I'd like to produce a WBS in conjunction with my requirements. My WBS items would map to individual requirements, but I would need to add additional data to each requirement record. This addl data is needed to help further define the WBS items' functional areas. So basically the WBS would be a report, and including this capability would keep these two documents in synch.
So for starters, does this resonate with anyone? How does the existing architecture of Contour support (or not) this idea?
Thank you,
Andy
Hi Andy,
That does resonate, and we often discuss where to draw the line with regards to WBS, scheduling etc in Contour. Tell me a little more about what you're trying to accomplish with regard to output... is this to tie to another system, or would you see sub tasks as part of this structure within Contour, reporting etc?
Or are you just thinking of categorizing requirements by their WBS structure - a simple option would be to add additional fields to track this, then develop a report that groups by this data.
We are also discussing / planning for a connection with Microsoft Project that may offer some solution to what you are after... MS Project
If you want to discuss more in detail, give us a call and we and talk it through.
Thanks for the info, Eric.
The end product is a WBS report that is essentially a subset of the requirements. Which means (I think) that each requirement will have WBS data fields relevant only to the users of the WBS. The biggest advantage to using Contour is to maintain synch between requirements and WBS items. So your comment about adding fields and developing a report would work well.
Another discussion is the relationship between Contour requirements and WBS items, and whether the WBS info can be entered into Contour before the requirements. A bit of a chicken-egg situation that could be resolved with some business rules I suppose, but our office hasn't had that discussion yet. Thoughts on this issue would be appreciated as well.
