How to use the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in templates

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a key project management feature that organises your team's work into manageable sections.

Note: If you are familiar with WBS, please check the important note at the end of this guide.

The work breakdown structure visually defines the scope into manageable chunks (in ManagePlaces, these are Task Groups) that a project team can understand, as each level of the work breakdown structure provides further definition and detail.

An easy way to think about a work breakdown structure is as an outline or "map" of the specific project. A work breakdown structure starts with the Project as the top level deliverable and is further decomposed into  Task Groups (and optionally  sub-Task Groups), and finally  Tasks.

The project team creates the project work breakdown structure by identifying the major functional deliverables and subdividing those deliverables into smaller systems and sub-deliverables. These sub-deliverables are further decomposed, usually until a single person can be assigned (although of course your requirements may be different). At this level, the specific work packages required to produce the sub- deliverable are identified and grouped together. The work package represents the list of tasks or "to-dos" to produce the specific unit of work. If you've seen detailed project schedules, then you'll recognise the tasks under the work package as the "stuff" people need to complete by a specific time and within a specific level of effort.

Here are two examples of WBS:

An important note on creating template CSV's using Spreadsheet editing software

If you use Excel or similar spreadsheet software to edit your project templates, please ensure the following to prevent editing software from omitting trailing zeros or other required characters:

1. Your WBS numbering should use the following format: WBS [space] Number, for example: WBS 1 (first item in project) or WBS 1.10 (tenth item within first task group) or WBS 2.1.1 (first item within the first sub-task group within the second task group)
   
2. Ensure you use the same format in the Prerequisites column
   
3. Once you save your file, reopen it in Excel or in preferably in a Text Editor, and ensure that WBS Numbers ending with 0's (zeros) have saved correctly

The example below shows you what the correct structure is, and what spreadsheet software may automatically replace certain fields by:

Example of correct WBS format	Example of wrong WBS format
WBS 1	WBS 1
WBS 1.1	WBS 1.1
...	...
WBS 1.9	WBS 1.9
WBS 1.10	WBS 1.1
WBS 1.11	WBS 1.11
...	...
WBS 2	WBS 2
WBS 2.1	WBS 2.1
WBS 2.1.1	WBS 2.1.1
...	...
WBS 2.1.19	WBS 2.1.19
WBS 2.1.20	WBS 2.1.2
WBS 2.1.21	WBS 2.1.21
WBS 2.1.2	WBS 2.1.2

Feel free to submit a helpdesk ticket if you need help with any of your project creation, update or import requirements, directly from the Questions button on the ManagePlaces platform, or by clicking here.

• Related Articles

• Importing CSV of existing projects into ManagePlaces

  Follow our short tutorial on how to import a project CSV file: Follow the steps below to import your CSV file: With our data import tool you can import a large list of tasks and task groups for a project.  It uses a simple CSV (comma-separated value) ...

• Version control: adding multiple versions of documents

  If you work with drawings or other documents that go through multiple rounds of markups and amends, the version control feature in ManagePlaces can be used to link all versions together providing you with a full audit trail so you can always access ...

• Synchronise ManagePlaces with Xero (Pro Plan)

  ManagePlaces provides you with the ability to track your income and expenditure throughout the duration of your project, however you may wish to keep track of these finances in a dedicated accounting package. ManagePlaces allows you to synchronise ...

• Gantt chart: Lag and lead time, and end-to-start dependencies

  When you add lag time, you delay the start time of the successor task. When you add lead time to a task, work on that task will overlap work on its predecessor. Before you can start adding lead or lag time, you need to create a dependency between the ...

• How to create KPI

  ManagePlaces allows you to define and track KPIs across projects with ease. You can set the measurability parameters of each KPI you define and log across projects in a matter of clicks. Watch our short tutorial and/or follow the steps below: ​ 1. Go ...