Customizing WBS

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
  • Customize WBS
  • Configure projects
  • Manage WBS status

Customization of Work Breakdown Structures

In this lesson, you can learn about the Customizing structure related to work breakdown structures. You can also learn about some project profile settings, about the project status, and about status combination codes.

Customizing settings in the Project System are available for creating and working with work breakdown structures. Objects you need to customize include: the project profile, editing masks, user statuses, and also status combination codes.

Note

To create work breakdown structures (WBS) in the SAP Project System (PS), you must have already maintained certain settings in Customizing. For example: you have to create certain project profiles, user statuses, and editing masks that will later control the attributes and identification of your projects.

Project Profile

Project Profile Description

Note

See the following video to learn more about the project profile:

Details

Details for the four sections of the project profile:

  1. General settings:

    • Field key

    • Simulation

    • Status profile

  2. Organizational data:

    • Controlling area

    • Company code

    • Business area

  3. Scheduling settings:

    • WBS scheduling

    • Planning board profile

    • Hierarchy graphic

  4. Controlling settings:

    • Planning profile

    • Budget profile

    • Settlement profile

The Project Type can be used as a selection criterion in the Information System. The Field Key identifies the short texts for user fields. The Version Profile determines whether status-dependent project versions are written and with which data. The Simulation Profile determines which texts are copied to and from simulation versions. The Display Options field determines whether WBS elements are mainly displayed according to key, short ID, or description in tabular overviews. The Level of Detail field specifies the number of hierarchy levels that the system displays when a project is opened in a particular processing transaction. A PartnDet. Prc. (partner determination procedure) can assign partner roles to a project. The All Acct Asst Elem checkbox sets the account assignment checkbox for all WBS elements. Using the Only One Root checkbox, you define that there can only be one top WBS element. The Trsfr to Proj. Def. is only relevant for transaction Create single WBS element. Selecting the Change Documents checkbox ensures that documents for master data changes are written automatically when saving. The Proj. Summ. MastDa checkbox activates summarization by master data characteristics instead of by classification. If you activate the checkbox iPPE Proj. Desc., the tab page iPPE PS is displayed in the Project Builder in the detail screen for the WBS element.

Project Definition/WBS Element

Entries under Validation/Substitution in the Project Definition/WBS Element fields ensure no selection screen appears when validation or substitution is triggered. Validation or substitution can also be executed automatically when saving by selecting the ​​Automatic Validation/Substitution indicators. You can use the Project stock checkbox to define for material requirements planning whether a project can manage its own stock. The Automatic requirements grouping checkbox automates the grouping of project stocks assigned to individual WBS elements to the top WBS element. In the Status Management detail screen, you can enter default values for status profiles for the project definition and WBS elements. If the respective checkbox was set in the project profile, status changes can be recorded automatically by the system with change documents. The profiles and checkbox forGraphic control how the work breakdown structure is displayed in the hierarchy graphic. You can use the Vertical from level field, for example, to control from which hierarchy level WBS elements are to be displayed vertically, instead of horizontally. You can set default values for the Project Summarization checkbox for all WBS elements or all billing elements and all account assignment elements.

Planning Method

Under Planning method, you can specify one of the four scheduling methods for WBS elements for the set of basic dates and forecast dates. When the dates are extrapolated (bottom-up planning), the dates of assigned activities can also be taken into account. When new activities are created in a project, the checkboxes under Network specify to which network these new activities are assigned. or with which network profile a new network is created. For certain transactions, the new network header can be displayed automatically. The planning board profile (Plan board prof) entered in the project profile is used as the default profile when the project planning board is called up. It determines how the table and graphic areas of the planning board are displayed. You can call up various capacity planning reports from the project planning board and structure planning. In the project profile, you enter the relevant overall profiles, taken from capacity planning. The profiles for the hierarchy graphic specify how the hierarchy graphic is to be displayed when it is called up from date planning for WBS elements. The Object Class that can be entered here as the default value specifies the cost flow in Controlling from a business point of view. The Statistical checkbox determines whether costs can be debited from a WBS element or whether statistical costs can only be posted for it. The Integrated planning checkbox activates the update of planned activity inputs from WBS elements to the sending cost center.

Budgeting

The Planning/budgeting profiles determine how cost planning and budgeting are carried out for the work breakdown structure and whether the availability check is activated. The Costing Sheet specifies how overhead costs are determined. The Overhead key is used to determine an overhead percentage rate and templates for process cost allocation. The Interest calc. profile specifies how interest is calculated for the project. The Investment profile specifies how the project is integrated withInvestment Management and can be used, for example, for the automatic generation of assets under construction. A Results analysis key is required for results analysis in WBS elements. The Settlement profile specifies, for example, the permitted settlement receivers for the WBS elements. In the Strategy for settlement field, you can enter a key that refers to the strategy for the automatic generation of the settlement profile. The graphic profiles determine what the hierarchy graphic looks like when it is called up from budgeting.

Project Coding Mask Editing

Coding masks serve as a display option for complex project numbers. They can also be used to derive the hierarchy of a work breakdown structure from the numbers of their WBS elements. In the Project Coding Mask table in Customizing, you define the appearance of the coding masks in the Project System. The way it is set up depends on the first characters of the project number. These characters serve as keys for coding projects. You can create a mask for each key that you want to use when coding a project. The following characters are available for editing and structuring project numbers: X for alphanumeric characters, and 0 for numeric characters and special characters. In addition, you can maintain blocking checkboxes for standard structures (LkS) and operative structures (Lck). You cannot create new projects with this coding key if you maintain a blocking checkbox.

In the Special Characters table, you specify the possible special characters for use in editing masks, and you also specify the following for the project coding: whether coding must be used, how long the key should be, and whether this length is compulsory. You can also define a special character to be used as input help. If you enter special characters that have been defined for your project in Customizing in the WBS Element field, the system transfers the number of the superior WBS element to this field. If this is the top WBS element in the project hierarchy, the system transfers the number of the project definition. You must modify the number so that it differs from the number that was transferred. Using another checkbox, you can define a temporary placeholder for automatically creating a project number. This placeholder is used only if an unused project number cannot be created automatically.

The image shows the Customizing settings for project masks as described in the text above.

Note

Even though you can make additions to the coding masks later, you cannot take anything away if WBSs have already been created using this project coding mask.

Create a Project Profile

ExerciseStart Exercise

System Status

A project is not static – it has a life cycle with a beginning and an end. During this time, various business transactions change the project. For example, you can plan, post costs, and settle. You can document the current status of a project with status management. The status determines which business transactions are permitted in the system and which are prohibited.

System statuses have been set up by the SAP system to control primary business activities. You cannot change them. However, you can define your own user statuses to attain a greater level of detail. You must always define a user status within a status profile. Therefore, you must always create a status profile for an object type in Customizing before you can define the user status in the status profile. You can enter your user statuses in the status profile and define which business transactions are permitted or prohibited. You can also specify the sequence in which user statuses should occur. A user status can be defined or deleted manually for several WBS elements at the same time. Individual status profiles can be defined for project definitions and WBS elements. If a status profile has not yet been defined in the project profile, you can still specify in the application which status profile should be used the first time you set a user status.

Statuses are used for documentation, selection criteria, and to permit or prohibit business transactions. They can be manual or automatic. They can be applied to project definitions and WBS elements. The user status is used to give more detail to the system status.

The image shows a work breakdown structure with different status, created, partially released and released.

User Status Profiles

Note

See the following video to learn more a user status profile:

User Status

The image shows the setup of a user status profile with status values and allowed or forbidden business transactions.

In the example that you can find in the Status Profile figure, the user status LOB can be set in two ways: manually or automatically as a follow-on action when an original budget is entered. The system will warn when the original budget changes if this user status is set. In addition to their ability to influence business processes, statuses can also be used in reports to set limits for analysis. Two options are available. Option one involves the status itself – the status selection profile enables selection before you start the report. In this case, the status is read in addition to the master data table.

How to Maintain a Project Status

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