What Is a Work Package?

A work package definition (WPD) is a way to formalize a commitment. The main content is a written description of the tasks I assign to you. The lowest level of the WBS (Works Breakdown Structure) is defined as the work package layer. The work package is the smallest unit of the decomposition result, and it provides a logical basis for defining activities or assigning responsibilities to specific people or organizations.

The lowest unit of work of the project decomposition structure is the work package, which is the smallest unit of the decomposition result. The purpose of the decomposition is to facilitate the implementation of responsibilities, facilitate implementation, accounting and information collection.

The work package must be accurately defined. After the project is implemented, it can be issued as a task unit to the person in charge of implementation. After the task is completed, both the actual and the dynamic management in comparison with the plan can be performed, and the work completion of the person in charge can be assessed. . It is not necessary to break down any work package to the next level: all work package elements provide the basis for defining activities and representing a single work area.

The definition of each work package usually includes the following:

(1) Working range. The work scope of a work package generally refers to the amount of work, which can be obtained by drawing and calculation, or the construction contractor can decompose it directly from the list of work quantities in the bidding document.

(2) Quality requirements. The quality requirements of each work package are clarified according to relevant specifications and quality standards.

(3) Expense budget. Generally, it can be obtained by decomposing into the work package according to the winning bid price, and it can also be obtained by apportionment by the proportion of engineering quantity or calculated by a fixed amount.

(4) Time schedule. According to the construction plan, determine the sequence of activities of the work packages and the contained procedures, thereby forming a logical relationship between the activities of the work packages.

(5) Resource requirements. According to the quantity of each work package, the quantity analysis is performed to calculate the required resource usage, and the optimal allocation of resources is implemented as much as possible.

(6) Organizational responsibility. Each work package should have a clear person in charge, and the person in charge should also determine the person responsible for each sub-item in this work package, so that the responsibilities and powers are clear, and it is easy to implement, control and evaluate. ^[1]

WBS (Works Breakdown Structure, work / task breakdown structure) is simply to decompose each project content of an engineering project layer by layer according to its related relationship, until a single job with a single content and convenient organization management. Reasonable decomposition can intuitively show the status and relative relationship of the individual tasks in the entire project in the form of a tree structure or a sawtooth list. ratio

When solving a problem is too complicated, you can decompose the problem until the sub-problems after the decomposition are easy to solve; then, solve these sub-problems separately. When planning a project, decomposing a project into more work details or sub-projects makes the project smaller, easier to manage, easier to operate, and clearer division of responsibilities. Task decomposition is the further refinement of requirements and is the process of finalizing the scope of all tasks for a project. The resulting WBS is a grouping of project elements oriented to deliverables.

No matter in project management practice or PMP (Project Management, Professional) exam, the work breakdown structure (WBS) is the most important content. WBS is always at the center of the planning process and is also an important basis for formulating schedules, resource requirements, cost estimates, risk management plans, and procurement plans. WBS is also an important foundation for controlling project changes. The project scope is defined by WBS, so WBS is also a comprehensive tool for a project. WBS should contain information: project product or service structure, project organization structure, project phase division.

WBS is a group of project elements for project deliverables. These elements define and organize the overall scope of work of the project. Work that is not included in WBS does not belong to the scope of the project. Each drop of WBS represents a more detailed definition and description of the project work. The reason why project deliverables should be further broken down into WBS during the definition of the project scope is that better work breakdown can:

(1) Prevent missing deliverables of the project.

(2) Help project managers focus on project goals and clarify responsibilities.

(3) Establish visual project deliverables in order to estimate workload and allocate work.

(4) Help improve the accuracy of time, cost, and resource estimates.

(5) Help build the project team and get the commitment of the project staff.

(6) Define a benchmark for performance measurement and project control.

(7) Assist in communicating clear job responsibilities.

(8) Establish a framework for the formulation of other project plans.

(9) Help analyze the initial risks of the project.

Under normal circumstances, WBS is always at the center of the software project planning process. It is an important basis for making schedules, understanding resource requirements, accounting for cost estimates, controlling possible risks, and deciding on procurement plans. WBS is a planning and design tool that describes ideas. It helps project managers and project teams identify and effectively manage project work. WBS is a structural design tool that clearly shows the interconnections between project work. WBS is a planning tool that presents a complete picture of the project, detailing the work that must be done to complete the project, defines milestones, and can report project completion to senior management and customers. As a tool for reporting on project status, it is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the project team.

Through the formulation of the project breakdown structure, project team members can have a relatively comprehensive understanding of the entire structure of the system, reducing unnecessary disputes and barriers to communication during the project. At the same time, during the execution of the project, each member of the project team can be aware of their own work, so that the project manager can control the project and improve the efficiency of writing code, thereby improving the research and development of the entire project team at an overall level. Efficiency helps to increase customer awareness of the software. Through multiple communications during the research process, the customer and the software development team members formed a certain tacit relationship. At the same time, customers can learn the general rules of software development from the description of software personnel, and make a certain preparation for the later work.

In addition, through the work breakdown structure, the customer understands the functional structure of the program in a relatively intuitive and clear situation. At the same time, it also causes the customer to re-recognize and position the software function requirements in the iterative process, for the development of the system. Set relatively clear goals, reducing the possibility of subsequent demand changes. It has the effect of project duration estimation and a more convincing cost estimate. Through the work breakdown structure, the specific functions to be implemented by the software are better defined. At the same time, the personnel required for each module and related factors such as the construction period can be seen from it. From the salary of the staff and the related construction period, the relevant costs can be calculated more convincingly, and then a certain coefficient can be added to propose a software development cost that is relatively cheap for the customer and basically flat for the company. . Although in fact, the final construction period and cost are inconsistent with the calculation, but the difference is not large, about 25%, so I think this is still a very valuable data, providing a better reference value for future cost calculations .

WBS is also a powerful quality, cost, and time control tool. The three mutually constraining factors of the project are quality, time and cost. The balance between the three is the key to the success of a project. The project breakdown structure is a baseline for project execution. The project manager can find the deviation in the project by comparing the current situation of each stage of the project with the baseline, and then control the cost and time of each link in the project according to the current situation of the project.

WBS's lowest level project deliverables are called WorkPackages and have the following characteristics:

(1) The work package can be assigned to another project manager for planning and execution.

(2) The work package can be further decomposed into the sub-project's WBS by sub-project.

(3) The work package can be further decomposed into activities when formulating the project schedule.

(4) The work package may be the responsibility of a single department or contractor. When used for subcontracting outside the organization, it is called a Commitment Package.

(5) The definition of work package should consider the 80 Hour Rule or Two Week Rule, that is, the completion time of any work package should not exceed 80 hours. At the end of each 80 hours or less, only the completion of the work package is reported. Through this method of periodic inspection, changes in the project can be controlled ^[1] .