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How to make a work breakdown structure (WBS) in Excel

Quick answer

Build the breakdown in the DO101 WBS Builder, which works like a spreadsheet: one row per task, indented under its parent, with WBS numbers (1, 1.1, 1.1.1) that renumber themselves as you move things. Add owners, start and due dates and % complete, check the Gantt timeline, then download a real .xlsx with frozen headings, coloured timeline bars and live SUM formulas on the summary rows.

Open the WBS Builder — free

Step by step

  1. 1Open the WBS Builder and type the project's major deliverables or phases as top-level rows.
  2. 2Add the work under each one and indent it, until every lowest row is a task one person or team can own.
  3. 3Fill in owners, start and due dates. Durations and summary-row dates work themselves out.
  4. 4Check the Gantt timeline, then download the Excel workbook.

What a WBS is for

A work breakdown structure splits the whole of a project into smaller pieces, level by level, until each piece is small enough to estimate and assign. The top levels are deliverables or phases; the bottom level holds the work packages people actually do. The rule that makes it useful: everything the project delivers appears somewhere in it, and nothing out of scope does.

How deep to go

Far enough that each work package can be estimated, owned and tracked, and no further. A common rule of thumb is that a work package should take between eight and eighty hours. Three or four levels covers most projects; beyond that you are usually breaking down the schedule rather than the scope.

Why not just type it into Excel?

You can, but keeping 1.2.3-style numbers correct by hand after every insertion is where Excel WBS sheets go wrong, and so do summary rows that no longer add up. The builder does the numbering and roll-ups, then hands Excel a finished workbook: dates, durations and percentages as real Excel values, conditional-format timeline bars, and a landscape page set up to print. It can also open an existing WBS spreadsheet and read its hierarchy back in.

Frequently asked questions

Is the download a real Excel file?

Yes, a genuine .xlsx, not a renamed CSV. Summary rows can carry live =SUM(), =MIN() and =MAX() formulas, so totals recalculate when you edit a task in Excel.

Where is my WBS saved?

In this browser on this device. There is no account, so export a project file if you want a backup.

Can I draw it as a tree diagram instead?

Yes. The Chart view lays the same WBS out as a tree you can rearrange, and exports it as PNG or SVG.

The tool for the job

WBS BuilderRuns in your browser

A project WBS spreadsheet with a Gantt, built for Excel.