IPA IP 2026 Question 39
A question IPA Japan published in 令和8年度 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問39, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
Which of the following is the most appropriate explanation of WBS in project management of system development?
Explanation
All the work for every deliverable, decomposed hierarchically — a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) breaks the project scope down level by level.
A WBS starts from the project's deliverables and divides the work for them into smaller and smaller elements, down to work packages that can be estimated, assigned and managed. It covers the whole scope (the 100% rule), so it is the basis for cost estimating, scheduling and allocating responsibilities.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) — activities on the critical path are found from an arrow diagram or other network schedule, which takes the activities from the WBS but adds their order and durations
- •(b) — planned start and end dates of the major deliverables are shown in a schedule such as a milestone chart; the WBS defines the work, not its dates
- •(d) — the tools used in the project belong in the project plan (development environment), not in the WBS
Key rule: WBS = what work, broken down hierarchically to cover 100% of the scope; the schedule and the network diagram later add when and in what order.
Project Management · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.