A Lecture for Construction Management

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
STRUCTURE
❑ What is a Work Breakdown Structure?
▪ “A deliverable-oriented hierarchical
decomposition of the work to be
executed by the project team to
accomplish the project objectives and
create the required deliverables”-
Project Management Institute (PMI)

▪ “A work breakdown structure defines

all the things a project needs to
accomplish, organized into multiple Source: asana.com

levels, and displayed graphically.”

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
STRUCTURE
❑ Purpose of Work Breakdown Structure

Give a unique identity to each activity.

Recognize the distinct nature of the broad activity.

Estimate the time and cost required for an activity.

Monitor and control the task.

Portray the entire scope of the activity, all the deliverables,

and milestones.

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://theconstructor.org/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
STRUCTURE
❑ Levels of Work Breakdown Structure

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://asana.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
STRUCTURE
❑ Levels of Work Breakdown Structure

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
STRUCTURE
❑ Types of Work Breakdown Structure

•Verb-oriented, Activity or Task-oriented, or

Phase-Oriented Process-oriented WBS.
WBS •Project deliverables are defined in terms of actions to
be taken to attain the final product.
•Example: test, design, transfer, etc.

•Noun-oriented, Entity-oriented or Product-oriented

Deliverable- WBS.
Oriented WBS •The functions or physical components that make up the
deliverable define the project work.
•Example: Foundation, Design Engine, Module 1, etc.

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://theconstructor.org/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
STRUCTURE
❑ Types of Work Breakdown Structure
❖ Phase-Oriented WBS

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workbreakdownstructure.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
STRUCTURE
❑ Types of Work Breakdown Structure

❖ Phase-Oriented WBS

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Source: https://www.projectmanager.com/ Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
STRUCTURE
❑ Types of Work Breakdown Structure
❖ Deliverable-Oriented WBS

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workbreakdownstructure.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Types of Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Deliverable-
Oriented WBS

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.smartsheet.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

1. Understand the
Project’s Scope

5. Use the Right WBS 2. Determine Major

Format Deliverables

4. Create a WBS 3. Determine Work

Dictionary Packages
Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez
Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Understand the Project Scope

▪ Chiefly, two things are needed:

o Project scope statement to
understand the project’s scope
in detail.
o Project scope management
plan to understand how to
deal with changes to the
project’s scope (which will
affect your deliverables).

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Determine Major Deliverables

▪ Once you have an understanding of
the project scope, start the WBS
development process by figuring out
the key deliverables.

▪ There are two heuristics you can

follow for determining major
deliverables at the 2nd level:
o Each deliverable must be essential
to the success of the project.
o Each deliverable should be the
responsibility of an independent
team. Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez
Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Determine Work Packages

▪ A work package is a deliverable

at the lowest level of a WBS.

Source: https://www.workbreakdownstructure.com/

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Determine Work Packages

▪ This work package must be:

Estimable
Definable

Adaptable
Independent

Manageable

Integratable
Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez
Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Create a WBS Dictionary Work package ID (see the ID convention below)

Work package name

▪ The WBS dictionary is a document Work package description
that outlines the definition and
scope of each element contained in Assigned to (individual or team name)
the WBS.
Department

Date of assignment

Due date

Estimated cost

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Create a WBS Dictionary

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://pm-training.net/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Use the Right WBS Format

▪ The simplest way to do this is to ▪ For example, the

create text-based hierarchical number 1.1.1.3 means that
groupings. By convention, you you’re referencing the 3rd
use numbers and decimal points element of the 4th level of the
to indicate the level of the WBS.
element.

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Use the Right WBS Format

▪ Tabular Structure
▪ Text-based WBS

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE

❖ Use the Right WBS Format

▪ Flowchart

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Guidelines for Making an Effective Work
STRUCTURE
Breakdown Structure

Mutually
Level Absence of Additional
The 100% Rule Exclusive Level of Detail
Approach Symmetry features
Activities

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://theconstructor.org/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Guidelines for Making an Effective Work
STRUCTURE
Breakdown Structure
❖ The 100% Rule

▪ Most important principle for

designing a WBS.

▪ WBS should include all the work

identified by the project scope
and must have all the
deliverables that have to be
completed - internal, external,
and interim.

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://theconstructor.org/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Guidelines for Making an Effective Work
STRUCTURE
Breakdown Structure
❖ Level Approach

Top-Down Approach Bottom-Up

Approach

o The project is divided

into sub-projects. o The lowest level
activities are to be
put down first.
o This is done until the task
can be defined and
estimated. o A tedious process
and requires a lot of
brainstorming

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://theconstructor.org/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Guidelines for Making an Effective Work
STRUCTURE
Breakdown Structure
❖ Mutually Exclusive Activities

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://theconstructor.org/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Guidelines for Making an Effective Work
STRUCTURE
Breakdown Structure
❖ Level of Detail

▪ A common mistake when creating ▪ Stop breaking down the task

work breakdown structures is to when the estimate of the desired
keep the level of detail either too level of accuracy can be attained.
broad (i.e. too few levels) or too
narrow (i.e. too many levels).

▪ Aim for between 3-5 levels.

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Guidelines for Making an Effective Work
STRUCTURE
Breakdown Structure
❖ Absence of Symmetry

▪ Not all activities have the same

number of sub-activities.

▪ Thus, a Work Breakdown

Structure doesn’t have to be
symmetric or have the same
bottom level.

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://theconstructor.org/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Guidelines for Making an Effective Work
STRUCTURE
Breakdown Structure
❖ Additional Features

▪ WBS does not depict the order of

activities.

▪ To do so, a code can be given to

all the tasks.

▪ Modifications can be made in a

WBS to show more details.

Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez

Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://theconstructor.org/
 AR138-1 CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

WORK BREAKDOWN
❑ Benefits of Work Breakdown Structure
STRUCTURE
Project Schedule Accountability
•WBS is the foundation of
•Since all elements in a
the project schedule and
WBS are mutually
budget.
exclusive, it helps
•Much easier to assign create accountability.
resources and set
deadlines.

Commitment Reduce
Ambiguities
•Since each team is
responsible for a •Encourages dialog and
specific component at helps everyone
a time, it helps make involved flesh out their
them more committed responsibilities. Thus,
to completing their everyone has less
assigned tasks. ambiguity of the task
to do. Ar. Patrick N. Rodriguez
Malayan Colleges Laguna-MITL
Source: https://www.workamajig.com/