The Project Management Professional (PMP)® is the world's leading project management certification

1. The Importance of Work
Packages in Project Scope
Management

2. What is Work Package?
 A work package is the smallest unit of a Work Breakdown Structure. When
preparing a Work Breakdown Structure using the decomposition technique,
deliverables are generally broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks
of work.
 This process of deconstruction continues until the deliverables are small
enough to be considered work packages. Each of these packages should be
small enough to help the Project Manager estimate the duration and the cost.
Work packages can be scheduled, cost estimated, monitored, and controlled.

3. What Is Included in a Work Package?
 Every project management dataset has an array of smaller pieces associated with
it called work packages.
A Budget
 A budget is required to account for how much money was allotted to this package.
Tracking prices and ensuring the project isn't over budget is necessary too.
Deadlines
 This will give the project manager a point of reference to measure how the work
is progressing.
Risks
 You need to identify risks and formulate a risk management plan to avert the
problems before they start. You also need to monitor progress, so you can stop any
potential problems before they get out of hand.

4. Task Priority
 By structuring your work according to the work breakdown structure, you can
set the priorities for every task, informing teams of the specifics of their tasks
and making clear where they need to focus. On the one hand, stakeholders
need to know about all the details, but on the other hand, they also need to
be up to date on the overall progression of a project.

5. Characteristics of a Work Package
 When an individual completes a work package, he or she may generally share
a common set of characteristics. For example, these might include the type
of work that is performed, and whether that type of work is done on a
marketing, programming, or other skill set.
 Certainly, you need to figure out what tasks you are going to execute in this
work package, when they will take place, and how much time they will take.
Resources may also be necessary to accomplish these tasks; some may be
technological or material-based.
 Every project must have a team leader assigned to it, as well as stakeholders
that are deeply invested in that particular project. It's your responsibility to
get their contact information and keep them up to date with the progress of
the work.

6. Why are Work Packages Important?
 By breaking a project down into work packages, the development of Work Breakdown
Structures becomes easier—and project managers will have a finer level of control over
assignments.
 Other benefits include:
 Work packages allow for simultaneous work to be done on different components of a project
in parallel by multiple teams. Each team follows the tasks defined for the work package and
completes them by the specified deadline.
 Once the teams have finished their individual work packages, the entire project comes
together with seamless integration. Completion of a work package is most often overseen by
a specific person: a manager, supervisor, a team lead, or a designated team member.
 Even though costs are estimated at an activity level, these cost estimates are aggregated to
the work package level, where they are measured, managed, and controlled.
 For each work package, we can determine the direct labor costs, the direct costs for
material, equipment, travel, contractual services, and other non-personal resources, as well
as the indirect costs associated with each of these work packages.

7. 5 Essential Tips for Work Packages in Project
Management
 Here are some project management tips to help with work assignments
 To make a Work Breakdown Structure, do not neglect to bring your team into the
process. Your team is at the front of the work. They're your best resource when
making sure your project has the necessary time and budget and when evaluating
potential risks.
 Two excellent benefits of a work package system are it can provide an accurate
time and cost estimate, while also making it easier to see which portions of the
project are a greater percentage of the whole.
 It is advisable to assign one person to handle each job and report to the project
manager. This will ensure accountability and manage workloads more effectively.
 On every WBS work package should be something that only that work package will
produce, and the work package should not be repeated elsewhere.
 Limit your project so that it is doable within a short period of time; that is, not
more than two weeks at the most. You want to execute the campaign at the same
time as your reporting schedule

8. Measuring Work Package Performance With
Earned Value Management
 The performance of a work package can be measured by the earned value
management measurement technique, a commonly used performance
measurement metric. It integrates project scope, cost, and schedule measures to
help the project management team assess and measure project performance and
progress. It calls for the preparation of an integrated baseline against which the
performance of the work packages can be measured for the duration of the
project.
 Earned Value Measurement develops and monitors three key dimensions for each
work package.
 Planned Value: Planned value is the authorized budget allocated to the work to be
accomplished for the work package.
 Earned Value: Earned value is the value of work performed expressed in terms of
the approved budget assigned to the work package.
 Actual Cost: Actual cost is the total cost actually incurred and recorded in
accomplishing work performed for a work package.