cbs /obs

cbs is cost breakdown structure, this is allows you to break down the costs (thats right) cost breakdown structures allow accountants and cost engineers to break down the project into elements that are easy for them to forecast and track.

obs is the organisational breakdown structure and is determined by responsibility.

meh... its all bs to me :D

You can also add a useful Contract Breakdown Structure for Alliance or Partnering jobs if one Company is doing several parts of the job under different contracts. You need to choose software that allows you to have multipule hierarchical structures rather than just one WBS

Sciforma has published a short paper by Harvey Levine discussing differences in the WBS, OBS and RBS: Do You Weebis?

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems

Regardless of the terminology used all projects need a coding structure which, apart from other uses, provides a link between the cost estimate, project budget and project schedule. If done with common sense and not ’hi-jacked’ by SAP type accountancy requirements (which usually differ from the facility/equipment view of an engineer)it becomes a fairly simple matter to relate tasks in the schedule to their appropriate costs/quantities in the estimate/budget. I find recently that Clients using SAP systems often ’impose’ WBS structures that are based on cost accountancy formats and do not suit the way engineers view a project structure.