Delimiters in the Work Breakdown Structure
When you plan your work breakdown structure, you can specify that WBS level numbers include delimiters. A delimiter is any special character (usually a period) used as a separator.
Project numbers can have a maximum of two delimiters. Phase and task numbers can have one delimiter.
Firms often use a delimiter to separate a project number into a base number and a sub-number. They use the sub-number for additional work orders, representing costs beyond the scope of basic services.
A firm may, for example, have a base project 97014.00, with sub-projects 97014.01 and 97014.02. When you use sub-numbers, you have the option of printing a separate invoice for each sub-project.
- . (period)
- : (colon)
- - (dash)
Reasons to Use Delimiters
| Business Goal | How to Use Delimiters |
|---|---|
| Distinguish one piece of work from another | Firms often use a delimiter to separate a project number into a main number and a subnumber. For example, they use the subnumber for additional work orders.
A company may, for example, have a project 97014.00, with sub-projects 97014.01 and 97014.02. |
| Track work on one phase of a project completed by different teams | Different roles within your firm often require different project data. |
| Break a project into more than three levels of detail | For very large project, you may want to use delimiters to specify two more levels of breakdown. |
| Quickly and easily group similar projects by project number on reports | If you create a project with several sub-projects using delimiters, you can specify the base project number and run a report that will include all the sub-projects.
For example, if you have a project 90012, and two sub-projects 90012.001, and 90012.002, you can run a report that includes all projects with the base number 90012. |