WBS vs. Activity Codes: Beyond the Obvious
I am often asked whether it is better to structure a project using P6 WBS or Activity Codes. To a certain degree, it is a matter of personal preference, as either method can provide a structure in which to manage the deliverables of a project. My preference is to build a schedule utilizing a WBS, in a traditional manner, to lay out the projects deliverables and workflow. I would then use Activity Codes to supplement the ability to group, filter, and sort project data, therefore, enhancing performance analysis and reporting. I have also utilized project structures where the WBS was built out to a level 3 or 4 and then activity Codes were used for the remaining project levels. Project integration to Master Projects, owner requirements, and project management principles are other factors to consider when deciding how to structure projects.
And Now Beyond the Obvious…
Outside of personal preferences and integration needs, additional factors should be considered when deciding how to structure a project. The following are WBS attributes that cannot be performed and/or utilized by Activity Codes:
- WBS Summary Activities: A great way to highlight a Level 2 Schedule with a neat waterfall flow and to manage resources and costs at a rolled up level
- WBS elements can have Notebooks assigned
- WBS elements can have Work Products and Documents assigned
- Security can be assigned at the WBS level
- Thresholds, Risks, and Issues can be monitored and tracked at the WBS level
- Budgets, Spending Plans, and Budgets Logs can be managed and tracked at the WBS level
- Copying activities is a much easier task when grouped by WBS
- Earned Value attributes including WBS EV Milestones can be set at the WBS level
- The Tracking View is designed to use WBS elements
- Long range Resource Planning can be performed at the WBS level
- Projects can be summarized to specific WBS levels
- In R8, you can use WBS elements to develop project template plug-ins or fragnets (mini-templates) to populate existing or new projects
So the next time you are planning out the development of a Primavera project consider all of the facts before deciding what the best method will be to structure your project.
December 14, 2011 at 9:30 am
There is a way to use both WBS and Activity Codes. Here’s how. http://www.plannertuts.com/tutorials/how-to-convert-a-projects-wbs-to-activity-codes-in-oracle-primavera-p6-464/
M
April 22, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Hi Marc,
This topic has been hotly debated for as long as I can remember. The two of you have really presented a fantastic “point, counter-point” here. I think it would be useful to get a unique work product or report from schedules developed using each approach. It would be great if someone could create a visual which shows the strength each method exclusively provides, and post for review/comments.
Cheers!
-T
December 20, 2010 at 9:05 am
Hi Neil,
Thanks for your insightful comments regarding this WBS Summary activity subject. As a personal choice for myself I just prefer the WBS Summary activity over the LOE when they can both perform the same functions due to the summary activities not needing logic ties. They both certainly have their strengths such as your use with the Project Phase activity code. What type of work are you managing in your projects?
December 16, 2010 at 6:12 pm
THANKS – we are debating internally here how to implement / use WBS in our project templates (multi-function projects, 18 months duration).
Couple of comments to your above:
•WBS Summary Activities: A great way to highlight a Level 2 Schedule with a neat waterfall flow and to manage resources and costs at a rolled up level
–> We are using Level of Effort tasks for this.
•WBS elements can have Notebooks assigned
–> so can activities
•WBS elements can have Work Products and Documents assigned
–> so can activities
•Security can be assigned at the WBS level
–> excellent – yes, that is a differentiator
•Thresholds, Risks, and Issues can be monitored and tracked at the WBS level
–> can be assigned to activities, too…but perhaps the tracking is better at WBS? Have not gone far with this
•Budgets, Spending Plans, and Budgets Logs can be managed and tracked at the WBS level
–> excellent…I note that these are normally functional / department driven?
•Copying activities is a much easier task when grouped by WBS
–> maybe – because a P6 project truly exists only as a set of WBS nodes (it may be a set of one, I note)
•Earned Value attributes including WBS EV Milestones can be set at the WBS level
–> Again, excellent – and again, I feel this is mostly funcitonal / department
•The Tracking View is designed to use WBS elements
–> not intimate with that yet
•Long range Resource Planning can be performed at the WBS level
–> not intimate with that yet – but we are assigning roles at the LoE task, and when we get close in assign resources.
•Projects can be summarized to specific WBS levels
–> agreed
•In R8, you can use WBS elements to develop project template plug-ins or fragnets (mini-templates) to populate existing or new projects
–> agreed – this is most useful for projects which are configurations of sub-projects, yes?
We seem to be concluding that there are three WBS choices:
1) TIME: project phases, which is traditional.
2) FUNCTION: departmental workscopes (ENG, MFG, PROCUREMENT, LOGISTICS, etc).
3) STRUCTURE: per your last point above, using WBS to support the configuration of the project.
Mostly due to the security and budget functionality of the WBS, it seems to make the most sense to select option #2 above – each department has a WBS node, and activities are assigned to them in that node. Their costs and progress is easily reported, and they can only access / update their own activities.
To have the project display in a pretty “view” we created an activity code for “Project Phase” – it is indented with the broad phases of presale, design, procurement, manufacture, transport, install, commission, and warranty at the highest level – with subordinate phases beneath those as appropriate to the project. We use a Level of Effort task in each phase to show summary progress, and group-and-sort by that activity code. Result: The project can display, expand, collapse “pretty” while we use the organic P6 WBS capability for security and budget and progress.
Neil