Week 8 (Work Breakdown Structure)

Question 1

Work Breakdown Schedule

Answer 1

A way in which a project may be divided by level into discrete groups for programming, cost planning and control purposes.
- a tool for defining the hierarchical breakdown of work required to deliver the products of a project.
- Major categories are broken down into smaller components. These are sub-divided until the lowest required level of detail is established (work package).

Question 2

WBS

Answer 2

shows the need for a breakdown structure to link the project to the work packages

Question 3

Deliverable

Answer 3

A deliverable is a tangible or measurable result.

Question 4

Stakeholders

Answer 4

Subdividing the project into tangible deliverables helps to identify the associated stakeholders and involve them in the problem solving and decision-making process. This will help stakeholders to visualize how the project will operate and what the project will look like.

Question 5

Ownership

Answer 5

Subdividing the project into tangible deliverables helps to assign ownership and responsibility for its manufacture at the deliverable level, which is a key project management philosophy.

Question 6

Build-Method

Answer 6

Subdividing the project into tangible deliverables helps the project manager to focus on build-method and the build sequence to the make the deliverables.

Question 7

Configuration

Answer 7

Subdividing the project into tangible deliverables enables the designers to confirm configuration of the deliverables will perform as required both independently and together and will also interlink with existing facilities.

Question 8

Execution Strategy

Answer 8

Subdividing the project into deliverables help to align the resources (equipment and workforce) who will perform the work with deliverables.

Question 9

Budget

Answer 9

Subdividing the project into tangible deliverables enables a budget to be assigned to make the deliverables. This should help to improve the cost management level of control.

Question 10

Scope Creep

Answer 10

Subdividing the project into well defined deliverables helps to avoid, or certain limit, undesirable scope creep. It should be easier to confirm if a proposed change will enhance the project’s capabilities or it is just an unnecessary add on.

Question 11

Transport

Answer 11

Subdividing the project into tangible deliverables helps to align the deliverables with the company’s lifting and transport capabilities and gives early warning of the need for any heavy lefts and abnormal loads.

Question 12

Work Package

Answer 12

The lowest level of WBS is a work package, which is the work required to make the deliverables. The work package contains a wealth of information.

Question 13

Ownership

Answer 13

Identifies who is responsible for completing the work package. This is key project management philosophy to assign ownership to all aspects of the project.

Question 14

Description of Work

Answer 14

The description of work describes the scope of work to be completed or performed and, by implication, the work that is not included.

Question 15

Number or Code

Answer 15

The work package number or code uniquely identifies the work package. This ensures that there is no confusion between similarly named work packages.

Question 16

Deliverables

Answer 16

The WBS break down the scope of work into a number of tangible deliverables.

Question 17

Independent

Answer 17

Where possible, the work packages should be independent of each other so that they can be managed separately.

Question 18

Specification

Answer 18

The specifications define what the work packages need to achieve and outline the required standard.

Question 19

Quality Requirements

Answer 19

The quality requirements outline the required condition and acceptance criteria together with the level of inspection and the qualifications of the workforce. This links with the quality control plan and is an auditable item.

Question 20

Estimate (Manhours)

Answer 20

The estimate man-hours is measure of the work content per work package. If these can be scheduled, they can be rolled up to give the S curve graph, which is used in the earned value technique. Some companies limit work package to a certain number of man-hours.

Question 21

Duration

Answer 21

The work package might or might not have a duration. If the work package relates to the scope of work that will be worked on and off during the project, then the duration would be meaningless.

Question 22

Human Resources

Answer 22

Human resources identify all the people (workforce) required to complete the work.

Question 23

Procurement

Answer 23

The procurement list (bills of material, BOM) identifies all the bought-in items per work package. The procurement list is required to develop a procurement budget and delivery lead times for the procurement schedule.

Question 24

Equipment

Answer 24

The equipment list identifies all the equipment, machines and plant required to complete the work package. If special equipment is required the project manager should look for beneficial grouping.

Question 25

Similar Size

Answer 25

The work package should be a manageable size, typically between 20 to 80 man-hours. The smaller the size the more accurate the progress reporting.

Question 26

Build-Method

Answer 26

The build-method outlines how the work package will be made

Question 27

Acceptance Criteria

Answer 27

This section outlines the commissioning and testing that is required to validate and verify the work packages before handing over to the client for operation.

Question 28

Assumptions and Constraints

Answer 28

The assumptions and constraints can be identified at the wok package level to help define the boundaries of the project.

Question 29

Activities

Answer 29

A list of activities can be developed form each of the work packages as required by the CPM analysis and Gantt chart scheduling.

Question 30

Risk

Answer 30

The level of risk can be identified at the work package level, which will enable the project manager to develop mitigation responses at the appropriate level. The level of risk should not be noted and compared with the corporate acceptable level of risk.

Question 31

Location Breakdown Structure

Answer 31

• focuses on the physical location of the work.
• appropriate for a project that has items of work at many different sites, buildings and premises.

Question 32

Transport breakdown structure

Answer 32

• Size
• weight
• configuration
• upgrade
• disposal