Choosing a Simple, Intermediate, or Complex Structure
After you understand how your firm will use the work breakdown structure (WBS) and the components that make up a work breakdown structure, the next step is to choose the complexity of your WBS.
You use organization codes; phases and tasks; and project, phase, and task delimiters as components to build your work breakdown structure.
The more components you use, the more complex your WBS. For administrative purposes, it is best to choose the simplest structure that still meets your needs.
How complex you make your work breakdown structure depends on your firm's needs. You need to evaluate what type of information you want to capture and what types of information you need to report on. When you develop a work breakdown structure, you should look at samples of key Ajera CRM reports that were created using different numbering schemes.
Sample Simple Work Breakdown Structure
Here is an example of a simple work breakdown structure for the design of a bank building. The structural and engineering pieces are being outsourced:
Project Name: Bank Building
Project Number: 100
This WBS uses only the WBS 1 or project number, only the base project number (no delimiters), and the minimum length requirement of three characters. This type of simple structure may be acceptable for small firms or small jobs that require basic tracking or billing.
Sample Intermediate Work Breakdown Structure
Here is an example of a work breakdown structure with intermediate complexity. The structure is for the same bank building used in the sample simple work breakdown structure. However, in this example, your company wants to track three separate parts of the same building: the main building, a plaza, and a parking garage. In this example, you create two levels of work breakdown structure to track at this level of detail.
| Component | Name | Number |
|---|---|---|
| WBS 1 (Main Project) | Bank Building | 000100.00 |
| WBS 2 (Phase 1) | Main Building | 000 |
| WBS 2 (Phase 2) | Plaza | 001 |
| WBS 2 (Phase 3) | Parking Garage | 002 |
Sample Complex Work Breakdown Structure
Here is an example of a complex work breakdown structure. This structure is based on work for the same bank building used for the sample intermediate work breakdown structure.
- You break the building work into three pieces (main building, plaza, and parking garage).
- Your firm wants to track design and engineering work separately.
In this example, you configure a two-level organization structure: Office and Department ( Boston: Architecture; Engineering and New York: Architecture; Engineering). You then create three levels of work breakdown structure to track detail, and associate each level with the appropriate organization.
| Component | Name | Number |
|---|---|---|
| Organization Level 1 | Boston | BO |
| Organization Level 1 | New York | NY |
| Organization Level 2 | Architecture | AR |
| Organization Level 2 | Engineering | EN |
| Potential org combinations: BO.AR, BO.EN, NY.AR, NY.EN | ||
|---|---|---|
| WBS 1 (Main Project) | Bank Building | 000100.00 ( BO.AR) |
| WBS 2 (Phase 1) | Main Building | 000 ( BO.AR) |
| WBS 3 (Task 1) | Design | 01 |
| WBS 3 (Task 2) | Structural | 02 |
| WBS 2 (Phase 2) | Plaza | 001 ( BO.AR) |
| WBS 3 (Task 1) | Design | 01 |
| WBS 3 (Task 2) | Structural | 02 |
| WBS 2 (Phase 3) | Parking Garage | 002 ( BO.AR) |
| WBS 3 (Task 1) | Design | 01 |
| WBS 3 (Task 2) | Structural | 02 |