Product Breakdown Structure (BBS) is a project management tool and important part of the project planning. It is a task-oriented system for subdividing a project into product components. The product breakdown structure defines subtasks or work packages and describes the relationship between work packages. This process helps to organize the projects gut and to define the project frameworks. Product, product data or services can be a work breakdown structure element. The BBS defines also the necessary frameworks for the detailed cost pre-calculation and controlling. It is also a basis for the scheduling and planning.
The project tasks are graphically represented in the form of lists or organigram (tree structure) in the product breakdown structure. This plan displays product components and the responsibilities for the delivery of each component. The product components are representeded by boxes in the tree structure. In general, the BBS is individually structured depending on tasks. The standardized product breakdown structure is used in the simple projects.