In Response to the September Letter to Editor by Piney referencing Smith

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

By Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo

23 September 2024

Ref: Piney, C. (2024). On the Subject of WBS or BRM, Letter to the Editor, PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue IX, September. https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/pmwj145-Sep2024-Piney-WBS-or-BRM-Letter-to-Editor.pdf   

Ref: Smith, K. (2024). Musing on Milestones: To Weight, or Not to Weight? That is the Question! PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue VIII, August. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wpcontent/uploads/2024/08/pmwj144-Aug2024-Smith-musings-on-weighted-milestones.pdf

Ref: Xavier Leynaud, Paul D. Giammalvo Ph.D., Jean-Yves Moine, “Multi-Dimensional Project Breakdown Structures – The Secret to Successful Building Information Modeling (BIM) Integration” https://www.amazon.com/Multi-Dimensional-Project-Breakdown-Structures-Information/dp/1948149125

Dear David and Subscribers

I would like to respond to Mr. Kik Piney’s “LETTER TO THE EDITOR” dated 26 August 2024 On the Subject of WBS or BRM, Letter to the Editor, PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue IX, September at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/pmwj145-Sep2024-Piney-WBS-or-BRM-Letter-to-Editor.pdf

While I don’t often agree with Mr. Kik’s attempts to link project deliverables (more correctly or appropriately known as “Assets”) to “benefits” generated or realized from the utilization or implementation of those assets, I found his approach interesting and worth exploring in more detail in the context of the current evolution of “flat file” (hierarchical) Work Breakdown (WBS)/ Cost Breakdown (CBS) structures, to relational or object-oriented WBS/CBS coding schemes.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF WBS/CBS DEVELOPMENT

For a quick overview, there are three common, or popular types of Database Management Systems (DBMS) are:

1. “Flat File” or “Hierarchical” or “Text Based” where the data consists of a single table
2. Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), which consists of multiple tables that are linked, and
3. Object-oriented database Management System (OODBMS) that contains the WBS/CBS codes in OBJECTS (i.e., Pumps or Equipment or materials)

Noting the US Military, PMI, and AACE are still advocating using “Flat File” database structures. Since the 1960s, starting with the Construction Management Institute’s (CSI) Master Format and Uniformat, we have been moving away from “flat file” and moving towards relational and object-oriented architecture. CSI’s Master and Uniformat was a two-dimensional relational database structure that enabled sorting by ACTIVITIES (Masterformat) and ELEMENTS (Uniformat). During the late 1980s, the Norwegian government, after getting frustrated with their production-sharing partners exploiting oil and gas in the North Sea, each using their own “homegrown” WBS/CBS, the Norwegians commissioned a team to develop a STANDARDIZED three-dimensional model that consisted of three integrated relational databases, and requiring all PSCs to using the same coding structures, which was published circa 1990:

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To read entire Letter to the Editor, click here

How to cite this work: Giammalvo, P. D. (2024). In Response to the September Letter to Editor by Piney referencing Smith, Letter to the Editor, PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue X, October/November. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/pmwj146-OctNov2024-Giammalvo-in-response-to-Sep-Piney-Letter-to-Editor-3.pdf