WBS Work Breakdown Structure © Unitec New Zealand

>>FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT Learning outcome To understand WBS Work breakdown Structure and its application to Construction Planning

What is a WBS ? Work Breakdown Structure is a deliverable orientated hierarchical decomposition of work to be executed by project team to accomplish the project objectives ( PIMBOK)

Lets consider this bit by bit! deliverable oriented – WBS focuses on work to be delivered rather than tasks needed to accomplish the work Deliverable = Concrete slab Tasks = formwork, reinforcing, concrete pour… hierarchical – WBS is representing bigger chunk of work at hierarchical manner starting with a node the top and then nodes representing smaller chunk as we move down

“Build before we Build !” (BIM) 1st part of the Planning process Maybe elemental or functional Parts which make up deliverables

Decomposition! Decomposition!! Decomposition!!! Key Rule: (a)100% Rule: WBS includes 100% of the work defined by the project scope and captures ALL deliverables – internal, external, interim – in terms of the work to be completed, including project management. (Project Management Institute) (b) Anything that is not defined in the WBS is outside the scope of the project. (Haugan 2002) WBS

Multi - functional

Part 1: Confirm and understand scope of works in this project Part 2: Arrive at a list of tasks, which we can then use to work out durations It is important to appreciate at which level of detail this transition occurs! As Construction Professionals what are we trying to achieve by this WBS process?

Summary Total project L1 Elemental Breakdown L2 Deliverable Breakdown L3-N

The level of decomposition required and subsequent level of details will be dictated either by the number of tasks and parameters of the task durations (or possibly both) As progress is made down decomposition path always consider the overall requirement of the programming requirement. Part two - WBS for construction planners --the HOW bit!

This puts your Planning into a more effective mode, it will also be necessary for BIM in future study. Location Based WBS Total project L1 Elemental breakdown L2 Locational break down L3 Deliverables breakdown L4

WBS Comprehensive classification of project scope Contains no activity duration No resource assignments No dependencies Programme Actual work to be done Contains activity durations Contains assignment of resources to tasks Contains dependencies WBS / Programme Distinction

1.Nature of the work/homogeneity 2.Location/floor 3.Size/duration 4.Timing/chronology 5.Responsibility 6.Others 7.At the level that baton passes to the programmer some form of staging or phasing will be introduced. Part 2: Determining work activities -Factors to be considered (Mubarak 2010)

= measurable piece of work and a single responsibility Single discrete scope of work Definite start and end “mini projects” Work package - Or task/Activity (Hinze 2012)

An individual item or sub project of work by a single person, trade or organisation, which when combined with other tasks in the correct sequence and relationship will result in an event occurring Components of Task -Description -Duration -Relationship with other tasks Note - a task achieves nothing in isolation it is only when it is combined with other tasks its purpose becomes clear Tasks

Logical pattern According to company’s policy National coding systems, (for QS CBI,Co-ordinated Building Information, Name of the project Location Type of activity …for assignment purposes when using MS project it is advisable to ignore coding and let MSP WBS coding system prevail. Determining of work activities Unique identity (ID)

Clearly defined deliverables and project scope such that: – Cost/time is easily estimated – Outputs can be measured (clear and quantifiable) – Progress tracking (monitor & control) is facilitated Well defined tasks (no less than one day) The end point after Part 2

Haugan, G.T. (2002). Effective Work Breakdown Structures (The Project Management Essential Ibrary Series). USA: Management Concepts Inc. Hinze, J.W. (2012). Construction Planning and Scheduling. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Mubarak, S. (2010). Construction project scheduling and control (2 nd edition). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Project management Institute (Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures (Second Edition), Project Management Institute. Wysocki R. K., McGary R. (2003). Effective Project Management (Third edition) Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Publishing. References