Dr Zain Yusufzai Identify Project Activities Chapter # 7 (Page 133-166)

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Definition of Project Activities
• Project plan represent the project as a list of
thee work to be done.
• This list of work to be done will be generated in
a top-down fashion.
• Work activities will have specific
characteristics that allow us to estimate time,
cost, and resource requirements
• First at an elementary level and then aggregate
these figures to the project level.
The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a
hierarchical description of the work that must be
done to complete the project as defined in the
project overview statement (POS). Activity: an
activity is simply a chunk of work. A task is a
smaller chunk of work. The terms activity and task
have been used interchangeably.
Work Package the list of things to do to complete
an activity

Goal

Activity Activity
Activity Level # 1

Activity Activity
Activity Level # 2





Activity
Task # 1 Task # 2 Task # 3 ……… Task # n

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Dr Zain Yusufzai Identify Project Activities Chapter # 7 (Page 133-166)

Work Package
• Breaking down work into a hierarchy of
activities, tasks, and work packages is called
decomposition.
A. Functional Decomposition
In principal there is no difference between a WBS
and a functional decomposition of a system.

B. Granularity
In the final analysis it is the project manager who
will decide on the architecture of the WBS and
the level of detail required. This is important
because the project manager is accountable for
the success of the project.

Use for the WBS 

There are four uses for the WBS
1. Thought process tool how the work of the
project can be defined and managed effectively
2. Architectural design tool how items of work
are related to one another
3. Planning tool detailed representation of the
project as s collection of activities that are to be
completed; for project to be completed
• We estimate effort, elapsed time, and
resources requirement; build a
schedule of when the work will be completed;
and estimate deliverable dates and project
completion
4. Project status reporting tool completion of
activities

Generating the WBS

The best way to generate the WBS is as part of the
Joint Project Planning (JPP) session. Two
approaches can be used to identify the project
activities.
1. Top down approach
• The top down approach begins at the goal
level and successively partitions work down to
lower levels of definition until the participants

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Robert K. Wysocki, Robert Beck Jr, David B. Crane
Dr Zain Yusufzai Identify Project Activities Chapter # 7 (Page 133-166)

are satisfied that the work has been sufficiently

defined.
• Two variations of the top down approach.
i. Team Approach
ii. Sub team Approach

2. Bottom Up Approach
• Identifying the activities in the project is to
take a bottom up approach. This approach is more
like a brainstorming session that an organized
approach to building the WBS.

Six criteria to test for completeness in the WBS

1. Measurable Status
Project manager can ask for the status of an
activity at any point in time during the project.
2. Bounded
Each activity should have a clearly defined start
and end event.
3. Deliverable
The result of completing the work that makes up
the activity is the production of a deliverable.

4. Cost/time estimate
Each activity should have an estimated time and
cost of completion. Being able to do this at the
lowest level of decomposition in the WBS allows
you to aggregate to higher levels and estimate
the total project cost and the completion date.
5. Acceptable duration limits
Activities have duration of less than two
calendar weeks. This seems to be a common
practice in many organizations.
6. Activity independence
It is important that each activity be independent.
Once work has begun on the activity, it can
continue reasonably without interruption and
complete.

Approaches to building the WBS

• There are many ways to build the WBS.
• There is no one correct way to create
the WBS.
There are three general approaches to building the
WBS:
1. Noun type approaches

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Robert K. Wysocki, Robert Beck Jr, David B. Crane
Dr Zain Yusufzai Identify Project Activities Chapter # 7 (Page 133-166)

There are two type approaches

1. Physical Decomposition:
In projects that involve building products, it is
tempting to follow the physical decomposition
approach.
2. Functional Decomposition:
The functional components include the steering
system, gear-shifting system, breaking system and
pedaling system.

2. Verb type approach

There are two verb type approaches
i. Design build test implement. The design build test
implement approach is commonly used in those
projects that involve a methodology.
ii. Objectives. Used when progress reports at
various stages of project completion are prepared
for senior management.
iii. Other approaches
 Geographic
 Departmental
 Business Function

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Robert K. Wysocki, Robert Beck Jr, David B. Crane