Work breakdown structure application (WBS application)

Work Breakdown Structure (acronym “WBS”) is a technique generally used in project management and business organization to determine and classify discrete work elements of a project or a business process in the way that helps understand and describe the total work scope of the project/process to produce deliverables. Any project manager as well as business manager should understand Work Breakdown Structure importance (WBS importance) and use software solutions to manage projects and processes. There are special WBS applications and WBS systems that allow building tree-like structures, defining work scope, managing tasks, and understanding Work Breakdown Structure pros and cons . This article aims at helping you understand the comparison “WBS application vs. WBS system ”. It also suggests a software solution for managing projects and business processes.

Work Breakdown Structure planning (WBS planning) takes more time than it might seem at first sight. If you want your project or business process to be well planned, you need to learn WBS technique and use WBS application or system in order to create appropriate tree-like decompositions. You can watch Work Breakdown Structure presentations (WBS presentations) and read competent books to learn the technique. This article won’t give you the description of Work Breakdown Structure decomposition (WBS decomposition) but it will guide you through features of WBS systems and applications.

• Specify Work Breakdown Structure elements (WBS elements) , compose them into hierarchies and set activity levels
• Create work packages at activity levels and define unique packages of work
• Set measurable and auditable Work Breakdown Structure deliverables (WBS deliverables) per level and identify resources (employees) responsible for performing tasks at each activity level
• Determine durations of activities and design work schedules
• Make Work Breakdown Structure estimation (WBS estimation) and measure performance
• Create performance reports, analyze decomposition elements and build Work Breakdown Structure chart (WBS chart)

Managers will benefit from building Work Breakdown Structure examples (WBS examples) , work decompositions and task hierarchies. However, WBS systems offer more powerful functionality which is described below.

WBS system is a subset of tools for creating, managing and editing Work Breakdown Structures. The main difference between WBS system and WBS application refers to data exporting-importing capability. WBS system allows synchronizing internal data with external programs, such as Excel and HTML editors, while WBS application has no capability to do so.

VIP Task Manager can be used as a WBS system that allows exporting tasks and project views into Excel spreadsheets, HTML files, and text documents. VIP Task Manager features Task Tree view that allows you to set Work Breakdown Structure format (WBS format) and use templates to simplify management of projects and processes.

VIP Task Manager uses a client-server technology that allows sharing files over local network and Internet. All files can be stored on a server and users will access the server to read and edit shared files. You can share your Work Breakdown Structure document (WBS document) and build a flow of project documents.