WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) is a structured way of breaking / decomposing
project in to various components. In one sentence WBS is a way to breakdown project in
to logical lower level details. Below figure ‘WBS’ shows how a typical WBS looks like. There are six levels till where we can drill down and breakdown the job structure.
Figure: - WBS
Level 1:- The first level is the project name or the name of the assignment.
Level 2:- Level 2 represents the subsystem which will make up the project.
Level 3:- Level 3 shows the task to be performed to complete the subsystem from a managerial aspect.
Level 4:- The main task is further broken down in to sub tasks from a technical aspect.
Level 5:- This is the final deliverable also termed as work package.
Level 6:- These are components needed to form the work package.
From Level 1 to Level 3 are all managerial activities. From Level 4 to Level 6 are all technical activities.
Below figure ‘WBS for CPU’ shows detail breakdown for assembling a CPU of a computer.
Figure: - WBS for CPU