The term Performance, as used here, indicates the measurement and numeric portrayal of an organizations work and its outcomes. The Performance Measures are concerned about whether an organization is achieving its goals and whether it is making any progress towards attaining policy, through focus on data and ourselves. In practical terms, they are quantifiable expressions of the size, cost, or outcome of an organization's activities, indicating at what amount, in what manner, at what level and which products and services should be delivered to customers during a particular time period. It should be noted that the term quantifiable, as used in the above sentence, indicates that these Performance Measures can be calculated more than once, or accounted each time using different numbers.
The Objectives of this topic are:
5.4.1 To study Organizational Breakdown Structure vs. Workforce Breakdown Structure and KPI.
5.4.2 To understand Organizational Breakdown Structure vs. Workforce Breakdown Structure vital indicators.
5.4.3 Comparison of Work Breakdown Structure and Organizational Breakdown Structure.
5.4.4 Advantages of both Work Breakdown Structure and Organizational Breakdown Structure.
5.4.5 Conclusion.
5.4.1 Organizational Breakdown Structure vs. Workforce Breakdown Structure and KPI.
The comparison of Organizational and Workforce Breakdown Structure would be discussed in the following subsections:
5.4.1.1 Organizational Breakdown Structure and KPIs
5.4.4.2 Workforce Breakdown Structure and KPIs
5.4.1.1 Organizational Breakdown Structure and KPIs
Organizational Breakdown Structure is a ranking model, which illustrates the traditional Organizational Framework, regarding the project planning, resource control, time and money in stock tracking, cost division, revenue and profit recording, and work management. This Structure is also used as an in-between level in a totally different chart, that is, the Work Breakdown Structure. It demonstrates organizational businesses, and ultimately uses them to assign work to dissimilar capitals of a project. Another function of the Organizational Breakdown Structure is permitting the splitting down of complex investments or projects; therefore allowing a better-planned illustration of the tasks yet, to be completed. Used in multifarious projects, and in addition to the substantial Work Breakdown Structure, The Organization Breakdown Structure is indeed used every time a Work Breakdown Structure would be advantageous to use, allowing for a quick look into the organizational capital resources, organized in an orderly or even classified manner.
At this point I consider it useful to explain:
a) The uses of Organizational Breakdown Structure.
b) How to create an Organizational Breakdown Structure.
c) The Work Package Responsibility.
a) The uses of Organizational Breakdown Structure.
An Organizational Breakdown Structure is helpful:
In the Project Management.
In the proper Management of Workforce.
In addition to Work Breakdown Structures.
In providing a visual locus of the capital or resources for any project.
In viewing the costs of individual resources.
b) How to create an Organizational Breakdown Structure.
An Organizational Breakdown Structure is generated much in the same way as a Work Breakdown Structure, and its creation requires the following steps:
Search through the Organizational Structure for the capitals, or resources involved in the specific project, and illustrate it.
After filling out the structure, identify all team members and allocate each of them in a place of the structure.
In the case of having some places not yet occupied, fill them afterwards. If there are supplementary resources', allocate them so that all resources and the positions are accounted for, will be the wisest choice.
Make sure, that the Organizational Breakdown Structure is produced from the most liable department, and then completed by this department's lower levels; in fact, there the project accountabilities are matched with the required resources.
In order to develop an Organization Breakdown Structure:
Draw the whole organization as a pyramid
Outline all departments and project teams.
Specify and authorize groups for every user.
The following is a sample of an Organizational Breakdown Structure:
As can be seen in the above Organizational Breakdown Structure, it has a characteristically tree structure, which basically displays the hierarchy within the organization. After adding the roles, the next noticeable step is to insert names inside the borders of each node. Every node in the tree signifies groups and sub-groups within the organization; the names at a group or a sub-group level are classifying the persons responsible for leading that particular group within the team.
Each part or node of the Organizational Breakdown Structure is assigned a unique code. Additionally, by using a classified coding chart, the members of the company or organization can be associated in a logical manner with Groups and also Sub Groups within the broader Team of the Project. In the long run, there is no reason why an Organizational Breakdown Structure should not be organized to a level in which ALL the individuals of the project are indicated; after all, it is an excellent way to show team members where they occur within the project team. As he gets closer to the top of an Organizational Breakdown Structure, anyone will notice that the nodes will illustrate entire organizations and not individuals any more (despite the fact that, it would be more useful when trying to identify the lead person in each organization).It also combines similar project events and characterize them through the organization's structure. The Organizational Breakdown Structure is normally used, in order to define the duties of each worker regarding project management, cost recording, billing, budgeting, and even project control. What makes it so practical is that it provides an organizational and not a task-based point of view; its ranked structure permits the gathering (rollup) of project's data to senior levels. When each project role is defined and work is therefore allocated, the Organizational Breakdown Structure and Work Breakdown Structure are linked, providing the possibility for authoritative analytics to measure project and workforce performance at the highest level, or even at the details.
c) The Work Package Responsibility.
Every work allocation and group of requirements needed for the project ( as identified by the Work Breakdown Structure), cannot get completed on their own; therefore, they need to be allocated to the area of the Project Team, by assuming tenure and charge for each work's progress and successful closing. Generally, the accepted method for this is to assign an Organizational Breakdown Structure code to every project's work package. This code would ordinarily be taken from the one used for identifying nodes within the Structure itself.
Since work can be divided into different activities, each activity can also be allocated to a particular Organizational Breakdown Structure code; therefore, indicating what person is responsible for each particular activity. This may seem a bit unusual, but when dealing with large projects containing thousands of activities in schedule, using such a system allows the project timer to organize reports, permit efficient communication and the communication of the important information only to those involved in this particular matter. This becomes even more valuable, when you have groups of people, or individuals responsible for more than one project at the same time; they will expect to be informed only with the details regarding their direct responsibilities.
5.4.1.2 WORKFORCE BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE
A Workforce Breakdown Structure is a result oriented tree representation that represents the entire project's work in a highly organized way. It is mostly portrayed graphically as a hierarchical tree; however, it can also be portrayed as a list of categories and tasks in an elemental fashion. It is a hierarchical decomposition of the project's phases, work packages and deliverables and a tree structure, showing the required subdivision of effort in order to achieve a goal, at the same time; as in a program, project, or a contract. In the example of a project or contract, the Work Breakdown Structure starts first with the end objective and then sequentially subdivides it into controllable components in terms of extent, size, and duties which include all the steps required in order to achieve the goal of the project.
The Work Breakdown Structure provides a regular framework for the development of all the planning and organization of a contract and is also the essential basis for the division of work into definable increments, which can develop the statement of work and establish the technical, schedule, work hour and cost reporting. It allows the calculation of secondary costs for tasks, materials and others, into their consecutively higher level tasks. For each Work Breakdown Structure aspect, is generated a description of the performed task, so this method is used in order to classify and organize the total span of a project. The Work Breakdown Structure is organized around the main products of the project instead of the labor needed in order to manufacture the products; given that the planned outcomes (main products) are the preferred effect of the project, the costs of planned actions (work needed to produce the projects) could be set in a comparatively firm set of categories. A stylish Work Breakdown Structure makes it easier to assign each project activity to only one final element; in addition to its intention regarding accounting the costs, it also helps map requirements move from one system pattern, to another.
Some of the Work Breakdown Schedule benefits are that:
It permits a project manager to evaluate what he shall do initially in order to progress to the next level of a project.
It allows the manager to start from a basic level, and then elevate to more advanced ones.
It permits the manager to prioritize the different mechanisms of the project.
It also allows Project accountants to calculate the complete percentage (when the project is performed for revenue).
It can even be used for something simple like job hiring.
Its main benefit is that it breaks a large project down into more controllable components.
An example of a simplified Work Breakdown Structure is given below:
The Work Breakdown Structure of a project is dividing the project into tasks of more manageable size, which makes the analysis of the project a quite easy process. The figure below gives an example of how to break down a project.
Once work activities are been set, we can specify the relationships among them. Precedence associations between activities imply that the activities should take place in a certain sequence. Structural integrity, regulations, and other technical requirements create multiple natural sequences due to their requirements. Diagrammatically, a network or graph like the one below in which activities are represented with arrows can demonstrate precedence relationships:
Supposedly, the preparation of a site and the concrete groundwork project contains those nine activities:
A. Clearing of the site.
B. Tree removal.
C. General digging.
D. Broad area grading.
E. Digging for functional trenches.
F. Placing formwork and support for concrete.
G. Sewer lines installation.
H. Installation of other utilities.
I. Bucketing concrete.
The activities A (clearing of the site) and B (removal of trees) do not have preceding activities, since they are quite autonomous. We take for granted that the activities of general excavation (C), and broad area digging (D), will be performed after the activity called site clearing (A).If the planner wants to postpone the digging until trees removal, (B) would be a prior activity to C (general excavation) and D (general grading).Activities like general digging (C) and tree removal (B) are preceding the activity of trench digging (E) and the activity of concrete preparation (F), since the latter involve further digging and searching for functional tranches . Activity G (installation of sewer lines) and H (installation of other utilities) cannot be attempted until the trenches are ready, so activity E (excavation for trenches) is a preceding activity to them. We also assume that the utilities must be installed only after grading is completed in order to avoid equipment conflicts, so activities like installing sewers (G) and installing utilities (H) have as their preceding activity the general digging (D). As a final point, activity I (pouring the concrete) cannot start until the installation of the sewer line, and the setting of formwork and reinforcement, so activities F (placing formwork and support for concrete) and G (installing sewers) should take place before this one. The only unclear issue is that installing utilities (A) is not necessarily a preceding activity for the concrete pouring (I). The results of this particular planning are the precedence as shown in the following table:
The nodes stand for the occasion of possible beginning and starting times. This meticulous representation is an activity-on-branch diagram:
Otherwise, nodes and predecessor relationships indicated with by branches or links could represent the nine activities as we can see in the Figure below, in an activity-on-node diagram. In this Figure, in order to mark the important milestones, we supplemented it with new activity nodes for the beginning and the ending of construction.
These network activity's representations can be very helpful while visualizing the range of activities and their relationships in a project. If activities will be represented as branches or nodes is mainly a matter of organizational or even personal choice.
.
Another example of the Work Breakdown Structure:
HOUSE CONSTRUCTION
CIVIL ENG. ELECTRICAL ENG. MECHANICAL ENG. LANDSCAPING
WATER WINDOWS STRUCTURES
As the project develops, gradually more general tasks from higher levels are divided into more specific tasks from lower levels. There is an Organization Breakdown Structure paralleling the Work Breakdown Structure, which may include contractors and subcontractors and show how these units feature the hierarchical Organization Structure.
The following Figure shows an example of an Organization Breakdown Structure in its initial stage:
ABU DHABI CONST. CO.
DESIGN PROCUREMENT CONSTRUCTION QUALITY CONTROL
CIVIL ELECTRICAL PLUMBING EQUIPMENT
5.4.3 Contrast between Work Breakdown Structure and organizational breakdown structure
The Work Breakdown Structure is a breakdown of the project plans around the products, while the Organizational Breakdown Structure is a breakdown of the functions, which shows the chain of command of the organizational units accountable for doing the work required in the project. The Organizational Breakdown Structure can be divided into various levels (as the Work Breakdown Structure). They are quite autonomous, but at inferior levels they interconnect and form a network of valid price collection points called cost accounts; furthermore, a single department can work on multiple tasks while multiple departments can work on one single task.
This Project management Work Breakdown Structure is utilized at the beginning of the project in order to define the scope, estimate the costs and organize properly the schedules:
The Organizational Breakdown Structure must be addressed with the notion that each mission of the Work Breakdown Structure must be assigned to a committee or a person; therefore, the former will mirror the structure of the latter. The significant categories will be charged to a chief committee (with a committee chair), while the lower level categories will be charged to groups or individuals within chief committees. It is vital to have a Work Breakdown Structure, because any project's task not included in it will consequently become the responsibility of the Project Manager, or will be assigned to someone who in all likelihood will already be working on other tasks.
The Organizational Breakdown Structure is set up with a Project Manager supervising and coordinating the entire project, and a Lead Engineer will be assigned, mainly in order to oversee two major task groups - Design and Construction. Major committees are developed with a committee chair for each, Structural Design, Construction, finance, Committees. Every chief committee has various task-oriented sub committees, but despite that fact, the Project Manager and Lead Engineer chairs compose the primary leadership team. The Project Manager must assign, schedule and supervise tasks, while, in the same time, the Lead Engineer should coordinate and review the total research and design effort. For example, the Structural Design committee must primarily analyze the final project design and develop a concrete mixing and supporting method as to provide a strong and durable project, while the Construction committee is responsible for the supply of materials, construction techniques, and demonstration. Even though each committee has a different manager, several members of the team can participate in several committees.
5.4.4 Advantages of both Work Breakdown Structure and Organizational Breakdown Structure
a. Advantages of workforce breakdown structure
The Workforce Breakdown Structure gives the project manager and his team the essential frame of tasks needed to create thorough cost estimates, and to provide the main key to the project task development, at the most comprehensive and precise point possible. By working on the Work Breakdown Structure, the manager and his team will have a good view on whether they've captured all the necessary tasks or not, always based on the project requirements that need to happen in order to get the job done.
The main benefits of developing a Workforce Breakdown Structure are:
It forces the project manager, the members of the team, and the companies' customers to delineate the path required to in order to create and distribute the product. This encourages a dialogue that will help in clarifying ambiguities, bringing out assumptions, narrowing the scope of the project, and raising critical issues early on. It helps the development of an effective schedule and budget plans; a precise Work Breakdown Structure enables funds allocation to specific tasks, helps in generating a proper schedule, and makes the calculation of a reliable budget easier. Also, a detailed Work Breakdown Structure makes it easier to hold people responsible for completing their tasks. A well-defined task can be assigned to a specific individual, who is then responsible for its completion.
The process of creating and implementing this Structure gives excitement and assurance to the team; although the project manager will often develop the elevated tasks by himself, he will ask for the cooperation of his main team to increase the tremendous details of the Work Breakdown Structure, and this participation will excite the workers of the project.
The downsides of Workforce Breakdown Structure include:
Developing a work breakdown structure is a little difficult and requires a lot of time.
A great Work Breakdown Structure (one that signifies several thousand activities) can take up a lot of hours to develop and requires much work.
When the span of the project is large, the Work Breakdown Structure will also be large. More people must contribute and then approve the part they are responsible to perform.
Finally, it requires frequent alterations; when something is changed in the project, the Work Breakdown Structure must be changed too.
Even after considering the downsides, the general advantages overcome the significant challenges. A high-quality Work Breakdown Structure makes planning and executing a project easier and also sets the basis for the timetable, the tracking, the financing, and the responsibilities throughout the rest of the project.
Conclusion
The Organizational Breakdown Structure is a good way to organize and communicate the general organization of the Project Team; when coded successfully, it can be combined with the Work Breakdown Structure in order to commune who is responsible for which one of the jobs.
A blending of the Work Breakdown Structure code and the Organizational Breakdown Structure code can be also used to identify project budget areas, which then can get their full costs, once the funds are assigned from the Resource Breakdown Structure.
