Setting Up Your Work Breakdown Structure
by Teresa S. Stover
Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Inside Out
- Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Inside Out
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- A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
- Your All-in-One Resource
- Acknowledgments
- About the CD
- Conventions and Features Used in This Book
- I. Project Fundamentals
- 1. Introducing Microsoft Office Project 2007
- 2. Understanding Projects and Project Management
- II. Developing the Project Plan
- 3. Starting a New Project
- Focusing the Project Vision
- Creating a New Project Plan
- Entering Tasks
- Sequencing and Organizing Tasks
- Organizing Tasks into an Outline
- Setting Up Your Work Breakdown Structure
- Adding Supplementary Information to Tasks
- 4. Viewing Project Information
- 5. Scheduling Tasks
- 6. Setting Up Resources in the Project
- Understanding the Impact of Resources in the Project Plan
- Adding Resources to the Project
- Removing a Resource from the Project
- Identifying Tentative, Generic, or Budget Resources
- Setting When Resources Are Available for Work
- Adding Detailed Resource Information
- 7. Assigning Resources to Tasks
- 8. Planning Resource and Task Costs
- 9. Checking and Adjusting the Project Plan
- Working with the Critical Path and Critical Tasks
- Bringing in the Project Finish Date
- Reducing Project Costs
- Balancing Resource Workloads
- Changing Project Scope
- Reviewing the Impact of Changes
- Obtaining Buyoff on the Project Plan
- 3. Starting a New Project
- III. Tracking Progress
- 10. Setting a Baseline and Updating Progress
- 11. Responding to Changes in Your Project
- IV. Reporting and Analyzing Project Information
- 12. Reporting Project Information
- Establishing Your Communications Plan
- Using Views to Report Project Information
- Generating Text and Visual Reports
- Running Reports for Your Requirements
- Summarizing with Overview Reports
- Focusing on Tasks with Schedule Progress Reports
- Using the Unstarted Tasks Report
- Using the Tasks Starting Soon Report
- Using the Tasks In Progress Report
- Using the Completed Tasks Report
- Using the Should Have Started Tasks Report
- Using the Slipping Tasks Report
- Using the Baseline Report in Visio
- Using the Baseline Work Report in Excel
- Using the Task Status Report in Visio
- Using the Budget Work Report in Excel
- Analyzing Budget Status with Cost Reports
- Using the Cash Flow Report
- Using the Cash Flow Report in Excel
- Using the Cash Flow Report in Visio
- Using the Baseline Cost Report in Excel
- Using the Budget Report
- Using the Budget Cost Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Cost Summary Report in Excel
- Using the Overbudget Tasks Report
- Using the Overbudget Resources Report
- Using the Earned Value Report
- Using the Earned Value Over Time Report in Excel
- Evaluating Resource Allocation with Assignment Reports
- Using the Who Does What Report
- Using the Who Does What When Report
- Using the To-Do List
- Using the Overallocated Resources Report
- Using the Resource Availability Report in Visio
- Using the Resource Work Availability Report in Excel
- Using the Task Usage Report
- Using the Resource Usage Report
- Using the Resource Work Summary Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Remaining Work Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Status Report in Visio
- Revising a Built-In Report
- Building a Custom Report
- Saving Project Data Fields
- 13. Analyzing Progress Using Earned Value
- 12. Reporting Project Information
- V. Managing Multiple Projects
- 14. Managing Master Projects and Resource Pools
- 15. Exchanging Information Between Project Plans
- VI. Integrating Microsoft Project with Other Programs
- 16. Exchanging Information with Other Applications
- 17. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Excel
- Copying Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Embedding Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Linking Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Importing and Exporting with Excel
- Producing a Visual Report of Project Data in Excel
- 18. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Outlook
- 19. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Visio
- VII. Managing Projects Across Your Enterprise
- 20. Understanding Enterprise Project Management
- 21. Administering Your Enterprise Project Management Solution
- Logging On and Off
- Managing Users and Permissions
- Administering the Enterprise Resource Pool
- Establishing the Enterprise Portfolio
- Standardizing Enterprise Project Elements
- Setting Up Team Member Work Pages
- Managing Pages, Views, and Reports
- Managing and Maintaining the Server
- 22. Managing Enterprise Projects and Resources
- Connecting to Your Project Server
- Working with Enterprise Projects
- Building Your Enterprise Project Team
- Finding Resources to Meet Your Needs
- Adding Enterprise Resources by Name
- Identifying Resource Attributes Using Custom Enterprise Fields
- Using Generic Resources as Placeholders
- Adding a Team Assignment Pool to Your Project Resource List
- Finding Enterprise Resources That Meet Specific Criteria
- Replacing an Existing Project Resource with an Enterprise Resource
- Matching an Existing Project Resource
- Matching and Replacing Generic Resources
- Proposing Tentative Resources
- Assigning Tasks to Enterprise Resources
- Finding Resources to Meet Your Needs
- Collaborating with Your Project Team
- Creating Proposals and Activity Plans
- 23. Participating on a Team Using Project Web Access
- Getting Started with Project Web Access
- Working on Your Assignments and Updates
- Submitting Text-Based Status Reports
- Logging Time Using Timesheets
- Setting Up E-Mail, Reminders, and Calendars
- Managing Resources in Project Web Access
- 24. Making Executive Decisions Using Project Web Access
- Getting Started with Project Web Access
- Viewing Project Portfolio Information
- Working with the Project Portfolio
- Working with Resource Information
- Analyzing and Reporting on Project Information
- Setting Your Alerts and Reminders
- VIII. Customizing and Managing Project Files
- 25. Customizing Your View of Project Information
- Customizing Views
- Customizing Tables
- Customizing Fields
- Working with Outline Codes
- Customizing Groups
- Customizing Filters
- Sharing Customized Elements Among Projects
- 26. Customizing the Microsoft Project Interface
- 27. Automating Your Work with Macros
- 28. Standardizing Projects Using Templates
- 29. Managing Project Files
- 25. Customizing Your View of Project Information
- A. Installing Microsoft Office Project 2007
- B. Online Resources for Microsoft Project
- C. Keyboard Shortcuts
- D. Index to Troubleshooting Topics
- E. About the Authors
- Index
- About the Author
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As mentioned earlier in this chapter, many project managers and organizations use a WBS as an essential element of their project management methodology. Similar to the outline structure of your project task list, the WBS is a hierarchical chart view of deliverables in a project in which each level down represents an increasingly detailed description of the project deliverables.
WBS levels can be associated with a particular code set, such as 2.1.3.a. Levels in the hierarchy represent summary tasks, subtasks, work packages, and deliverables. You can define a project’s scope and develop its task lists with the WBS.
Industries, application areas, and organizations experienced with a particular type of project tend to have WBSs developed to represent the life cycles of their typical types of projects, for example, the design of a new vehicle or the construction of an office building.
Each item and level in a work breakdown structure is described by a unique WBS code. Each digit in the code typically represents a level in the structure’s hierarchy, such as 2.1.4.3 or 5.B.c.3. A WBS code such as 1.2.3 might represent the third deliverable for the second activity in the first phase of the project.
Note
In some industries or application areas, the work breakdown structure is also known as the project breakdown structure, or PBS.
In Microsoft Project, any outline structure you set up for your tasks is assigned a set of unique outline numbers. The outline number for the first summary task is 1; the outline number for the first subtask under the first summary task is 1.1 (see Figure 3-23).
Figure 3-23. The outline number specifies the task’s position in your project plan’s task outline hierarchy.
By default, Microsoft Project creates WBS codes that are derived from these outline numbers, and you can’t change the code scheme of the outline numbers. However, if you and your organization have a specific WBS coding scheme, you can change the WBS numbering. When working with WBS codes, keep the following in mind:
You can have only one set of WBS codes. However, if you use additional coding schemes, you can create up to ten sets of outline codes and then sort or group your tasks by those codes.
Note
Certain project management methodologies use other structured and hierarchical codes that can describe your project from different viewpoints. Examples include the organizational breakdown structure (OBS), the resource breakdown structure (RBS), and the bill of materials (BOM).
Note
For more information about outline codes, see the section titled Working with Outline Codes in Chapter 25.
You can include ordered numbers, uppercase letters, and lowercase letters as part of your custom WBS code format. You can also include unordered characters in the code format.
You can automatically generate your custom WBS codes for tasks as you add them.
To set up your custom WBS code scheme, including any prefix and code mask, follow these steps:
Click Project, WBS, Define Code.
If you use a prefix for the project in front of the WBS code to distinguish it from other projects using the same code format, enter that prefix in the Project Code Prefix box.
In the Sequence field in the first row, select whether the first digit of the code (representing the first level of the hierarchy) is an ordered number, ordered uppercase letter, ordered lowercase letter, or unordered character.
In the Length field in the first row, specify whether there is a length limit for the first code.
In the Separator field in the first row, specify the character that separates the first and second code.
Repeat the procedure in the Sequence field in the second row.
Continue these steps until all the levels of your custom WBS code are set up (see Figure 3-24). As you enter the code mask for each succeeding level, the Code Preview box shows an example of the code.
When finished, click OK. The WBS codes for your tasks are reset to conform to your custom structure (see Figure 3-25).
Note
In Microsoft Project 2003, the Visio WBS Chart Wizard was available to display project information in a Visio WBS chart. In Microsoft Office Project 2007, this feature has been replaced by the visual reports created in Microsoft Office Visio.
Note
For more information about creating a visual report in Visio, see the section titled Creating a New Visual Report Template in Chapter 12.
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