Project Management: Importance of WBS and Critical Path Analysis

This article discusses the importance of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and Critical Path Analysis in project management. It includes a project initiation document, stakeholder analysis, Gantt chart, and explains how WBS helps in managing tasks and how Critical Path Analysis helps in managing time and resources.

Project Management

Table of Contents
Project Initiation Document.............................................................................................................3
Stakeholder Analysis of the project........................................................................................4
Gantt chart..............................................................................................................................4
Importance of WBS in managing the tasks on a project..................................................................5
Importance of critical path analysis.................................................................................................6

Project Initiation Document
Budgetary Information Timescale
 The budget for this project is £200k in
case 10 HEIs take part in the sporting
event.
 The budget will be breakdown in
different components used in the
process of organising the sporting
event.
 This budget will be used majorly in
equipment’s and venue. The project
manager will use 60% of the total
budget for equipment’s and venue
booking.
 This particular project will be achieved
within a time span of 114 days.
 The initial activity of the project will
start from the indoor venue booking.
Venue Booking 10 Days
Deciding the
sporting events
10 Days
Allocation of
resources-
30 Days
Collecting
information
20 Days
Registration
process
19 Days
Actual event 1 Day
Objective Approach
 The objective of this project is to
organise a successful sporting event
where maximum universities take part.
 The objective is to generate good
amount of revenue with this sporting
event organised in London.
 The objective of the event is to bring
more and more awareness about the
 The approach will be to market and
advertise the sporting event in top
universities of London.
 Run awareness campaigns regarding
the importance of sporting activities in
the daily human life.

sporting community.
Stakeholder Analysis of the project
Candidates of Sporting Activity
Advertising and Marketing team
Universities
Manager of project
Consulting Admin
Event Coordinator
Investors
Sales team
Gantt chart

Importance of WBS in managing the tasks on a project
The WBS is helpful in making the delivery of project more precise and concrete which
shows that the project team will know exactly what they need to deliver and accomplish within
the given time frame. This system is helpful in realising the range of activities that can be
delivered within the time frame of project. It also helps in terms of estimating the risk, cost and
time which will help in organising the small activities which will ultimately lead to completion
of entire project. A work breakdown structure consist of a range of various tasks that the
organisation will accomplish during the project life cycle. Resources are also identified through
the process of WBS which ultimately leads to the facilitating of budgeting and the
responsibilities associated with the project. WBS is used to create and determine the critical path
of the particular project and further helps in creating scheduling for the activities of the project.
This facilitates in terms of quick development in the set schedule by allocation of efforts and
estimating the specific sections which are there in the WBS. This is also helpful in identifying

the potential scope risks and further managing the project accordingly. There are two types of
WBS that are commonly employed in the process of project management, deliverable oriented
WBS and process- oriented WBS. The deliverable oriented WBS is focused on the final product
or objective that the project is looking to establish whereas the process oriented WBS is focused
on the process that will be followed in order to attain the specific objectives.
Importance of critical path analysis
The process of project management is sometime seen as bit overwhelming due to the
complexities in the project. There are range of analysis tools that assist in the process of making
it easier to navigate the process of managing and estimating. The critical path method is helpful
in managing the time and resources which is one of the major activity of the project
management. This helps in assessing the good set of tool which will complete the project within
the planned time. The allocation and management of resources related to project can also be well
managed by using the critical path method analysis. Another importance of critical path method
is it helps in comparison of actual activity to the planned one. This method is also helpful in
analysing and identifying the tasks which can be delayed within according to the resources and
project objectives. This is basically an algorithm which helps the project manager in terms of
managing, planning and analysing the time of project. The step by step procedure of Critical Path
method helps in identifying the critical and non-critical tasks of the project and managing the
risks associated with it.

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