WBS MOD009ACB

Access

• Project (Proposal) panel → Schedule

Information

• In this module, the work breakdown structure of a project can be created and edited graphically.

  • Alternatively, the work breakdown structure can also be created and edited in the Schedule module. In the Schedule module, however, they are displayed in table form.

• The parent tasks of a structured project plan are called summary tasks in PLANTA project.
• The Work break down structure code (WBS code) identifies individual project tasks in accordance with their hierarchical structure.

Details

• Every element (project(s), tasks) is displayed in an individual box.

• Every box contains the most important task and project parameters for the respective element type.

  • There are two ways to figure out what parameters they are:

    • tooltips on the values or

    • the legend at the bottom of the module that can be opened if required. In the legend, the field names have the same position as the corresponding fields in boxes.

• Every parent element contains a so-called node field where the number of child elements is specified.

  • When you click on node fields, child elements are displayed or hidden.

  • When creating new child elements, the number in the node field of the parent element is automatically updated.

• Every box is colored in the corresponding shade of gray depending on its functional degree of completion (Functional completed in %).

  • White: The functional degree of completion is 0 %.

  • Very light gray: The functional degree of completion is 25 %.

  • Light gray: The functional degree of completion is 50 %.

  • Gray: The functional degree of completion is 75 %.

  • Dark gray: The functional degree of completion is 100 %.

  • The meaning of the shades can also be seen in the legend.

  • The shades can be changed individually.

• At the bottom margin of the boxes, symbols are displayed with which different actions can be carried out.

  • Green plus: A new task is created.

  • Blue circle: The task itself and its child tasks are marked or unmarked.

  • Red cross: The task itself and its child tasks are marked and the marked records are deleted with a query.

• Every box contains a bar with four dots at the left margin, which enables you to move the box. For further information, please refer to the “Structure Tasks (Create Work Breakdown Structure)” section.

Module Variants

Create Tasks

If there are no tasks in the project to be edited yet, they can be created as follows:

• 1) Copy tasks from another project (the entire project plan)

  • When switching to the WBS module, the following query is displayed: Adopt a schedule?

  • Confirm the message with Yes.

  • The Copy Schedule module is opened at the bottom of the panel. (If you nagate this message by accident, you can open the Copy schedule module by clicking on the Copy schedule button in the project box.)

    • Select the required project from the listbox.

    • Start the copy operation by clicking on the Copy schedule button.

• 2) Create tasks individually

  • When switching to the WBS module, the following query is displayed: Adopt a schedule?

  • Answer the query with No.

  • You can insert new tasks by

    • clicking on the Insert task button in the project box or

    • right-clicking on the project box and selecting the Insert → Task context menu command.

If there already are tasks, new ones can be created as follows:

• On any task box

  • either click on the plus symbol  at the lower right margin

  • or right-click on the task box and select Insert → Task from the context menu.

Structure Tasks (Create Work Breakdown Structure)

Procedure

• After you have created the tasks, the task boxes will be displayed below the project box at the same level.

• Structure tasks hierarchically as desired by left-clicking on the left box margin and dragging the box to the required position.

  • When the boxes are moved, the specification in the node field, which visualizes the number of boxes per level, will be updated automatically.

• Click on the Generate WBS code in the project bar.

  • The WBS code is generated automatically for every task in the WBS code field in accordance with the structure. Thus the WBS code is both a marker for individual elements in the work breakdown structure and an indicator of the hierarchical structure.

• If there are less than 10 tasks, the numeration of the codes is done by the 1, 2,... 9 schema, if there are more than 10 tasks, the numeration is done by the 01, 02,... schema. 09, 10, ...

• When working with structured projects, you have to keep in mind that the generation of a WBS code in the main project causes the generation of the WBS code for all subprojects concerned. The generation of the WBS code in individual subprojects, on the other hand, only has an effect on the respective subproject.

Caution

When working with structured schedules, PLANTA recommends that you use summary tasks as structuring elements only, i.e. you should not carry out effort or cost planning or enter durations at this level. This also includes resource planning or time recording directly on the summary tasks. Instead, PLANTA recommends that you carry out your planning exclusively on child tasks.

• Reason: Since scheduling detects some parameters of the summary tasks from child tasks, there may be collisions between your own planned values and those detected during scheduling. As a result, there may be values on summary tasks that are incomprehensible at first sight.

Edit Tasks

Information

• In the WBS module itself, only particular task parameters can be edited, e.g. task name, person responsible for the task, milestone type, or estimate.

• Additional task parameters, e.g. dates, effort, etc. can be edited in the data sheet of the respective task (Task module), see the "Edit additional task parameters" section.

Edit task name and person responsible for the task

• directly in the corresponding fields in any module variant of the WBS module.

Change milestone type

• by clicking on the » Change milestone type arrow button at the right hand side of the bottom margin of the task box in the Base module variant.

  • The milestone type is visualized in the form of diamond symbols (blue diamond: milestone, black diamond: master milestone, no symbol: normal task).

Change estimate

• by clicking on the » Change hint arrow button at the right hand top margin of the task box in the Base module variant.

Edit additional task parameters

• To do so, switch to the Task module by clicking on the WBS ID or by right-clicking on the task box and selecting the Edit task context menu command.

See also: Structure Tasks / Work Breakdown Structure, Customize WBS Structure Display (in the PLANTA customizer help area)