PTM Phase 1 – Defining Activities

The beginning of Phase 1 in PTM marks the end of the conceptualisation, or initiation, step in the project life cycle and the initiation phase of the project management process.

At this point, several key items should be available to you:

• Scope statement
• Project objectives
• Relevant organisational policies and procedures, standards and guidelines
• Financial requirements, including relevant accounting cost codes
• Lessons learned from other projects.

As mentioned in section 1.1., these items are the inputs for the start of the PTM process. They are critical for the successful completion of Phase 1.

The deliverables from this phase are:

• WBS
• Activity list and activity attribute sheets
• Milestone list
• WBS dictionary.

These deliverables provide the information and detail needed for the project team to complete the required work. They can be thought of as providing different layers, or types of information, for specific purposes:

A WBS defines what should be done in a project. The activities and tasks that need to be accomplished for the required scope of the work are displayed in one easy-to-understand chart.

Like an organisational chart, where a hierarchy illustrates job roles or responsibilities, a WBS hierarchy breaks down the required activities into multiple levels, grouped under major components called ‘major activities’, ‘principal activities’ or ‘work streams’. Breaking down the work required for a project into activities and tasks is called ‘decomposition’.

A WBS cannot be used as a replacement for the project plan or schedule. It is simply a visual breakdown of deliverables defined for each major activity. The information in a WBS has no other type of order or sequence, and it provides input for developing other key documents in the PTM process.

Watch

Watch the following videos for more information on WBS:

‘What Is a Work Breakdown Structure – WBS? PM in Under 5’ by Online PM Courses - Mike Clayton on YouTube.

Work Breakdown Structure Demonstration’ by Andy Kaufman on YouTube.

WBS Levels

The number of activity levels needed in a WBS depends on the size and complexity of the project. Typically, three or four activity levels are used. More than four can make the chart confusing to read.

The lowest activity level should show the smallest tasks. Each task should be a distinct piece of work that can be recognised and understood by the person assigned to carry out the work. Any other information needed is communicated through an activity list and activity attribute sheet.

Example

Here is an example WBS with three activity levels for a small project called ‘Plant a Tree’:

On a larger project, your organisation may require control accounts or milestone points to be included within the nested activity levels. These may sit at a level on their own within the hierarchy to make it easier to cross-reference the project’s WBS with an accounting system.

The terms ‘work package’ and ‘activity/task’ are often used interchangeably even though they are not synonymous. For example, the PMBOK Guide defines a work package as the lowest level of a WBS. Often the costs and durations for these tasks are not accurately estimated until later in the PTM process, so work packages may be identified within a WBS but not yet finalised.

Example

This example shows the ‘Plant a Tree’ project with three activity levels, in table format:

Rolling-Wave Planning

If the project is very large or complex, the specifics for all deliverables and tasks may not be known at the start, which makes it challenging to develop a complete WBS. Rolling wave planning is a technique used in these situations. Planning is done down to the level of detail known at the time, and deeper planning occurs when more information is known.

Usually, rolling wave planning needs to stay at least two to three months ahead of the actual work that is being done.

Watch

Watch the following video to learn how word processing software such as Microsoft Word can be used to create a WBS:

‘Project Management Tips: How to Build a WBS for Your Project Using Microsoft Word’ by Tony Zink on YouTube.

WBS Requirements

Not every breakdown of project deliverables can be called a WBS. The following requirements must be met to classify a breakdown of deliverables as a WBS:

Stakeholder input for a WBS

Two types of stakeholder input are needed when developing a WBS:

• Input from the project’s customer, client or users to ensure project outcomes and deliverables will be what is needed to meet requirements
• Input from key project team members and relevant experts to ensure that activities and tasks will deliver the required outcomes

As project manager, you may be responsible for coordinating communication with both the customer and the team to gather this input.

The WBS hierarchy and table format

Project management software allows you to create the hierarchy chart and automatically generate the table version from it as a separate item. Both the hierarchy chart and the table format version are important, especially for a larger project:

• The chart gives a visual snapshot of the work, which is easy to manipulate and edit.
• The table can be easily used in reporting and included in information kits, such as a kit for each task given to relevant team members.

Keeping a WBS up to date

The WBS is the starting point for PTM and the central focus for all PTM phases and deliverables. It is used by many people connected to the project for different reasons.

Activity lists

The WBS defines the scope of work, and the activity list provides input for the project schedule. Activity attributes give more information for each activity or task defined in the WBS and the activity list.

Some project managers use the terms ‘WBS’ and ‘activity list’ interchangeably. This may not matter for a small project, but can lead to miscommunication and confusion on a large one.

Information in the activity list may include:

• Unique ID for each activity/task
• Activity titles
• Activity descriptions
• More detail about the scope of work required
• Dependencies between activities (e.g. if the start of an activity depends on another being completed first)
• Constraints or limitations for the activities
• Assumptions for the activities
• Resource requirements (this information may be added or confirmed in Phase 3).

Milestone List

Project milestones are significant points in a project schedule. They can mark several things, including the start and finish of a project, progress points, or the completion of a significant piece of work or activity. Milestones break a project into chunks and can be linked to reporting or invoice payment for employees or resources, but they are primarily used for scheduling.

Watch

Watch the following video to learn about milestone planning:

‘What Is Milestone Planning? Project Management in Under 5’ by Online PM Courses - Mike Clayton on YouTube.

As a project manager, you will be expected to develop a milestone list with input from project team members. Each milestone should be listed with its name, number and description. Milestones can be mandatory, such as a contract item, or optional, such as internal team achievements. Milestones represent significant events or points in the project, but unlike tasks, they usually have no duration. An exception may be a review milestone, which may take a specified amount of time.

The critical path method

Milestones are often used in scheduling methodologies such as the critical path method (CPM). The critical path is the greatest number of successive tasks required to complete a project successfully. Tasks on this path are known as ‘critical activities’ because their delays cause a delay for the whole project.

As project manager, you should understand how to calculate the critical path for a project to give a clear picture of the actual schedule. Project scheduling software is used to create the schedule and the critical path. The critical path defines the least amount of time needed to complete each task with the least amount of slack.

The critical path method is one way to plan, display and track the project's progress. The process for identifying critical path includes the following steps:

1. Specify each activity or task needed to complete the project (these are detailed in the WBS).
2. Sequence the activities (by understanding the dependencies between tasks)
3. Draw the network diagram – this is a graphical representation of the project
4. Estimate task/activity durations
5. Identify the critical path (the longest route through the network) 
6. Use the critical path as a monitoring tool, as well as a planning tool, and update it throughout the project

Watch

Learn more about CPM by watching the following video:

‘What Is the Critical Path Method (CPM)? PM in Under 5 Minutes’ by Online PM Courses – Mike Clayton on YouTube.

A WBS dictionary is a document that describes each component in the WBS. Its purpose is to help clarify these items later when team members are working or stakeholders have questions when viewing deliverables.

There is no required format for a WBS dictionary. However, usually, it is a text document or spreadsheet, or it can be created with project management software.

Dictionary content

The content of a WBS dictionary includes agreed terminology and descriptions for each work component shown in the WBS chart. Commonly used descriptions may relate to:

• Account code or account identifier
• Work requirements
• Assumptions or constraints (these may also be included in the activity list and activity attributes)
• Responsible persons or organisation unit
• Scheduled milestones (e.g. start and end dates) and associated scheduled activities
• Resources required
• Cost estimates
• Quality requirements
• Acceptance criteria
• Technical references (e.g. guidelines, manuals or standards)
• Agreement information (e.g. contracts and corporate agreements)

This information may also be included in documents prepared for use by individual project team members, such as the activity list and activity attributes. The WBS dictionary is usually made available for review by anyone connected to the project.

Your organisation may have specific requirements for project control or reporting on costs, time and quality improvement. If so, the dictionary descriptions for these items should be detailed enough to meet these requirements.

Project scope baseline

The scope baseline is part of the project plan. It defines the agreed goals, deliverables and scope of work, and agreement documents about the project from relevant stakeholders. When a scope agreement has been given, resources and costs can be estimated in later PTM phases.

Three components make up the scope baseline:

The scope baseline is also part of the performance measurement baseline, against which the project performance is measured. Discussions about scope and scope creep (unplanned scope increases) often happen during a project, and many projects fail because business goals and scope are not completely clear or properly implemented.

Good project management practice requires establishing a correct and appropriate scope baseline to achieve project goals successfully and efficiently.

Activity 2A: Defining activities for FF

In a separate document or on a piece of paper, develop a preliminary:

• WBS
• Activity list
• Activity attributes (where needed)
• Milestone list
• WBS dictionary.

Activity 2B: Defining activities for your project

Review the input items you gathered in Learning Activity 1B and confirm you have all information needed.

In a separate document or on a piece of paper, develop the following items:

• WBS
• Activity list
• Activity attributes
• Milestone list
• WBS dictionary.