Webinar: WBS- Work Breakdown Structure

Webinar: WBS- Work Breakdown Structure

Presenter: Jonathan McNatty

Slide 1

Good afternoon, welcome to our fourth webinar being presented by the MnDOT project management office. Today’s webinar, the fourth one, we will be discussing the WBS or Work Breakdown Structure that is part of our CPM scheduling.

Slide 2

We will go ahead and get started first with a few housekeeping items. The lines will be muted during the webinar. Questions can be submitted through the GoToWebinar question box on the right of your screen. The webinar slide will be made available in PDF on the MnDOT website within five days. Questions will be posted on the MnDOT website with answers within five days. This webinar is being recorded and will also be available on the website within five days. Also here I have provided the address where all the webinars are being located for past webinars for our recordings and slides.

Slide 3

And if you go to that address, under the learning section click on the learning link and that will take you to our MnDOT webinars page where past webinars will have recordings as well as slides, any Q&A that were submitted during that webinar will be answered and put into a PDF with that answer and all questions are anonymous. We are currently right now pretty current with all of our recordings and everything like I said will be able to be put up within five days for each webinar. If anyone has any technical difficulties please feel free to email us. Also you can reserve for the next upcoming webinar which will be April 10th which will be talking about schedule float.

Slide 4

So today’s webinar our introduction is talking about a work breakdown structure and a well-developed WBS is a critical aspect managing the project schedule. Today we are going to learn and discuss how the WBS assists the project team in managing work packages at the schedule level for organizing, reporting, and tracking. A well-developed WBS really sets the tone for a schedule and allows it to be organized and that’s a lot of what we will be talking about today is why WBS is critical when using that in a project schedule.

Slide 5

So that’s what we will discuss today and I am sure a lot of people have seen or know what a
WBS is, others may have not. Some of those that are new to scheduling, work breakdown structures are essential in building the foundation of a schedule. This kind of chart right here kind of gives you an idea of what I’m sure people have seen an organizational format of what is. It’s basically an outline or an organizational chart of how the project is going to be built.

Slide 6

So what is the definition of a WBS? A work breakdown structure is a fundamental project management technique or tool for defining and organizing the total scope of a project and it is using a hierarchical tree structure or an outline or an organizational chart. A well- designed or defined WBS describes planned outcomes instead of planned actions. Outcomes are the desired ends of the project, such as a product, result, or service, and can be predicted accurately. And obviously here at MnDOT a lot of what we’re tracking is what goes into the design phase of a project, environmental as an example. And all of those things have to be thought about when developing a WBS as well as construction.

Slide 7

There are what we call levels of a WBS and each level determines how it is being managed. The first two levels of the WBS, or what we call the root node and level 2, define a set of planned outcomes that collectively and exclusively represent 100% of the project scope. So at the highest level we have the project which is level 1. Level 2 is below the project and will be the highest level of planned outcomes or phases that the project needs to be tracked by. And then we have levels underneath that such as level 3 and this example which is at the package which represent parts of level 2. And at each subsequent level, what we call the children of a parent node, collectively and exclusively represent 100% of the scope of their parent node. So any time there is a drop down in a level, the level below rolls up 100% into the level above it. And it is using these different levels that we are able to create a WBS to track all the different project elements.

Slide 8

We are going to talk a little bit more about the 100% of the scope. That is what we call when creating a WBS, the 100% rule. What that means is the 100% rule states that the WBS includes 100% of the work defined by the project scope and captures all deliverables that are internal, external, interim, and in terms of the work to be completed, including project management. The 100% rule is one of the most important principles guiding the development, decomposition and evaluation of the WBS. So when creating a WBS and evaluating what needs to be tracked, once you can determine your levels, then what you need to do is remember that underneath each level ,or the child to a parent node, needs to contain 100% of the information that’s going to be tracked for that level.

Slide 9

So one of the foundations of working with the WBS is what we call the W5 or the 5 W’s concept. And we have all heard of what, where, when, who. In this case what we are looking at is what, where, who, when, and how much. And this is really the foundation for building a WBS is the project team needs to define these five W’s. The first one is: what has to be done? And that is determining what our project is and what is it specifically that needs to be completed. Next, where does it take place? Is it broken down into different areas geographically? Is it across different state lines? That can also help us determine who is involved. The St. Croix Bridge is between Wisconsin and Minnesota so obviously by knowing that by where it takes place, that gives us a good idea of who has to do it and who has to get involved. When does it have to be done? Obviously that is a major determining factor here with our P6 schedules is the timing of when it has to be done. And how much will it cost? So applying these five W’s is really the basis for a team that needs to determine a WBS for a schedule. So what has to be done, where does it take place, who has to do it, when it has to be done, and how much will it cost? And usually it takes a team to determine all of these different factors and coming up with the information to start developing a WBS. And when a project manager has all of this information the project manager has the basis for control or the team has the basis for control. One of the biggest issues with schedules is they can be very unorganized. One of the first things that needs to be set up in a schedule before even putting activities in is setting up the WBS and adhering to these five W’s and understanding the information that we are trying to collect. It also gives the project manager the information he is going to need to understand what I think is very important is, who is involved?

Slide 10

So talking a little more about work breakdown structure. What has to be done? This is part of the project WBS and normally it is going to contain the scope for the entire project. What are the deliverables that we are trying to achieve? These deliverables may also be mandatory or it could be that we have milestones that have to be delivered by a certain date. What is the level of detail required? At what level do we need to track the project? What site conditions are we looking at? Where are we working? Determining these things as a project team will give you a good understanding of what has to be done. And referring to the specifications, the project plans you know this is something that needs to get in front of everybody to really understand, what is our ultimate goal and what has to be done?

Slide 11

Next, where does it take place? Again it is part of that project WBS. And here it can determine what areas we are working in, zones, location, levels, and stationing. So this is where a lot of times looking at the project plans will give us an understanding of where it takes place and being able to determine how we are going to track that project. A lot of the terms that we are using here are somewhat general in nature but it does apply that understanding an area, zone, or location especially with bridge and road work is it is going to have specific markers of where these are going to take place. Being able to look at a bridge and start determining a north bound lane and south bound lane, the east or west side of the bridge or the road. Determining those things are all part of starting to develop a good WBS.

Slide 12

Who has to do it? This is extremely important understanding who is responsible for doing what work. Certain people can be assigned to specific WBS elements which is part of what we call our project OBS or organizational break down structure. And the organizational breakdown structure can represent a specific person or a role and can be assigned specifically to a WBS element. Determining who is the responsible firm or person. The key agency interaction that needs to have happen. And also developing a responsibility matrix, which would be an organizational breakdown structure of the project. This is a good tool to figure out who has to be involved. Putting it on a white board and mapping out everybody thatis involved on a project and what their role is will help you determine an easier way to start assigning people or tasks to a WBS.

Slide 13

When does it have to be done? Looking at our contractual milestones. Especially design projects at MnDOT have to meet a specific letting date. So that determines when it has to be done. So we will determine certain contractual milestones and for anyone that was on the webinar last week we talked about activities and what milestones are. Anyone who did not see that can go on and look at the recording. But it also allows us to understand the access to the site, any interface dates. There could be a moratorium on certain dates that construction cannot be done in. In Eagan, MN we have weather delays, winter shut downs. So determining all of those things is a factor. And that leads to limitations on the work schedule and ultimately our dates. We talked last week about how important calendars are for activities. This is one of the places where as you are building your WBS it will also help you lead into other parts of the schedule. You may start to think you may need some specific calendars based on our limitations.

Slide 14

So for the work breakdown structure the project WBS should not be any more detailed than needed to communicate information to various levels of management or the project team. One of the issues we have seen commonly happen with work breakdown structures is getting down to sometimes seven or eight levels that may be too detailed. Once I’ve seen schedule get down to the eight or nine level, usually those are probably activities or tasks. So trying to keep it between about one or five levels is usually what is recommended to help keep it manageable. And ultimately we are trying to communicate. A well-defined and communicated WBS is the key to controlling information and effective communications. And really what the WBS is trying to do is communicate those five W’s that we talked about earlier and being able to collect all that information and putting it into a good sound work breakdown structure to about five levels is usually what is recommended and will be a good communication tool.

Slide 15

So talking about, really this is a lot of best practices but the four elements in each WBS element that should be there when you are considering creating a WBS or reviewing a WBS is each WBS element, when completed, should contain the following four items. The scope of work, including any deliverables. That is really the first things we really need to determine in a schedule is, what is our scope and what is our deliverables? This will help determine project milestones, delivery dates, or key dates that need to be met in the schedule. The beginning and end dates for the scope of work. Obviously on MnDOT design projects is knowing when that project initiation starts and when the letting date is. Determining the end dates allow us to be able to start to put the WBS elements together and be able to put them into a time frame that’s going to fit within our schedule. And there are times when they may not fit and maybe that is the issue that certain dates cannot be met but a good WBS can help communicate and possibly resolve those types of issues or bring them to lite. The budget for the scope of work; depending on the schedule you are trying to put together, being able to come up with a budget for the different WBS elements and understanding who is working on those activities is important. And then the name of the person responsible for the scope of work. Again this goes back to who is doing the work or who is responsible. And again this can be done through codes in P6 which is something we will talk about a little bit later and in future webinars. But having these four elements, when creating a WBS, is going to be key for communicating successfully.

Slide 16

So one of the things that the project management team did when we went out and visited with project managers on the different projects that we chose to take out of PPMS and put into P6 was one of the first things we did after kind of developed what we knew the scope was is we had the team and all the functional groups get together and create a WBS right there in the room together. Some of the tools that we used was a white board to be able to just start putting things up on screen so we could see it. One of the things that we came up with was the use of post-it notes. One of the nice things about this was that you didn’t have to keep erasing things; you could just move them around. So having the project team in one room and then using post-it note to mark things down on what you think needs to be on the schedule and then you can also arrange them. And then having someone possibly from the shared services center that can be the scheduler and actually use the software on the site which is one of the things we were doing and actually build the WBS in the P6 software and having a projector to display up on the wall to make changes and be able to actually see it on screen. But the key is getting all the functional groups and the people involved in the project to effectively create a good sound WBS.

Slide 17

So for those of you that may be new to WBS or work breakdown structure, I have kind of used this as a basic example. We will get into some screen shots that show how MnDOT is actually using WBS. But with the WBS you have an identification number and it is very common for the WBS elements to be numbered sequentially to reveal the hierarchical structure. And here just as a basic example our WBS level 1 is what we call a bicycle and it has 100% of the elements under WBS level 2. WBS level 2 we have our different or main parts of the bicycle. Our frame set, our crank set, the wheels, breaking system and so forth. And then those can be broken down into a level 3 where we are actually taking the frame set and breaking it down into the exact components that make up the frame set. So again, for anyone that is somewhat new to the WBS, this is a very common structure. The numbering is set up so it is easier to track what elements are a part of a WBS. But this kind of gives you an idea of how WBS can be broken into level 3; and underneath these different levels you would have your individual activities that make up that specific WBS level.

Slide 18

So we will talk a little bit next about how MnDOT is using WBS. When inside the P6 software, on the left hand side there is an icon with two blue boxes and this is the WBS icon that allows you to go from the activity view, which we have in front of us, to the actual WBS view.

Slide 19

And once you click on that you use the WBS tab, which up along the top, to access the WBS structure. And again one of the first things we are going to do is set up this WBS even before we create activities. The idea is to set up the WBS first and then fill in your activities once you have got a WBS down to the levels that are appropriate. So this again gives us an example of WBS from an actual project that we have here at MnDOT on P6. I also wanted to mention that the project management team is working on standard templates that will have the WBS prebuilt which will allow the project manager to then take some standard WBS’s then manipulate them specifically for their projects.

Slide 20