Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Research

                According to PMBOK 4^th edition creates WBS is the process of sub dividing project dilivarables and project work into smaller sections. WBS is the part of the project planning. It shows the project work with all resources.

(PMBOK, 2008)

Also PMBOK 4^th edition shows WBS’s inputs and outputs. Project scope statement, requirements documentation and organizational process assets are the inputs of the WBS. Outputs are WBS, WBS dictionary, scope baseline and project documents updates. There is a technique for WBS. It is decomposition. Decomposition is dividing large sections into smaller and simpler sections.

(PMBOK, 2008)

Kathy Schwalbe says WBS is a deliverable oriented document that explains the entire scope of the project. WBS outputs are same as PMBOK WBS outputs. It comes under planning process.

(Kathy Schwalbe, 2010)

Following are a few reasons for creating a WBS in a project.

·         Accurate and readable project organization.

·         Accurate assignment of responsibilities to the project team.

·         Indicates the project milestones and control points.

·         Helps to estimate the cost, time, and risk.

·         Illustrate the project scope, so the stakeholders can have a better understanding of the same.

(tutorialspoint, 2012) 

Analysis

Under WBS there are two approaches like low level and high level approaches. Low level approach is breaking the problem according to activities and high level approach is breaking the problem according to requirements.

(PMI, 2006; Schwalbe, 2010)

Low level	High level
Managers identify the large parts of work and decompose.  Schwalbe (2002)	Project team members identify many tasks and assign. Schwalbe (2002)
Creates a WBS which is complete and accurate. (Prasad, 2009)	Might not be accurate as the team members can unintentionally forget some activities. (Prasad, 2009)
Not time consuming. (Prasad, 2009)	time consuming. (Prasad, 2009)
More popular than Bottom-up approach.(Prasad, 2009)	Less logical than Top-down approach. Team must come up with a solution.(Prasad, 2009)

Conclusion

The effectiveness of a work breakdown structure can determine the success of a project.

The WBS provides the basic idea for all project management work, including, planning, cost and effort estimation, resource allocation, and scheduling.

Therefore, one should take creating WBS as a critical step in the process of project management. It is a step of project planning and shows all the activities and resources according to date and time. WBS is the best and easy way of defining project activities. According to above analysis top down approach (low level approach) is better than bottom up approach for create WBS.

 References

·         Schwalbe K., 2010. Information Technology Project Management. 6th ed. United States of America: Thomson Learning.

·         PMBOK, 2008. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. 4th ed. Boulevard: Project Management Institute Inc.

·         Anon, 2012, tutorials point [online]: Available at: http://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/work_breakdown_structure.htm [Accessed on 2012.04.22]

·         Prasad, S., (2009). Work Breakdown Structure(WBS) : top-down or bottom-up, [Online], Available at: http://blog.prasads.com/weblog/2009/10/work-breakdown-structure-wbs-topdown-or-bottomup.html [Accessed 22th April 2012]