Create Work Breakdown Structure

Projects can quickly get out of control if the appropriate actions aren't taken initially. A project's work breakdown structure (WBS) provides the foundation for defining work as it relates to the project objectives and establishes the structure for managing the work to completion. This course will highlight the importance of the WBS and how it relates to the overall success of a project. Through interactive learning strategies and real-life scenarios, the learner will explore these concepts and gain a better understanding of the project management processes related to creating and verifying a work breakdown structure. This course will cover the project inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs of the Create Work Breakdown Structure process, the third process in the Project Scope Management knowledge area. This course is aligned with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Fourth Edition, published by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), Inc., 2008. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI®.

Target Audience

Existing project managers wishing to get certified in recognition of their skills and experience or others who wish to train to become accredited project managers

Expected Duration (hours)
1.5

Lesson Objectives

Create Work Breakdown Structure

• Recognize how to organize a work breakdown structure
• Identify the purposes for which a work breakdown structure is used in project management
• Identify the inputs used when creating a work breakdown structure (WBS)
• Order the steps of the decomposition process
• Identify the attributes of a usable WBS template
• Identify the factors that influence the first level of decomposition for a project
• Determine the degree of decomposition to apply to examples of projects
• Identify criteria for determining whether work packages are sufficiently decomposed
• Identify the roles that identifiers for work breakdown structure elements perform
• Identifying the work package characteristics that are confirmed during WBS verification
• Identify the purpose for having control points in a WBS
• Identify the sign that a work breakdown structure has been finalized
• Identify the components of the scope baseline
• Recognize the role of each component of a project's scope baseline
• Identify the role of the WBS dictionary in a project's scope baseline