Example WBS Dictionary tab: 24 fully written Northwind entries with description of work, deliverable, acceptance criteria, owner, resources, effort, cost, dates, dependencies and status. Sample data.
Example WBS Dictionary tab. Screenshots show the workbook's built-in Northwind sample project.
Initiation and Planning

WBS Dictionary

by Cassandra Taylor, PMP, ProjectMentorPro

$12 Watch the walkthrough1:31
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Watch the walkthrough1:31
  • Excel workbook
  • Opens in Google Sheets
  • 4 tabs

A WBS shows what the work is. The WBS dictionary says what each piece means. Without it, two people read the same element name and picture different work, and that gap becomes rework, change requests and arguments about what done looks like.

This workbook holds one row per WBS element: what the work is, what it produces, how it will be accepted, who owns it, what it needs, and what it depends on. A completeness column counts the required fields and tells you which are still missing.

  • WBS Dictionary tab. Code, element name, description of work, deliverable, acceptance criteria, owner, resources, effort hours, cost, start and finish dates, and predecessor codes.
  • Completeness check. Status reads Complete or Incomplete, and the Missing fields column names what to add.
  • Required fields. Fifteen fields on Settings, each marked Required Yes or No.

Also included in Complete Toolkit ($99), Initiation and Planning Pack ($49).

Includes a How to Use guide tab. The green Example tabs stand alone and can be deleted. Licensed for use by the individual purchaser on their own projects.

WBS Dictionary $12
Watch, 1:31

See the WBS Dictionary in action

A quick tour of the workbook, narrated by Cassandra Taylor, PMP: what goes in, what calculates for you and what the WBS Dictionary tab shows.

Read the transcript

A WBS tells you what the work is called. It does not tell you what it means. Two people read the same element name and picture two different deliverables.

I'm Cassandra Taylor, and this is the WBS Dictionary. One workbook, in Excel or Google Sheets, that defines every element of your work breakdown structure in one row.

Each row defines one element. What the work is, what it produces, and how it will be accepted. Then the owner and the resources, the effort, cost and dates, and the predecessors and risks.

Write acceptance criteria someone could test. A number, a date, a named sign-off. Not words like adequate, or user friendly.

Then it checks completeness. Fifteen fields, eleven required by default, and you choose which on the Settings tab. A row shows Complete only when every required field is filled. If one is blank, it shows Incomplete and names what is missing. Here, all twenty-four entries are complete.

You're the conductor of the orchestra. I stay ready, so I don't have to get ready, right? Add the WBS Dictionary to your cart and put what every piece means in writing.

What's inside

Tabs

How to Use, WBS Dictionary and Settings, plus Example WBS Dictionary.

Worked example

24 fully written Northwind entries. The codes and names match the Example WBS tab in the WBS workbook exactly.

Ground rule

Write acceptance criteria as measurable statements: a number, a date, a named sign-off.