Work Breakdown Structure Template
Instructions to Project Teams
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a description of the project plan to be completed and is composed of deliverables, tasks, milestones, and go/no-go decision points. The WBS synthesizes a project’s scope of work with its milestones that are to be achieved, deliverables that are to be produced, lead and key personnel who are responsible for the tasks/subtasks completion, and timeline. The WBS will be used by reviewers to assess the scope of work and, if chosen for funding, will provide a basis for negotiation with NIIMBL to finalize the scope of work to be authorized under a NIIMBL Project Award Agreement. This WBS will provide the details that will be evaluated during project monitoring upon funding authorization.
A Gantt chart that shows all deliverables, tasks, subtasks, milestones, go/no-go decision points, a timeline and task interdependencies must be included at the end of the WBS.
The following template is provided to assist teams with the completion of the WBS. Additional deliverables, tasks, subtasks, milestones, and go/no-go decision points may be added.
Deliverables include verifiable products, results, and/or capabilities that serve as the outcome of the execution of work. Deliverables are the highest level of the WBS.
Tasks identify interrelated yet distinct themes of work that will be completed to comprise the project’s entire scope of work. Tasks are not synonymous with aims, which are general research steps to test a hypothesis. A properly formatted task must include a clear title and number to identify the task, the anticipated dates during which the task will be undertaken, sufficient details to understand the work that will be completed and the approach that will be used to complete it, and the MRL level of the task with a justification for that MRL level. All NIIMBL work must fall within MRLs 4-7.
Subtasks offer a technically detailed breakdown of the work to be done within a task. Delineating a task as a series of subtasks offers the project team an opportunity to more clearly detail the dates, work, approach, and/or team members to complete each subtask. All NIIMBL work must fall within MRLs 4-7.
Milestoneshave zero duration, mark achievement and can be at the task or subtask level. Milestones allow for an evaluation of the advancement of the work plan at specific points. Milestones should be specific and quantifiable whenever possible. Examples include “Product X is delivered to Company Y” and “Data report demonstrating a 4-fold improvement in performance submitted.”
Go/No-Go Decision Pointsare specific milestones that provide a decision point for the work. The WBS must include established go/no-go decision points during the course of the project plan to evaluate the merits of the continuation of the work. Go/no-go decision points must be independently verifiable to be used to demonstrate progress made and should be specific and quantifiable whenever possible. Go/no-go decision points cannot relate to the preparation and/or the submission of reports. An example of a go/no-go decision point is “Technology A offers a 10-fold improvement in detection time over the current method.”
Each deliverable must have a sufficient number of specific milestones and go/no-go decision points to enable the measurement of progress of project work.
Project Title
PI/Lead Institution
Partner Institutions
1.0Deliverable
1.1Task Title (Date Range, Personnel, Location)
1.1.1Subtask
1.2Milestones should be noted in BLUE
1.2.1Milestone may also be at the subtask level
1.3Go/No-Go Decision Points should be noted in RED
1.3.1Go/No-Go Decision Point may also be at the subtask level
2.0Add additional deliverables, tasks, subtasks as needed