subject: What Is Work Breakdown Structure [print this page] The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is defined by A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge 3rd Edition (PMBOK Guide) as:
"A deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables."
The WBS is a decomposition of the project scope statement. It is a deliverables-oriented document that visualizes all the things the project will create. However, WBS is not the activity list. The WBS takes the project scope statement and breaks it down into the deliverables the customer is expecting from the project. It organizes and catalogs the project deliverables.
The smallest item in the WBS is called the work package. The process of creating the WBS should involve the project team and the project's key stakeholders. The stakeholders should be involved in creating the WBS as this helps the stakeholders see the depth of Project deliverables.
Let us take the example of a project that aims to develop a new core Banking Software. There would be various activities in this project like Finalizing requirements, Designing the new System, Coding, Testing and Going Live with the new System. Each of these high level works can be further subdivided into smaller activities to manage it better. There is no limit to which the work can be further subdivided. The last level of work in such subdivision is the Work Package and the whole structure is WBS.
Some important points regarding WBS:
If any work is not part of WBS, it is not part of the Project.
WBS is created by the team
The WBS is multi-level and the lowest level is called Work Package.
The work package cannot be subdivided further.
There are 3 reasons whyWBS is used in Projects. The first reason is that, it helps in defining the scope of the Project. The second reason for using WBS is to help with assigning responsibilities, resource allocation, monitoring the project, and controlling the project. Finally, it checks all the deliverables of the stakeholders and make sure there is no miss or overlap.
