This is what a work breakdown structure looks like. After that, youll get a reallife example from a small software development project. Dec 17, 2019 because this is the main objective of creating the wbs after all. Free 30day wbs software trial work breakdown structure wbs a work breakdown structure wbs is a key project deliverable that organizes the teams work into manageable sections. The work breakdown structure visually defines the scope into manageable chunks that a project team can understand, as each level of the work breakdown structure provides further definition and detail. A work package is the lowest component in a work breakdown structure wbs, sometimes called the terminal element of a wbs. The work breakdown structure wbs has long served as a valuable tool in helping.
Work breakdown structure task work activity work breakdown structure work breakdown structure. The work breakdown structure is typically used to develop a separate project schedule. Work packages are the smallest components of the work breakdown structure and can. Applying work breakdown structure to project lifecycle pmi. In project management, wbs stands for work breakdown structure. Heres how you might use a work breakdown structure to estimate your time for an upcoming move. How to create an excel work breakdown structure wbs. It is the level at which you are able to adequately estimate the required resources. Without a full and complete schedule, the project manager will be. Work packages are components which can easily be given to a person, a team, or a subcontractor, who then has accountability and responsibility for delivering the work package. It does not elaborate about individual tasks or the order of execution in detail. The package itself is usually described in the wbs dictionary.
Work breakdown structure wbs examples the best way to understand how work breakdown structures work is by looking at different wbs examples. It can be use to additional fields in the ms project to provide the more detailed information on the each component of the wbs then export the dictionary. Wbs work breakdown structure is a deliverableoriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables. In your project you will want to develop them down to a much more detailed level using the 8 to 80 rule where the wbs is broken down to where a work package contains between 8 and 80 hours of work to complete. Utilizing a work breakdown structure defined into specific work packages will help keep all the pieces of the project on track. Learn how to create compelling work breakdown structure wbs documents in. A work package is a deliverable or work component at the lowest level of its wbs branch. Aug 21, 2018 if you miss a work package wbs, then you will not deliver that work package as part of your project. As an example, you may have a deliverable defined for a software component system, subsystem, or function. Wbs for software testing breaking down the testing tasks requires understanding the process of testing the software that is being coded by the build team, and the full scope of the testing work. Using the work breakdown structure, you can break the project into.
The work breakdown structure wbs is the decomposition of a software project into low level work tasks. This may be accomplished by further decomposing each work package into activities. You might have seen the term come up a lot, especially when talking about a work breakdown structure wbs, and wondered to yourself what is a work package anyway. In this article, well take a closer look at the concept of a work package to understand it better. Most of the project management software gives you the ability to keep this information in one place. And remember your team members are completing work packages that produce these deliverables. Figure 1below depicts a sample work breakdown structure with three levels defined. A work package is defined as a deliverable at the lowest level of the work breakdown structure, when that deliverable may be assigned to another work manager to plan, execute and control.
An important point to remember is that in design decomposition, only the lower. How to create a work breakdown structure lucidchart blog. Completion of work packages can be dependencies for other work packages. For example, in a software project, we can have the following wbs. Seeing how complex projects are actually broken down can help you do the same in your projects. Figure 3 provides an example of a work breakdown structure using matchware mindview. What is a work breakdown structure wbs example included. Apr 10, 2020 work packages are important when preparing the work breakdown structure wbs for any project.
The work represented by the activities in each work package must add up to 100% of the work necessary to complete the work package. Using the work breakdown structure, you can break tasks down into subtasks and individual work packages. What are the 4 wbs levels and the relationship between them. Work packages are important when preparing the work breakdown structure wbs for any project. What is a work breakdown structure in project management. What are the differences between work package and planning. It allows you to take a project and decompose it into planable and controllable elements. The terms work package and activity are often used interchangeably, although on the exam, they are very distinct concepts and should not be confused.
Many people have mistaken wbs as a list of tasks, a schedule or an organization chart. Free work breakdown structure templates project management docs. Project management expert bonnie biafore describes the information to include in work package documents and how to decide the appropriate level of detail. If your software does not allow you to create a hierarchy diagram easily, dont do it in ms word, please. So make sure that you have 100% coverage for the wbs with respect to the project scope. Decomposing and tracking these related work packages will be difficult. Since work packages are the very small part of a wbs that is deliverable to the customer, these must be explained clearly to the project stakeholders. If you fail to identify a major part of your projects work. As mentioned previously, the lowest level in a wbs is a work package. A work package is the smallest unit of a work breakdown structure. Work breakdown structure examples and overview of wbs. To explain work packages in detail, work breakdown structure dictionary is used. A work package is a group of related tasks within a project. To save you time and facilitate the process of creating a work breakdown structure, you can use a prebuilt wbs template.
Designing work packages each work package should be specific enough. And again, this can continue to be broken down but this simply is a work breakdown structure. What is wbs work breakdown structure in project management. Once you have gathered the main work packages, you have to break each package further down until you arrive at a level where you have sub tasks and tangible deliverables that you can assign to somebody in your team. If you have made your wbs well, there will be no work overlap so responsibilities will be clear. The work breakdown structure wbs is a hierarchical description of all of the work that must be done to meet the needs of the client. In reality, wbs is a simple and easy visual breakdown of deliverables for product, result, or service. Nov 26, 2019 see for yourself by taking this free 30day trial of our software. Work breakdown structures bernd bruegge applied software engineering. In order to understand the difference between work package and planning package, first we need to realize the concept of progressive elaboration of scope. You will find various formats in use in practice, and there isnt one correct one.
The project schedule should reflect all of the work associated with delivering the project on time. As a modern pm, i would say that it should be a part of a task tracking system. A workbreakdown structure wbs in project management and systems engineering, is a. For example, we might use the following based on the car example we looked at earlier.
This is an example of a work breakdown structure wbs for a traditional waterfall approach to software development. Because they look like projects themselves, they are often thought of as subprojects within a larger project. Rational unified process, rational software corporation 1987 2001. In a project or contract, the wbs is developed by starting with the end objective and successively subdividing it into manageable. It is the very essential tool for the planning and to executing the project. You will keep doing this until you get to the smallest work tasks possible. A component of a wbs which is located at any level. Practically, it doesnt matter whether you call a work package an activity or viceversa. It breaks down the task into components that can be grouped together in terms of function, area of business, systems, subsystems or work packages. Work package wbs is decomposed based on work packages. Software development project let us assume that project team has created a wbs with software modules as work packages.
The work breakdown structure wbs is a vehicle for breaking an engineering project down into subproject, tasks, subtasks, work packages, and so on. A wbs diagram can help project managers to predict results based on information listed in the diagram. The lowest level of any wbs is always called the work package level. This is an example of a work breakdown structure wbs for a. Dec 22, 20 the main difference between work package and activity is that work packages are at a higher level in work breakdown structure wbs than activities. Every work package should be assigned to a specific team or individual. Free work breakdown structure templates smartsheet. The wbs is like taking an already assembled puzzle and organizing the pieces. Work package creation and maintenance page 3 of 23 updated 20150309 n. Work breakdown structure information, software and wbs samples. One such module could be module x it would be a work package.
We show what a work breakdown structure is and how it can help in the organization and execution of a project. Assign each work package to a specific team or individual. I use the terms wbs element and work package interchangeably in my reports today another pm in my company told me that these terms are different, but did not explain how. Work breakdown structure wbs in project management.
Planning package and work package are the components of wbs. The industrystandard definition of a work breakdown structure is a deliverableoriented. Matchware mindview is an easytouse mind mapping software package that supports work breakdown structures, project outlines, gantt charts, and exports easily into microsoft project for further schedule definition. The project schedule is the tool that communicates what work needs to be performed, which resources of the organization will perform the work and the timeframes in which that work needs to be performed. You then should assign an id to each work package based upon the relationships between the task items. Work breakdown structure wbs in project management teamgantt. This gives you a good overview over the work package and task hierarchy. A work breakdown structure allows you to visualize your deliverables and see all the tasks and subtasks that are required. We also learned that the wbs of a project is the foundation of planning and therefore it is should be carefully prepared. Heuristics and examples starting with templates how to identify work. Integration of all modules will result in the completion of the software product. We took time to design this list example, but your work breakdown structure can just as easily be scribbled down on your favorite notepad or whiteboard. One work breakdown structure example that will make it clear.
Planning packagea work breakdown structure component below the control account with known work content but without full schedule activities. Use the wbs to define the work for the project and to develop project schedule. A work package is comprised of a sequence of activities that culminates into a deliverable. It organizes and defines the total scope of the project. As an example, consider a construction repair project. This document provides project managers with a work breakdown structure wbs, which defines all of the application development projects critical deliverables 1. Mar, 2018 ms project 20 work breakdown structure wbs watch more videos at lecture by. Instead, wbs provides useful inputs for cost estimating and budgeting, scope control. Wbs for a traditional waterfall approach to software development. So, in other words, every wbs package is a wbs element, but not every wbs element is a wbs package. Wbs is a hierarchical and incremental decomposition of the project into phases, deliverables and work packages. Difference between a wbs element and a work package project. In this article, youll find a work breakdown structure example from real life.
In this article, weve rounded up the most common wbs templates, all of which are fully customizable and free to download. Mar 25, 2015 the list of tasks is called a work breakdown structure. A work package is typically the lowest level of your wbs. Wbs dictionary is a document that describes the work that should be done for each work package. Thinking in detail is critical when planning your project, but you also need to consider the big picture. As an example here is a work breakdown structure wbs i got from the principle based project management information and training. As you are thinking about how to make a work breakdown structure, lets look at an example. Difference between a wbs element and a work package. There are many free and commercial software application around the web to create the work breakdown structure. These work packages will then make up the items of your wbs. The wbs is designed to help break down a project into manageable chunks that can be effectively estimated and supervised.
This deliverable 1 is broken down to other subdeliverables and which are broken down eventually to work packages. The wbs is used to organize the work into manageable sections, often measured in time, for example, two weeks. Wbs with openproject open source project management software. It is a tree structure, which shows a subdivision of effort required to achieve an objective. Company owners and project managers use the work breakdown structure wbs to make complex projects more manageable.
This goal is further broken down into work packages and tasks needed to reach this objective. At the very top of the wbs is the project or program name, in this case, car. Creating a work breakdown structure in ms project pmwares. A wbs will typically be a phase for analysis, and others for design, development, testing, release, etc. The work package level is the lowest level of a work breakdown structure wbs. In a work breakdown structure wbs for project management, all tasks of project are illustrated to reflect their relations to each other and their ralations to the project in general. What is work breakdown structure wbs in project management. The importance of work packages in project scope management. The wbs helps to identify key milestones needed for a. The work breakdown structure in software project management. Many of these phases and subtask produce interim deliverables and are the responsibility of a specialist role. This is an example of a work breakdown structure wbs for.
A unique identifier assigned to each element in a work breakdown structure for the purpose of designating the elements hierarchical location within the wbs. A work package is the lowest level work in a work breakdown structure and a work package document describes that work in detail. The sow, input from the testing team, past similar projects. The importance of work packages in project management, therefore, often leads to people searching for a good work package definition. A wbs package is usually estimated in cost and time and assigned to one or more. In our software project, the work package of creating a digital archive of documents is independent of. Work breakdown structure wbs software project management. The work breakdown structure wbs provides exactly this. Creating an effective work breakdown structure wbs is built upon the idea that the building blocks, i. The only way to ensure that your testing efforts will provide the necessary coverage that makes your product enduser ready is through careful planning using a work breakdown structure for software testing. The project management body of knowledge defines the work breakdown structure as a deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team. Work packages are the smallest unit of work that a project can be broken down to when creating your work breakdown structure wbs. Detailed planning is essential for successful deployment of custom software. This document provides project managers with a work breakdown structure wbs, which defines all of the application development projects critical deliverables.
This objective could be anything from developing a new software feature to building a missile. What are some software for creating and displaying a work. Jun 02, 2014 if you are a project manager and you want to stretch your tasks correctly, then you need to create what is known as a work breakdown structure for your project. This pmi pmp project management video describes the types of wbs work breakdown structure. The wbs project management template provides the structural view in the project. In simple terms, creating wbs is the process of breaking down the complete project into smaller pieces of manageable work units called as work packages. A wbs element is any element in the wbs, a work package, on the other hand, is a leaf element in the wbs an element belonging to the last level in the wbs. Work breakdown structure wbs is the process of decomposing the project scope into manageable pieces of work. This web page explains how to create a work breakdown structure wbs using mindviews wbs software. The main difference between work package and activity is that work packages are at a higher level in work breakdown structure wbs than activities. Activities, examine each wbs entry and activity to see if there are required deliverables that are not already in the wbs but that will be needed to create something that already is in the wbs. The work package represents the list of tasks or todos to produce the specific unit of. A workbreakdown structure wbs means breaking down of task or activities into tree structure formats. Work breakdown structure wbs in project management how.
How to create your project work breakdown structure. You create a work package when you decompose a deliverable into components while creating a work breakdown structure. Work breakdown structure an introduction to software project. As with other concepts in project management, such as the objective and the work breakdown structure, the focus with a work packages shouldnt be the activities that create it, but the outcome, the product, or the deliverable. We cover the technical definition of a work package and how it relates to a work breakdown structure wbs. The wbs is developed during the create wbs planning. Well, a work package is a collection of similar tasks which are bundled together to create a kind of miniproject within a project. Application development project work breakdown structure. A work breakdown structure is especially useful for bigger projects that involve many elements.
Now that weve talked about how to use a work breakdown structure to estimate your projects and manage project scope, lets look at some simple work breakdown structure examples to jumpstart your ideas. In order to save space in this work breakdown structure template we only developed the wbs examples down to the third level. Creating a work breakdown structure wbs helps you be both comprehensive and specific when managing a project. Learn more and see examples of work packages from different projects.
According to pert which developed the wbs, a work package is the work required to complete a specific job or process, such as a report, a design, a documentation requirement or portion thereof, a piece of hardware, or a service. Wbs should not take too much effort to create and maintain it. As we learned in last post that work breakdown structure wbs is a decomposition of project deliverable and work into smaller manageable pieces in a hierarchical manner. A work breakdown structure generally breaks down the main project objective into smaller and manageable parts work packages for specific departments to produce their task with details including budget, required. Ms project 20 work breakdown structure wbs youtube. Apr 11, 2018 the work breakdown structure wbs provides exactly this.
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