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Chapter 7 – Scheduling Resources and Budgets

7.5. Work Breakdown Structures

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical outline of all the deliverables involved in completing a project. The WBS is part of a project scope statement. The creation of a WBS is one of the first steps in organizing and scheduling the work for a project.

The WBS is a breakdown of a project into sub-deliverables and, eventually, work-packages. Each level of the WBS, represents more detailed information about a project. Figure 7-1 shows how a simple project is broken down into major deliverables and then into sub-deliverables. Figure 7.2 shows a more complex project broken down into major deliverables and then into sub-deliverables.  Both Figures show WBS Numbering and Decomposition.

Work Breakdown structure of the decision to go on vacation includes: researching destinations, recruiting family members and assessing costs.
Figure 7‑1: Simple WBS. The WBS is an outline that shows how the deliverables, sub-deliverables and work packages relate to the final project.

 

WBS for Software App
Figure 7-2: Complex WBS

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Strategic Project Management: Theory and Practice for Human Resource Professionals Copyright © 2022 by Debra Patterson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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