Free Paper Sample on Project Deliverables

Introduction

A project deliverable describes the result that the project produces. In Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), there are no tasks but project deliverables. It is because the project deliverables describe the reason why the project is present by showing the desired results (Rianty et al., 2018, p. 159). The WBS does not use tasks because tasks are the activities in the project itself, but they are essential to reach the project deliverables. A task list comes in the picture when the project team already has targeted as project deliverables. The tasks can then be created, and they rely on project deliverables. It is because of factors like quality and timelines of project deliverables.

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A project deliverable can be a service, goods, and they are either tangible or intangible. Examples of services or goods may include a portion of a project, server upgrade, software, or a document like a report. The project deliverable can also be a definite target created by the project team. A project delivery must meet the criteria to be considered as one (Rianty et al., 2018, p. 159). First, it should fit into the project's scope. All the stakeholders should be aware and consent to the project deliverable, and they should drive the objectives to achieve the desired targets. The project deliverables should be specific or definite. During a project, clients get promises, and the same are project deliverables as the team is expected to give the result to the customer. When the project team completes the project deliverables, it is highly likely that it will achieve the set objectives and goals (Rianty et al., 2018, p. 159).

How to Estimate Project Scope

Work Breakdown Structure is a useful tool in estimating the project scope. The first step is to identify the top deliverables. It can be consulting management or clients on what they need from the project (Sanghera, 2018, p. 136). After getting the deliverables from them, they should be matched with the tasks that the project team does to achieve them. The work breakdown structure provides these deliverables, and the above step is when they are not yet identified. It is not about listing down tasks but getting all the details. It includes identifying the actual work to be done. Jobs also have dependencies, and they should be identified. Next is to show the specific requirements for every task. Any other information about functions that affect the jobs should also be identified (Sanghera, 2018, p. 136). The target is to identify all tasks that lead to achieving high-level deliverables. The timelines of every task are essential for accountability at the end. The identification of task details provides a sitemap, which is like the pathway of the project to achieve the high-level deliverables.

The next step is to examine the tasks and showing the required effort for completion. It might take a lot of thought and time, but it is a worthy investment (Sanghera, 2018, p. 142). It is like getting to the granular details of every task. Details also include the expenses for every job. The final step is estimation and formatting. Formatting is representing the project in the work breakdown structure in a chart (Sanghera, 2018, p. 151). It represents the tasks hierarchy, and it makes it simple to monitor. However, the format of representation does not matter entirely, but the accuracy and completeness do. Details of every task include timelines, processes, and budgets. It results in the project scope, and the team can know if they are on the right path or not.

Relation

Planning can either make or break a project. Therefore, the scope statement is useful to the work breakdown structure to create high-level project deliverables (Hassan et al., 2018, p. 208). Identification of the high-level deliverables is essential in estimating the project scope. It shows that the correlation between the work breakdown structure and the project statement. The deliverables form the outcomes of the project, and they all have responsible personnel and specific activities. The scope statement is not useful to create a simple to-do list but details on every deliverable in the work breakdown structure. It gives everyone in the project team an assignment that they should deliver. The scope statement is essential to create hierarchy and life cycles of the high-level deliverables to identify their activities and sub-processes (Hassan et al., 2018, p. 215). The scope statement is useful for the validation of every deliverable in the work breakdown structure in the estimation of the actual project scope.

The project statement and the work breakdown structure are integral in the project to achieve success. Therefore, a complete work breakdown structure is necessary, and a scope statement aids in the same. The scope statements give focus and decision making points to the project team when analyzing the project deliverables. The scope statement provides much information to the project team when creating the work breakdown structure in the initial phase of the project when there is not much information on the tasks (Hassan et al., 2018, p. 216). Therefore the scope statement is an essential resource in the success of the whole project. The scope statement usually comes before the work breakdown, and it may be small, but it provides direction for the project.

Dictionary

The WBS dictionary is a document in the work breakdown structure that gives details on the scheduling, activities, and deliverables of every component or task (Supriadi et al., 2018, p. 195). More information can include quality, costs, resources, timelines, and more information on the scope of each element. The WBS dictionary should be implemented correctly, not just as a document to describe the work breakdown structure. However, it is like a kaleidoscope that presents numerous ways that the project team can view the work breakdown structure in many different ways. The WBS dictionary is useful in the creation of the lowest units of project deliverables in the work breakdown structure (Supriadi et al., 2018, p. 195). It is crucial to maintain a WBS dictionary in creating a work breakdown structure to get all the project work packages details. It creates a channel of communication between all the stakeholders in the project. It allows for the consistency in decision making in the project to avoid unpredicted changes, and changes include alterations in the project scope, like adding or subtracting certain elements. The frequent changes result in a lousy scope definition in the project.

The WBS dictionary contains various elements, including predecessors and successors, duration, constraint, assumption, description, author, and timeline (Supriadi et al., 2018, p. 195). The author is the project manager or the person responsible for the overall success, and the timelines provide the start and final date of the project. Predecessors and successors refer to the previous tasks and incoming tasks that are the current work package interdependencies. The duration is the overall time that a specific job should take, and constraints are the limits that affect the particular tasks in the projects. The assumptions are the necessary factors that are useful for the completion of every job. The description is the details on every task in the project (Supriadi et al., 2018, p. 195).

Levels

The work breakdown structure is vital for the success of a project. It makes the tasks more manageable in the project life cycle for the project team. Therefore, the project team can monitor, coordinate, estimate, and manage tasks in the project using the work breakdown structure. The work breakdown structure, thus, enables partitioning of the project into a manageable component of the project, and it should have an optimum of four levels. The levels include the project title, control accounts, work packages, and activities (Rianty et al., 2018, p. 159). The top-level is the project title, which represents the name of the project. It covers the deliverables and scope of the project that should be complete at the end (Rianty et al., 2018, p. 159). Control accounts are the second level, and it represents the deliverables, phases, systems, and generally, all the significant parts of the project (Rianty et al., 2018, p. 159). For example, in a project to create software, the control account level can be the database system.

Conclusion

Work packages are the third level in the work breakdown structure, and it contains several control accounts. In the software project example, data structure, servers, the software application can be the control accounts in the work packages. However, the work packages must be manageable for easy monitoring, execution, coordination, and management (Rianty et al., 2018, p. 159). The work packages reference the WBS dictionary for definitions of the deliverables and state nouns. The bottom level of the work breakdown structure is activities. They are the specific tasks for the completion of the work package and assigned to a project member (Rianty et al., 2018, p. 159). For example, in the software project, it can include integration, configuration, and installation of the database software.

References

Carstens, D. S., & Richardson, G. L. (2019). Developing the work breakdown structure (WBS). Project Management Tools and Techniques, 63-88.
https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429263163-8

Hassan, I. U., Ahmad, N., & Zuhaira, B. (2018). Calculating completeness of software project scope definition. Information and Software Technology, 94, 208-233.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2017.10.010

Rianty, M., Latief, Y., & Riantini, L. S. (2018). Development of risk-based standardized WBS (Work breakdown structure) for quality planning of high rise building architectural works. MATEC Web of Conferences, 159, 01019.
https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201815901019

Sanghera, P. (2018). Project scope management. CAPM® in Depth, 135-171.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3664-2_4

Supriadi, L. S., Wisesatama, B., & Latief, Y. (2018). Development of work breakdown structure (WBS) dictionary for road construction works. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 195, 012007.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/195/1/012007.