Work Breakdown Structures, Part III

Once you've completed a first detailed pass through your WBS and have reviewed it with your high-level engineering managers, the next step is to write a WBS Dictionary to accompany the breakdown. The process of creating this document can be laborious, but it's crucial; a WBS Dictionary serves as the one definitive document that explains and describes the full scope of your project. Without a WBS Dictionary, there can/will be ambiguity and uncertainty within your team over what is--and isn't--included in each scope area of the project. There can also be uncertainty over who is--and isn't--responsible for each element of scope.

The WBS Dictionary also serves as the jumping off point for performing your detailed cost and schedule estimates. Said simply, without a clear and detailed understanding of what is included in each WBS element, you cannot expect to be able to fully and accurately estimate the cost of that element, nor can you accurately estimate the time it will take you to complete the work associated with it. Risk identification, resource requirements, and so on all fall out naturally from a complete and accurate WBS Dictionary.

There are other reasons to create a WBS Dictionary, too. On our project, for example, each individual work package page (which are web accessible) also serves as the repository for other relevant information associated with the element. This includes such things as basis of estimate (BoE) calculations and spreadsheets, bottom up risk/contingency calculations, change request histories associated with the work package, plus links to other associated documents. In other words, ours is a WBS Dictionary on steroids, and it serves as the first place we tend to look for work package-related information. The Dictionary offers both high-level and very specific detailed information on WBS elements.

While you don’t have to go as far as we have, you still need a Dictionary. If you’ve never created one before, a good place to start is with a previous WBS Dictionary that your company has used. Alternatively, you can use a standard template, of which there are many just a Google search away.

For what it’s worth, some of the information our WGS Dictionary pages include are:

• WBS Name
• WBS Number
• Work Package (or Budget Account Code)
• Expected WP Start Date
• Expected WP Finish Date
• Current WP % Complete
• Responsible Cost Account Manager (CAM)
• Funding Source Earned Value Technique
• WP Description (both what’s included and what’s not)
• SOW for this element BoE for this element
• Change Request History
• Milestone Description, including weights
• Contingency Calculator
• All other relevant attachments

Each individual page of our WBS Dictionary also includes spaces for two required signatures. The first is the CAM, and the second is the Project Manager. These two entries are probably as important as any other on the page-- the two signatures represent that the information is agreed upon by both the low level cost account manager who is responsible for performing the detailed work associated with the element, and the high-level project manager who’s responsibility is to ensure the entire scope of the project is accounted for within the pages of the Dictionary.

I’ll have a few more things to say about WBSs in my next post, including the previously promised look at our project’s WBS. I’ll also include a same page from our WBS Dictionary as an example. Stay tuned...

© Copyright 2014 Mark H.Warner. All rights reserved.