Work Breakdown Structure Overview
A work breakdown structure (WBS) divides each of your contracts into distinct, manageable work elements in a way that balances management needs with the need to collect an appropriate and effective level of contract data.
A well-planned WBS is integral to successful contract proposals, planning, scheduling, budgeting, and reporting.
- The value that you receive from the data that you store
- The ability to leverage past work to generate new business
- The ability to improve job performance based on past experience
- The ease and quality of knowledge sharing among groups in your company
- The quality of service and level of reporting that you can provide to your customers
Two Key Components
There are two key components to the GovWin Capture Management WBS, which work together to provide a comprehensive tracking and reporting system. Before you begin to set up your firm's work breakdown structure, your firm must understand how the components work together to provide a structure that gathers and reports information to meet your firm's internal and external reporting needs.
- The team structure
- The WBS or contract structure
In addition to the key components of the WBS, GovWin Capture Management includes other codes, such as customer numbers, whose structure you must plan before you start to use GovWin Capture Management. Because GovWin Capture Management is an integrated system, you should consider your WBS structure when you structure other GovWin Capture Management numbers.
Implementation Decisions
- Maximum number of WBS levels that can be used for any
contract (up to three)
When you install GovWin Capture Management, the default WBS has only one level: Contract. Use the Key Formats utilities () for phases, or phases and tasks, to activate one or both of those levels by specifying the lengths of the phase and task numbers.
- Labels to use for each level
- Format of the values for each level, including maximum lengths and number of delimiters
- The use of leading zeros to force the uniformity of contract number length
Considerations in Planning the WBS
Keep these considerations in mind when planning your work breakdown structure (WBS):
- Contract stipulations — You must consider your firm's contractual obligations for reporting when planning your WBS.
- Team structure of your company — You must consider your company structure and the way different departments or offices work together.
- Applications that you use — Your information needs may change depending on the GovWin Capture Management applications that you use.
- Needs of various roles within your company — Different groups within your company, such as marketing and contract management, have different needs for contract information. You must consider the information that each group needs when planning your WBS.
Who Plans the Work Breakdown Structure?
The GovWin Capture Management work breakdown structure (WBS) is an important tool for many people throughout your firm, from the marketing professional trying to win a new job, to the capture manager planning a contract. Because of this, it may be helpful to involve the various groups that will use the GovWin Capture Management work breakdown structure when deciding how to structure your company-wide WBS and determining guidelines for tailoring the WBS on a contract-by-contract basis.
Terminology
The GovWin Capture Management default term for the first level of your work breakdown structure is "contract." Use the Labels tab in or the Info Center Designer to tailor this and other standard labels throughout GovWin Capture Management to meet your company's needs.
Reporting and WBS Levels
You can run reports on any level of the WBS. For example, you can run a report at the phase level for a contract with three levels of WBS.