Building a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a key project deliverable that organizes the team's work into manageable sections. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) defines the work breakdown structure as a "deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team." The WBS 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. An easy way to think about a Work Breakdown Structure is as an outline or map of the specific project.

The project team creates the project Work Breakdown Structure by identifying the major functional deliverables and subdividing those deliverables into smaller systems and sub-deliverables. These sub-deliverables are further decomposed until a single person can be assigned. At this level, the specific work packages required to produce the sub- deliverable are identified and grouped together. The work package represents the list of tasks or "to-dos" to produce the specific unit of work. If you've seen detailed project schedules, then you'll recognize the tasks under the work package as the "stuff" people need to complete by a specific time and within a specific level of effort.

From a cost perspective, these work packages are usually grouped and assigned to a specific department to produce the work. These departments, or cost accounts, are defined in an organizational breakdown structure and are allocated a budget to produce the specific deliverables. By integrating the cost accounts from the organizational breakdown structure and the project's Work Breakdown Structure, the entire organization can track financial progress in addition to project performance.

Why use a Work Breakdown Structure?

The Work Breakdown Structure has a number of benefits in addition to defining and organizing the project work. A project budget can be allocated to the top levels of the Work Breakdown Structure,  and department budgets can be quickly calculated based on the each project's work breakdown structure. By allocating time and cost estimates to specific sections of the Work Breakdown Structure, a project schedule and budget can be quickly developed. As the project executes, specific sections of the Work Breakdown Structure can be tracked to identify project cost performance and identify issues and problem areas in the project organization. 

Project Work Breakdown Structures can also be used to identify potential risks in a given project. If a WBS has a branch that is not well defined then it represents a scope definition risk. These risks should be tracked in a project log and reviewed as the project executes. By integrating the Work Breakdown Structure with an organizational breakdown structure, the project manager can also identify communication points and formulate a communication plan across the project organization.

When a project is falling behind, referring the Work Breakdown Structure will quickly identify the major deliverables impacted by a failing work package or late sub- deliverable. The Work Breakdown Structure can also be color coded to represent sub- deliverable status. Assigning colors of red for late, yellow for at risk, green for on-target, and blue for completed deliverables is an effective way to produce a heat-map of project progress and draw management's attention to key areas of the Work Breakdown Structure.

Example of Work Breakdown Structure:

How to Make a Gantt Chart Using Microsoft Project

How to Make a Gantt Chart Using Microsoft Project

If you desire to be a project manager, you must learn Microsoft Project. One major component of Microsoft Project you must understand is Gantt charts. Gantt charts are bar charts or timelines that enable you to view and manage resources, tasks, dependencies and milestones. Gantt charts are easy to create. In fact, every time you open up Microsoft Project, you will see a Gantt chart. It just doesn't contain any data until you add information into your tasks or resources columns. Before you learn how to create a Gantt chart, you should be familiar with both project management terminology and Microsoft Project.

These are the following steps to make a Gantt Chart using Microsoft Projects:

STEP 1

Open Microsoft Project. The interface consists of two separate panes. The left side consists of your tasks, duration, resources and predecessors. The right side, which is the Gantt chart, shows the timeline of your project, such as your tasks and resources.

STEP 2

Type your task under the Task Name column. Tab to the "Duration" column and click on the up or down arrow to select the number of days it will take to complete the task.

STEP 3

Tab to the "Start" column and click on the arrow to select the date you want to start the task. Tab to the "End" column to enter your end date.

STEP 4

Tab to the "Predecessors" column and enter the information. You create predecessors or dependencies when you must complete a certain task before starting another one. For example, you cannot start editing the script until you have finished writing it.

STEP 5

Tab to the "Resources" column, and click on the arrow to select your resource. Even if you have not entered your resource in the "Resource" mode, type the name in the field. Press "Enter."

STEP 6

View and manage your project via the Gantt chart. To get a wider view of the Gantt chart, move your mouse to the line that separates your tasks/resources pane from your Gantt chart pane. The cursor will change its look. Drag the line to the left so that you will have a wider view of the Gantt chart.

Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project 

Is a project management software program developed and sold by Microsoft, designed to assist a project manager in developing a schedule, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing the budget, and analysing workloads. Project creates budgets based on assignment work and resource rates. As resources are assigned to tasks and assignment work estimated, the program calculates the cost, equal to the work times the rate, which rolls up to the task level and then to any summary task, and finally to the project level.

Each resource can have its own calendar, which defines what days and shifts a resource is available. Microsoft Project is not suitable for solving problems of available materials (resources) constrained production. Additional software is necessary to manage a complex facility that produces physical goods.

Project Management

Microsoft Project is feature rich, but project management techniques are required to drive a project effectively. A lot of project managers get confused between a schedule and a plan. MS Project can help you in creating a Schedule for the project even with the provided constraints. It cannot Plan for you. As a project manager you should be able to answer the following specific questions as part of the planning process to develop a schedule. MS Project cannot answer these for you.

• What tasks need to be performed to create the deliverables of the project and in what order? This relates to the scope of the project.

• What are the time constraints and deadlines if any, for different tasks and for the project as a whole? This relates to the schedule of the project.

• What kind of resources (man/machine/material) are needed to perform each task?

• How much will each task cost to accomplish? This would relate to the cost of the project.

• What kind of risk do we have associated with a particular schedule for the project? This might affect the scope, cost and time constraints of your project.

Pert Chart

Introduction of PERT Chart

A PERT chart is a project management tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project. PERT stands for Program Evaluation Review Technique, a methodology developed by the U.S. Navy in the 1950s to manage the Polaris submarine missile program. PERT chart was used at that time to show the connection between activities that have been determined to complete the project. 

History of PERT Chart

PERT was developed primarily to simplify the planning and scheduling of large and complex projects. It was developed for the U.S. Navy Special Projects Office in 1957 to support the U.S. Navy's Polaris nuclear submarine project. It was able to incorporate uncertainty by making it possible to schedule a project while not knowing precisely the details and durations of all the activities. It is more of an event-oriented technique rather than start- and completion-oriented, and is used more in projects where time is the major factor rather than cost. It is applied to very large-scale, one-time, complex, non-routine infrastructure and Research and Development projects. An example of this was for the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble which applied PERT from 1965 until the opening of the 1968 Games. This project model was the first of its kind, a revival for scientific management, founded by Frederick Taylor (Taylorism) and later refined by Henry Ford (Fordism). DuPont's critical path method was invented at roughly the same time as PERT.

Steps in the PERT Planning Process

PERT planning involves the following steps:

1. Identify the specific activities and milestones,
2. Determine the proper sequence of the activities,
3. Construct a network diagram,
4. Estimate the time required for each activity,
5. Determine the critical path, and
6. Update the PERT chart as the project progresses.

1) Identify Activities and Milestones

The activities are the tasks required to complete the project. The milestones are the events marking the beginning and end of one or more activities. It is helpful to list the tasks in a table that in later steps can be expanded to include information on sequence and duration.

2) Determine Activity Sequence

This step may be combined with the activity identification step since the activity sequence is evident for some tasks. Other tasks may require more analysis to determine the exact order in which they must be performed.

3) Construct the Network Diagram

Using the activity sequence information, a network diagram can be drawn showing the sequence of the serial and parallel activities. For the original activity-on-arc model, the activities are depicted by arrowed lines and milestones are depicted by circles or "bubbles".

If done manually, several drafts may be required to correctly portray the relationships among activities. Software packages simplify the step by automatically converting tabular activity information into a network diagram.

4) Estimate Activity Times

Weeks are a commonly used unit of time for activity completion, but any consistent unit of time can be used. A distinguishing feature of PERT is its ability to deal with uncertainty in activity completion times. For each activity, the most usually includes three time estimates:

• Optimistic time - generally the shortest time in which the activity can be completed. It is common practice to specify optimistic times to be three standard deviations from the mean so that there is approximately a 1% chance that the activity will be completed within the optimist time.
• Most likely time - the completion time having the highest probability. Note that this time is different from the expected time.
• Pessimistic time - the longest time that an activity might require. Three standard deviations from the mean is commonly used for the pessimistic time.

PERT assumes a beta probability distribution for the time estimates. For a beta distribution, the expected time for each activity can be approximated using the following weighted average:

                    Expected time = (Optimistic + 4 x Most likely + Pessimistic) / 6

This expected time may be displayed on the network diagram.

To calculate the variance for each activity completion time, if three standard deviation times were selected for the optimistic and pessimistic times, then there are six standard deviations between them, so the variance is given by:

                                          [(Pessimistic - Optimistic) / 6]^2

5) Determine the Critical Path

The critical path is determined by adding the times for the activities in each sequence and determining the longest path in the project. The critical path determines the total calendar time required for the project. If activities outside the critical path speed up or slow down (within limits), the total project times does not change. The amount of time that a non-critical path activity can be delayed without delaying the project is referred to as slack time.

If the critical path is not immediately obvious, it may be helpful to determine the following four quantities for each activity:

                  ES - Earliest Start Time

                  EF - Earliest Finish Time

                  LS - Latest Start Time

                  LF - Latest Finish Time

These times are calculated using the expected time for the relevant activities. The earliest start and finish times of each activity are determined by working forward through the network and determining the earliest time at which an activity can start and finish considering its predecessor activities. The latest start and finish times are the latest times that an activity can start and finish without delaying the project. LS and LF are found by working backward through the network. The difference in the latest and earliest finish of each activity is that activity's slack. The critical path then is the path through the network in which none of the activities have slack.

The variance in the project completion time can be calculated by summing the variances in the completion times of the activities in the critical path. Given this variance, one can calculate the probability that the project will be completed by a certain date assuming a normal probability distribution for the critical path. The normal distribution assumption holds if the number of activities in the path is large enough for the central limit theorem to be applied.

Since the critical path determines the completion date of the project, the project can be accelerated by adding the resources to decrease the time for the activities in the critical path. Such a shortening of the project sometimes is referred to as project crashing.

6) Update as Project Progresses

Make adjustment in the PERT chart as the project progresses. A the project unfolds, the estimated times can be replaced with actual times. In cases where there are delays, additional resources my be needed to stay on schedule and the PERT chart may be modified to reflect the new situation.

Benefits of PERT

PERT is useful because it provides the following information:

• Expected project completion time,
• Probability of completion before a specified date,
• The critical path activities that directly impact the completion time,
• The activities that have slack time and that can lend resources to critical path activities, and
• Activity start and end dates.

Limitations

The following are some of PERT's weaknesses:

• The activity time estimated are somewhat subjective and pend on judgement. In cases where there is little experience in performing an activity, the numbers may be only a guess. In other cases, if the person or group performing the activity estimates the time there may be bias in the estimate.
• Even if the activity times are well-estimated, PERT assumes a beta distribution for these time estimates, but the actual distribution may be different.
• Even if the beta distribution assumption holds, PERT assumes that the probability distribution of the project completion is the sae as the that of the critical path. Because of other paths can become the critical path if their associated activities are delayed, PERT consistently underestimates the expected project completion time.

The underestimation of the project completion time due to alternate paths becoming critical is perhaps the most serious of these issues. To overcome this limitation, Monte Carlo simulations can be performed on the network to eliminate this optimistic bias in the expected project completion time.

Operations > PERT

Gantt Chart

What is a Gantt chart?

A Gantt chart, commonly used in project management, is one of the most popular and useful ways of showing activities (tasks or events) displayed against time. Gantt charts make it easy to visualize project management timelines by transforming task names, start dates, durations, and end dates into cascading horizontal bar charts.On the left of the chart is a list of the activities and along the top is a suitable time scale. Each activity is represented by a bar; the position and length of the bar reflects the start date, duration and end date of the activity. This allows you to see at a glance:

• What the various activities are
• When each activity begins and ends
• How long each activity is scheduled to last
• Where activities overlap with other activities, and by how much
• The start and end date of the whole project

Gantt Chart History

The first Gantt chart was devised in the mid 1890s by Karol Adamiecki, a Polish engineer who ran a steelworks in southern Poland and had become interested in management ideas and techniques. Some 15 years after Adamiecki , Henry Gantt, an American engineer and management consultant, devised his own version of the chart and it was this that became widely known and popular in western countries. Consequently it was Henry Gantt whose name was to become associated with charts of this type.

Karol Adamiecki		Henry Gantt

Originally Gantt charts were prepared laboriously by hand; each time a project changed it was necessary to amend or redraw the chart and this limited their usefulness, continual change being a feature of most projects. Nowadays, however, with the advent of computers and project management software, Gantt charts can be created, updated and printed easily.

Today, Gantt charts are most commonly used for tracking project schedules. For this it is useful to be able to show additional information about the various tasks or phases of the project, for example how the tasks relate to each other, how far each task has progressed, what resources are being used for each task and so on.

Why Use Gantt Charts?

When you set up a Gantt chart, you need to think through all of the tasks involved in your project. As part of this process, you'll work out who will be responsible for each task, how long each task will take, and what problems your team may encounter.

This detailed thinking helps you ensure that the schedule is workable, that the right people are assigned to each task, and that you have workarounds for potential problems before you start.

They also help you work out practical aspects of a project, such as the minimum time it will take to deliver, and which tasks need to be completed before others can start. Plus, you can use them to identify the critical path – the sequence of tasks that must individually be completed on time if the whole project is to deliver on time.

Finally, you can use them to keep your team and your sponsors informed of progress. Simply update the chart to show schedule changes and their implications, or use it to communicate that key tasks have been completed.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Making a 

Gantt Chart in Excel

1. Create a Task Table

List each task in your project in start date order from beginning to end. Include the task name, start date, duration, and end date. Make your list as complete as possible. Because of Excel's limitations, adding steps or extending out may force you to reformat your entire chart.

2. Build a Bar Chart

On the top menu, select Insert, and then click on the Bar chart icon. When the drop-down menu appears, choose the flat Stacked Bar Chart, highlighted in green below. This will insert a blank chart onto your spreadsheet.

3. Format Your Gantt Chart

What you have is a stacked bar chart. The starting dates are blue and the durations are orange. Notice your tasks are in reverse order. To fix this, click on the list of tasks to select them, then right click over the list and choose Format Axis. Select the checkbox Categories in reverse order and Close.

The Importance of Project Management

It will helps manager in term of:

• Scope Management - set of processes that ensure a project's scope is defined and mapped accurately. Scope Management techniques allow project managers and supervisors to allocate just the right amount of work necessary to complete a project successfully. It is primarily concerned with controlling what is and what is not part of the project's scope. (i.e., describing and agreeing on project objectives and requirements)

• Time Management - the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time between specific activities. Good time management enables you to work smarter – not harder – so that you get more done in less time, even when time is tight and pressures are high. Failing to manage your time damages your effectiveness and causes stress.

• Cost Management -  the process of planning and controlling the budget of a business. Cost management is a form of management accounting that allows a business to predict impending expenditures to help reduce the chance of going over budget. 

• Quality Management - the act of overseeing all activities and tasks needed to maintain a desired level of excellence. This includes the determination of a quality policy, creating and implementing quality planning and assurance, and quality control and quality improvement. It is also referred to as total quality management (TQM).

            PROJECT is group of activities that need to be done in order to accomplish a set of objectives in a specific time and with available resources. Projects are efforts to achieve objectives, within finite time and cost expectations. Projects produce outcomes like newly design car models, an annual budget, a great party, or a new procedure.

            We all know that project managers need many skills to be able to do their job effectively. Not just the technical skills that enable us to monitor and control a complex set of inter-dependent tasks, or skills that help us manage often very large budgets, but also those skills that help us motivate and enthuse team members, communicate effectively with senior executives and handle with diplomacy the business politics surrounding major organisational change. Project management truly requires multi-talented individuals with a range of capabilities rarely seen in a single role.

            Thus, it is wonderful that we are finally getting the sort of professional recognition that we deserve for developing our expertise in a role that has become the 21st century lynchpin in so many businesses and industries. 

            Yet, even given the fast-growing nature of Project Management, there are still many project managers who have ended up in the role by chance rather than making a specific career choice. It's an interesting and challenging role so most of us are motivated and fulfilled but it has become increasingly important as the field has expanded to develop a recognised career path backed up by professional credentials. Whether you are a newbie or have many years practical experience in Project Management achieving a professional Project Management qualification will distinguish you from your peers and improve your ability to successfully deliver projects; it will boost your career prospects and, potentially, your salary.