WBS DICTIONARY

as we learn in a class before, a WBS dictionary is one of important thing in the Project Charter because it describe more about the WBS that we do. Other people will understand the WBS structure when they read the WBS dictionary. This is some article that i think is useful for us in understanding the WBS and WBS dictionary.

WBS - Work Breakdown Structure

As part of project management, it is important to create a work breakdown structure (WBS). The WBS helps in structuring groups and organizes deliverable project elements to make the work process easy to manage. This tool helps define the project's discrete work elements or tasks that help organize and define the total work scope of the project.

The tool is graphically represented in a tree structure that shows a subdivision of effort that is required to complete a task. In the course of a project, the WBS is developed by the end objective, successive subdivision into manageable components in terms of size, duration, and responsibility that include all steps necessary to achieve the objective.

WBS Dictionary

A WBS is usually accompanied by a document called a WBS Dictionary. This document elaborates and explains individual components of the WBS. The components could include codes, description of work, responsibilities, schedule milestones, schedule activities, resources, cost estimates, quality requirements, acceptance terms, technical resources, contract information, additional information, etc.

The WBS Dictionary helps understand the nature of the work as each element of the WBS is thoroughly explained with a functional description, post-implementation descriptions, general requirements, relationships, and dependencies. This form is generally filled by the project team and is used by large and complex projects that have many tasks.

The WBS Dictionary sounds complex and complicated. However, once the task is completed, it may prevent many issues that could occur from miscommunication or misunderstandings among the team members as to which tasks fits where in the project. The document helps effective communication among the team members. Finally, the document subdivides each deliverable into small pieces for easy estimation. The document considers each element and defines for the task:

• Unique identifier for each individual task
• Name
• Description
• Predecessors
• Successors
• Desirable end result
• Functional requirement it fulfils
• Technical requirement of completing the task
• Owners

The WBS Dictionary helps a lot when teams are geographically dispersed as it helps in easing communication issues. The document facilitates communications, helps each team member understand the objective of the task, and allows them to be interchangeable. When the project is about to begin, the project manager usually sends the WBS Dictionary to all team members so that they can begin their individual tasks immediately.

When completing the WBS Dictionary, both the project manager and the team members collectively describe how the task fits the requirements and how the requirements fit the project. This helps validate requirements and ensure the work done is directly related to the scope of the project.

In the majority of cases, the WBS Dictionary is an important output of the WBS process as the WBS would not be useful without it. The WBS Dictionary would also help examine the outputs and why they are important.

reference : http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/52388.aspx