A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a model of the work to be performed in a project organized in a hierarchical structure. The WBS is an important tool which helps you keep an overview of the project:

• It forms the basis for organization and coordination in the project.

• It shows the amount of work, the time required, and the costs involved in the project..

It is the functional basis for further planning steps in a project, such as process planning, cost planning, scheduling, date and capacity planning, or costing, as well as project control.

The project structure can be represented according to different criteria:

• By phase (logic-oriented)

• By function (function-oriented)

• By object (object-oriented)

In a work breakdown structure (WBS), you describe the individual tasks and activities in the project as individual elements in a hierarchy.

Depending on the phase of your project, you continue to break down the tasks and activities in your project, step-by-step, until you reach the level of detail necessary to carry it out.

The individual elements represent activities within the work breakdown structure. The elements are called work breakdown structure elements (WBS elements) in the Project System. WBS elements can be:

• Tasks

• Partial tasks which are subdivided further

• Work packages