Identifying Requirements for Structures in the SAP Project System (SAP PS)

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a model of the project that shows the project deliverables in hierarchical form. The work breakdown structure represents the structural organization of the project and provides a phase, function, or product-oriented description of the project. It outlines the project in manageable sections. The individual elements of the work breakdown structure are called WBS elements. Depending upon the project phase, you can break down the WBS elements further.

Because every WBS element represents a separate controlling object in the SAP system, work breakdown structures can be used in particular for hierarchical controlling of project costs, budgets, revenues, and, if necessary, payments. By assigning orders to a WBS element, you can analyze order costs for the WBS element and check them against the WBS element budget. With the help of progress analysis, you can view progress values that reflect the status of your project relative to the individual WBS elements or aggregate them according to the project hierarchy.

A network represents the course of a project by describing the time sequence and dependencies of events and activities in a project. A network consists of two fundamental elements – activities and relationships. Networks and their activities form the basis for planning, analyzing, and controlling a project. Networks include information about the dates, costs, personnel, capacity, materials, resources, and services required for a project and its tasks.

The criteria according to which a project is structured using a work breakdown structure, network, or both can vary depending on the type and complexity of a project. For example, the criteria can vary depending on the responsibility and structure of the departments or teams involved or how production and assembly are integrated. It is therefore impossible to answer the question of how best to structure a project. However, it would be best if you considered the following recommendations when structuring your projects:

• The various WBS elements and activities should cover the entire scope of the project.

• Keep the structure simple – it is difficult for a person to monitor structures containing more than 500 elements.

• Keep your project elements specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-framed (S-M-A-R-T).

• Alternative structure information should be contained in the project elements, not in the structure itself.

• Use alternative hierarchies during evaluations.

There are different ways to create project structures. These options are presented schematically in the ​Ways to Create Project Structures figure.

As well as creating work breakdown structures or networks manually, you can also use existing project structures as templates. You can create a project by copying other operative projects, standard structures, or simulation versions. Assembly processing is another indirect method of generating a network or, if necessary, a WBS from a sales order.