Define Activities
Define Activities is the process of identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables.
Explanation
Define Activities takes the work packages from the work breakdown structure (WBS) and decomposes them further into schedule activities. While a work package is the lowest level of the WBS, it may still be too large to estimate or schedule directly. Activities represent the effort needed to complete each work package and are the smallest units of work in the schedule.
The primary inputs to this process are the project management plan (particularly the schedule management plan and scope baseline), enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets. The key tools and techniques include decomposition, rolling wave planning, and expert judgment. Rolling wave planning is especially useful when future work is not yet fully understood, allowing near-term activities to be defined in detail while future activities remain at a higher level.
The outputs of Define Activities are the activity list, activity attributes, milestone list, and change requests. These outputs feed directly into subsequent scheduling processes such as Sequence Activities and Estimate Activity Durations.
Key Points
- •Decomposes work packages from the WBS into schedule activities
- •Uses decomposition, rolling wave planning, and expert judgment
- •Produces the activity list, activity attributes, and milestone list
- •Activities are the smallest units of work that feed into the schedule
Exam Tip
Know the difference between a work package (lowest WBS element, defined in scope) and an activity (scheduling unit derived from a work package). Define Activities bridges scope and schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Topics
Activity List
The activity list is a comprehensive list of all schedule activities required on the project, including an activity identifier and a scope of work description for each activity.
Activity Attributes
Activity attributes are additional details associated with each schedule activity that extend the description beyond what is in the activity list.
Milestone List
A milestone list identifies all project milestones and indicates whether the milestone is mandatory (required by contract) or optional (based on project requirements or historical information).
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.
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