to be completely self- explanatory.
Figure 22.3: The cost account intersection
The desirability of having short-term work packages is a key feature from the standpoint of evaluation accomplishment. This requirement is not intended to force arbitrary cutoff points simply to have short-term work packages. Work packages should be natural subdivisions of effort planned according to the way the work will be done. However, when work packages are relatively short, little or no assessment of work-in-process is required and the evaluation of status is possible mainly on the basis of work package completions. The longer the work packages, the more difficult and subjective the work-in-process assessment becomes unless the packages are subdivided by objective indicators such as discrete milestones with pre-assigned budget values or completion percentages.
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Keeping this in view, in setting up the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), tasks should:
- Have clearly defined start and end dates
- Be usable as a communications tool in which results can be compared with expectations
- Be estimated on "total" time duration, not when the task must start or end
- Be structured so that a minimum of project office control and documentation (that is, forms) is necessary
22.3 Characteristics of Work Package:
In case of large projects, planning will be time phased at the work package level of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The work package has the following characteristics:
- Represents units of work at the level where the work is performed
- Clearly distinguishes one work package from all others assigned to a single functional group
- Contains clearly defined start and end dates that are representative of physical accomplishment
- Specifies a budget in terms of dollars, man-hours, or other measurable units
- Limits the work to be performed to relatively short periods of time to minimize the work-in process effort
The following table (table 22.1) shows a simple Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with the associated numbering system following the work breakdown. The first number represents the total program (in this case, it is represented by 01), the second number represents the project, and the third number identifies the task. Therefore, number 01-03-00 represents project 3 of program 01, whereas 01-03-02 represents task 2 of project 3. This type of numbering system is not standard; each company may have its own system, depending on how costs are to be controlled.
Table 22.1: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for New Plant Construction and Start-Up docsity.com
22.6 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Decomposition Problems:
Misconceptions prevail with almost every thing. There is a common misconception that the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) decomposition is an easy task to perform. In the development of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the top three levels or management levels are usually roll-up levels.
Preparing templates at these levels is becoming common practice. However, at levels 4–6 of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), templates may not be appropriate. There are the following reasons for this:
- Firstly, breaking the work down to extremely small and detailed work packages may require the creation of hundreds or even thousands of cost accounts and charge numbers. This could increase the management, control, and reporting costs of these small packages to a point where the costs exceed the benefits. Although a typical work package may be 200– hours and approximately two weeks in duration, consider the impact on a large project, which may have more than one million direct labor hours.
- Breaking the work down to small work packages can provide accurate cost control if, and only if, the line managers can determine the costs at this level of detail. Line managers must be given the right to tell project managers that costs cannot be determined at the requested level of detail.
- The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the basis for scheduling techniques such as the Arrow Diagramming Method and the Precedence Diagramming Method. At low levels of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the interdependencies between activities can become so complex that meaningful networks cannot be constructed.
To cater to the above-mentioned problems, one solution is to create "hammock" activities, which encompass several activities where exact cost identification cannot or may not be accurately determined. Some projects identify a "hammock" activity called management support (or project office), which includes overall project management, data items, management reserve, and possibly procurement. The advantage of this type of hammock activity is that the charge numbers are under the direct control of the project manager.
In addition to this, there is a common misconception that the typical dimensions of a work package are approximately 80 hours and less than two weeks to a month. Although this may be true on small projects, this would necessitate millions of work packages on large jobs and this may be impractical, even if line managers could control work packages of this size.
Cost analysis down to the fifth level is advantageous, from a cost control point of view. However, it should be noted that the cost required to prepare cost analysis data to each lower level might increase exponentially, especially if the customer requires data to be presented in a specified format that is not part of the company's standard operating procedures. The level- work packages are normally for in-house control only. Some companies bill customers separately for each level of cost reporting below level 3.
Another aspect is that the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be subdivided into sub objectives with finer divisions of effort as we go lower into the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). By defining sub objectives, we add greater understanding and, it is hoped, clarity of action for those individuals who will be required to complete the objectives. Whenever work is structured, understood, easily identifiable, and within the capabilities of the individuals, there will almost always exist a high degree of confidence that the objective can be reached.
Also, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be used to structure work for reaching such
objectives as lowering cost, reducing absenteeism, improving morale, and lowering scrapdocsity.com
factors. The lowest subdivision now becomes an end-item or sub-objective, not necessarily a work package as described here.
Since we are describing project management, therefore, for the remainder of the text we will consider the lowest level as the work package.
22.7 Uses of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):
It is important to remember that once the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is established and the program is "kicked off," it becomes a very costly procedure to either add or delete activities, or change levels of reporting because of cost control. Many companies do not give careful forethought to the importance of a properly developed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and ultimately they risk cost control problems downstream. One important use of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is that it serves as a cost control standard for any future activities that may follow on or may just be similar. One common mistake made by management is the combining of direct support activities with administrative activities. For example, the department manager for manufacturing engineering may be required to provide administrative support (possibly by attending team meetings) throughout the duration of the program. If the administrative support is spread out over each of the projects, a false picture is obtained as to the actual hours needed to accomplish each project in the program. If one of the projects should be canceled, then the support man-hours for the total program would be reduced when, in fact, the administrative and support functions may be constant, regardless of the number of projects and tasks.
It is quite often that the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) accompanying customer Request for Proposals (RFPs), contains much more scope of effort as specified by the statement of work than the existing funding will support. This is done intentionally by the customer in hopes that a contractor may be willing to ''buy in." If the contractor's price exceeds the customer's funding limitations, then eliminating activities from the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) must reduce the scope of effort. By developing a separate project for administrative and indirect support activities, the customer can easily modify his costs by eliminating the direct support activities of the canceled effort.
Lastly, we should also discuss the usefulness and applicability of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) system. Many companies and industries have been successful in managing programs without the use of work breakdown structures, especially on repetitive-type programs.
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