CBS Overview

A Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS) is used to track, manage, and report costs related to a project or program. The CBS standardizes costs into categories that represent manageable cost sources for an organization and a standard cost classification system. The CBS is comprised of cost codes that are classified into three types: expense, capital, or none. These codes are concatenated based on the segment definition and can be viewed as a flat or hierarchical structure. CBS codes are used in top-down and bottom-up cost planning and tracking.

The app enables you to create CBSs at the workspace and project levels. When you create a CBS at the project level, you can select the budget sources for your project. This selection can be edited from the Cost Sheet page.

Workspace CBS

Any CBS codes that are standards in your organization should be associated at the highest level workspace or node that they apply to so that they are available to child workspaces and projects. A CBS at the workspace level can be copied from the parent workspace, copied from sibling workspaces, imported from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, or entered manually. If you have created a unique workspace CBS, it can serve as a resource for projects in that workspace and sibling and child workspaces. Each workspace can contain only one CBS. The workspace CBS is created to serve as a CBS for projects and child workspaces to roll up the child workspace and project costs for a high level view of costs within that workspace.

Project or Program CBS

CBS codes at the project level can be copied from the parent workspace. If you have created a unique project CBS, it can serve as a resource for other projects in that workspace. Each project cost sheet can contain only one CBS.