Question

How does network development relate to the work breakdown schedule (WBS)? how is the WBS related to project network development? How can the project manager reduce problems when integrating the work package and the network? Describe how the project manager can eliminate problems during the integration.

Answer 1

When project manager develops project network, he develops the broad level activity plan, activity dependencies and activity sequence which gives a fair idea of resource, material and when all activities can be started. once the activity sequence is planned, activties can be further broken down into smaller work with timeline. as activities have sequence, it is easy to create a work breakdown structure now with activity dependencies available. For eg if the project is for making a house on available land, project network will have the following activities

1. House plan and design to be decided

2. Material to be procured

3. civil foundation work to begin

4. structure to be built

5. landscaping to be done

6. interiors to be done

for WBS, activity 1 house plan and design to be decided can be broken down further

1. decide the Architect

2. plan meeting with customer and Architect

3. prepare a plan with Architect and give design inputs

4. finalise the design after meeting with customer and Architect.

So with WBS, activities are further broken down and it is easier to plan for time and resource for each activity. the higher the number of activities, planning for project manager is easier but at the time of execution there will be so many activities that it will become difficult to keep the track of all.

So in case a project manager needs more precision in planning for resource and time, then WBS should have as many activties as possible. but there shall be a limit to how many 1 activity can be broken down into how many further activties. though it would bring precision but optimization shall be considered and WBS shall be done based on the type of project.

project manager can utilize WBS and can plan for resource in a better way. in case there are two activties planned which without WBS show that they might utilize the same resource. so they cannot be planned in parallel

but with WBS, there might be some small level activties that can be done in parallel whcih do not require the same resource.

3.