CE-407 Project Planning,
Management & Engg. Economics,
02 Credit Hours
Spring 2015
Lecture 02
Work Breakdown Structure
by Faisal Rehman
Department of Civil Engineering, UETP
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Summary
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WBS
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Kaizen
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5 Whys
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Work Breakdown Structure
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You cannot eat an elephant in a single bite.
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You have to make slices before you eat.
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Similarly a project is divided in series of activities,
sub activities and work packages.
or sometime we use the term tasks and sub tasks for
this.
It is a single job that can be completed successfulling
when assigned to a team or a person.
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Work Breakdown Structure
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So a project includes a series of activities.
We make a comprehensive sequential list of the
major activities that the project requires.
Project activities are divided into pieces known as
work packages or tasks ( the lower-level activities
that are required to complete the activity).
We also create the estimates for the work packages
and roll up the costs into subactivities and activities.
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Work Breakdown Structure
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Activities can be divided into subactivites and work
packages.
This process is called work break down structure
(WBS).
or Dividing project into tasks and subtasks is called
WBS.
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Why Break Down the Work ?
The WBS facilitates:
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Detailed planning.
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Scheduling.
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Cost estimating.
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Risk management.
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Budget preparation.
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Monitoring and reporting.
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It is the foundation for good project visibility and
management.
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The WBS allows us to answer:
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What tasks must be done?
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When should the tasks be done?
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Who will do each one?
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How long will each task take?
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How much will each task cost?
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What resources are required for each task?
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What progress is being achieved?
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Are we going to be successful?
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Estimating Task Duration
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Educated guess
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Available resources
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Similarity to other activities
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Historical data / Experience
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Expert advice
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Three point method (PERT Project Evaluation and
Review Technique).
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Estimating Task Duration
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Pert Technique.
Note that the factor for O, M and P can be changed.
Here the factors taken are 1, 4 and 1 for O, M and P.
These factors are altered on basis of experience and
historical record.
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Kaizen
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A Japanese term for "good change".
When used in the business sense and applied to the
workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually
improve all functions and involve all employees from the
CEO to the assembly line workers.
It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and
logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the
supply chain.
By improving standardized activities and processes,
kaizen aims to eliminate waste
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Kaizen

The Toyota Production System is known for kaizen,
where all line personnel are expected to stop their
moving production line in case of any abnormality and,
along with their supervisor, suggest an improvement to
resolve the abnormality which may initiate a kaizen.
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Cycle of Kaizen Activity
The cycle of kaizen activity can be defined as:
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Standardize an operation and activities
Measure the operation (find cycle time and amount of
in-process inventory).
Gauge measurements against requirements.
Innovate to meet requirements and increase
productivity.
Standardize the new, improved operations.Continue
cycle ad infinitum.
This is also known as the Shewhart cycle, Deming
cycle, or PDCA.
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Cycle of Kaizen Activity (PCDA)
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Kaizen Blitz and Burst
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A kaizen blitz, or rapid improvement, is a focused
activity on a particular process or activity.
The basic concept is to identify and quickly remove
waste.
Another approach is that of the kaizen burst, a specific
kaizen activity on a particular process in the value
stream.
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Cycle of Kaizen Activity
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Another technique used in conjunction with PDCA is the
5 Whys which is a form of root cause analysis in which
the user asks a series of 5 "why" questions about a
failure that has occurred, basing each subsequent
question on the answer to the previous.
There are normally a series of causes stemming from
one root cause, and they can be visualized using
fishbone diagrams or tables.
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5 Whys
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5 Whys is an iterative question-asking technique used
to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying
a particular problem.
The primary goal of the technique is to determine the
root cause of a defect or problem.
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5 Whys
The vehicle will not start. (the problem):
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Why? - The battery is dead. (first why)
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Why? - The alternator is not functioning. (second why)
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Why? - The alternator belt has broken. (third why)
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Why? - The alternator belt was well beyond its useful
service life and not replaced. (fourth why)
Why? - The vehicle was not maintained according to the
recommended service schedule. (fifth why, a root
cause)
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Kaizen and 5 Whys
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Kaizen and 5 Whys are helpful in problem definition
step of project.
It is also helpful in identifying key problems that stall the
project progress.
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Assignment
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Create WBS and assign duration to each task for
construction of single class room.
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List names of Main FIDIC documents.
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Describe TOR and write an example TOR document.
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Reference
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Wikipedia
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PMBOK
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