ABSTRACT
With the advent of formalized project management methodologies in the USA in the 1950s came the idea of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This structure was devised to aid Department of Defense civil servants to account for the money that had been spent by the project against the items that had been delivered; the organization of project data in a standard form was made a contractual requirement. Similar accounting structures must have existed in many organizations long before the DoD requirements were written, as it has always been necessary to know how and where money is being spent if control is to be exercised over a business. However, the new formality associated with the work breakdown structure has become firmly woven into the process of project management.
