Is a hierarchical structure that identifies the project’s resources by category and type.

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_c___51.In a ____ relationship, one task cannot finish before another finishes.A ____ is a hierarchical structure that identifies the project’s resources by category and type.

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a.work breakdownstructurec.network diagramb.resource breakdownstructured.critical path analysis_c___53.The activity list, activity attributes, activity resource requirements, resource calendars, project

scope statement, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets all includeinformation that affect ____.The ultimate goal of ____ is to create a realistic project schedule that provides a basis for

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monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the project.____ provide(s) a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project

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activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format.____ is a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration.

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a.A Gantt chartc.Critical chainschedulingb.Critical path analysisd.PERT analysis

What is a Product Breakdown Structure?

A Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) is a hierarchical structure of things that the project will make or outcomes that it will deliver. It can be thought of as the project “shopping list.” 

It decomposes a "Main Project Product" into its constituent parts in the form of a hierarchical structure. 

The diagram below illustrates a typical PBS for a simple project.

Notice that “internal” products (those built by the project) are differentiated from “external” products (those either supplied by another project or bought in). Note also that products are couched either as nouns or as an outcome described in the past tense - E.g. "Test Plan" or "Training Delivered".

Once completed the PBS gives confidence that what is required is clearly understood and that the relationship between a product and its constituent parts has been defined. 

The PBS is supported by a Product Log (list of products) and associated Product Descriptions that describe individual products in more detail. This enables quality expectations and responsibility for approval to be clearly identified at an early stage in the project life cycle. 

From the PBS a Product Flow Diagram can be produced to represent the order in which sub-products build into the main project product.

This helps define the logic of the delivery plan. The diagram below illustrates the idea. 

Notice that the ordering of delivery differs in this case from the PBS structure. Again, internal and external products are differentiated in the diagram.

What is a Work Breakdown Structure?

In contrast to the PBS the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) provides a hierarchical structure of project activity. If you like it represents the project “to do list.” Its focus is on “work” not “things.” 

Similar to the Product Log, a WBS Dictionary can be produced in conjunction with the WBS to store relevant detailed information in support of the planning process. 

The WBS forms the basis of the Project Plan, decomposing the main project into stages, then workpackages then into sub-activities per work-package. The levels of detail are dependent upon the complexity of the project.

Once completed the WBS gives confidence that the tasks required to deliver all outcomes are understood and that the ordering is correct. 

The diagram below proposes a WBS to deliver the “Third Party Software Project” illustrated above.

Notice that items are couched in terms of a verb and a noun. E.g. "Install Servers" or "Deliver Training". 

Note also that organising the work into work-packages gives the opportunity to organise external supplier contracts into distinct a work-package rather than having contract work scattered about the plan. In general the WBS should make it clear what needs to be actually done and make it easier for that work to be assigned to project teams.

There is no direct relationship between the structures of the WBS and the PBS. 

Use in the planning process

Both techniques bring different benefits to the planning process and should ideally be used in conjunction to ensure the project is thoroughly planned out.

Together they support a "Design Backwards" approach to the planning process that enables the project manager to clearly:

• Define the outcome
• What is it?
• How will you know that you have achieved it?
• Define what is needed to fulfil the outcome
• Define how what is needed can be produced
• Understand when this can be achieved
• Understand who will be needed to achieve it

You should produce the PBS first so that the project outcome is clearly understood and can be agreed with the sponsor. The PBS clarifies what is to be built or indeed imported from elsewhere. External products represent sub-products sourced externally to the project, not built - for example pre-fabricated components or Commercial Off-the Shelf Software. It is therefore a useful source of risks and external dependencies for the project manager.

The Product Log is a useful place to record suppliers of external products and a Product Flow Diagram enables you to identify the order in which products are required. This enables the logic of the plan to be understood at a high level before detailed planning begins.

A WBS can then be built to organise the construction of products as a set of work-packages and associated tasks. Organising the work into work-packages simplifies resource and team planning and provides the basis upon which a realistic plan can be constructed. 

Having “thing” and “work” related views of the plan is very useful in completeness validation.

• Do you have products without work-packages? If so you will not be able to deliver the outcome or have products in the PBS that in the cold light of day aren't required.
• Do you work-packages without products? If so you are either doing unnecessary work or have missed something from the PBS.

It is entirely possible (indeed probable) that the PBS and WBS will look quite different. Products can be represented on the project plan as milestones and linked to the outputs of their associated work-packages. Whatever technique is used there needs to be traceability between the two.

If products will only be partially finished at a stage boundary then intermediate products should be created to ensure that quality checks can be carried out. For example, a test plan may be delivered in draft form for an end-stage review with a view to completion in the next stage. 

To be truly effective the WBS and resulting plan need to fit neatly with the organisation structure that will be doing the delivery. Work-packages in particular need to be readily assignable to coherent teams or groups within the organisation.

Which of the following is a hierarchical structure of identified resources by category and type?

Is a hierarchical representation of the activities within a project?

Which scheduling method considers limited resources when creating a project schedule and includes project completion data buffers?

What symbol on a Gantt chart represents a milestone?