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The Work Breakdown Structure is the heart of Prophic’s estimation process. It decomposes the scope into four tiers (Component to Module to Task to Subtask) and assigns effort and service roles at the task level. Recalculating totals runs a local bottom-up calculation and does not consume AI credits.

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The four-tier hierarchy

The WBS is organized as a nested tree:
  • Components: major system areas such as Authentication, Core Application, Infrastructure & DevOps, and Third-Party Integrations.
  • Modules: functional groupings within a component.
  • Tasks: specific work items within a module.
  • Subtasks: further breakdown when needed.

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What each task carries

Every task in the WBS includes:
  • A service role from the active Configuration Template
  • An estimated number of hours
  • A complexity factor from 0.00 to 1.00 (execution difficulty)
Project-level complexity is a weighted aggregate of task-level scores. It appears in the Summary stage.

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Generate the WBS

In the WBS tab, click Generate WBS. Prophic builds the full hierarchy from the completed Functional Specification Document.

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Common edits

  • Remove a task: use the delete control. Removed tasks no longer count toward the total.
  • Adjust hours: click the hours field and type a new value.
  • Add a component or module: use the add controls at the appropriate level.
  • Change the service role: open the dropdown, which shows only roles defined in the active Configuration Template.
Make all edits before you recalculate. Do not leave placeholder numbers.

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Recalculate

After editing, click Recalculate. This updates total hours, man days, cost per role, and total cost. Recalculation runs a local bottom-up calculation and does not call the AI or consume credits. Run it any time hours change, tasks are added, or tasks are removed.

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Export to Excel

Click Export WBS to download the full hierarchy as an Excel file. Use this to share with a client, import into a project tool, or run further analysis.

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Regenerating the WBS

Click Generate WBS again to rebuild from the current Functional Specification. This will overwrite manual edits: export the current WBS first if you want a record. Regeneration consumes AI credits.

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