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Setting Up a Project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

You organize your project work into smaller, more easily manageable units called tasks. Every project has one task by default. You can define a hierarchy of tasks called a work breakdown structure (WBS). Oracle Projects supports an unlimited work breakdown structure, in which you can define as many levels of tasks as you want. You can number and name the tasks as you wish.

Oracle Projects processes tasks based on their position in the WBS. The three distinct positions are:

A top task can also be considered a lowest task, if the task does not have any child tasks. For example, in Figure 1 - 4, Tasks 1 and 3 are lowest tasks as well as top tasks. Tasks 2.1 and 2.3 are lowest tasks although they are on the same level as Task 2.2, which is a mid task. A task that is the child of another task is commonly referred to as a subtask.

Oracle Projects sorts your WBS by the task number alphanumerically within a task level, so be sure that your numbering methods reflect an organized WBS. For example, If you have several subtasks for a particular top task, such as Task 3, you number the tasks as follows:

Or, if you have more than ten top tasks in your WBS, use the following numbering method, so Oracle Projects displays the levels in the correct numerical order:

Attention: Plan your WBS numbering method carefully, whether it is numeric or alphanumeric. For example, if you used numbers 1 through 11 (instead of 01, 02, etc.) in the previous example, Oracle Projects would display your tasks in the following order: 1, 10, 11, 2, and so on.

In this example, note how the unplanned use of an alphanumeric numbering method yields unexpected results when the WBS is displayed online in indented format.

See Also

Tasks Window Reference

Control Functions by Project and Task Level

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