MS Project A Graphical WBS using a tool like Visio or Xmind.net

The graphical tools mentioned can serve as a powerful way to communicate information about the project to people who may not necessarily have the technical skills to navigate their way through the project organization software that is being used for the project; i.e. Prince or MS Project. It also serves as a quick way to reference activities that is basically effortless which is useful even if you do have the required technical skills. It can serve as a report that can be used as a dashboard by management or a way to illustrate the project to other stakeholders; both internally and externally. Basically, with just a quick glance, any individual can see information such as the task name, its interconnectedness, it's duration, its predecessors as well as the following task that are dependent upon it.

Figure 1 - Xmind Example

Figure 2 -- MS Vizio Example

A MPP file containing the WBS in MS-Project...

S-Project with WBS Id and Task Name with proper formatting and Task hierarchy.
Task Name

Duration

Start

Finish

WBS

Predecessors

CyClone Project

1 day?

Mon 9/19/11

Mon 9/19/11

Design

10 days

Mon 9/19/11

Fri 9/30/11

Procure Prototype Parts

10 days

Mon 10/3/11

Fri 10/14/11

Fabricate Parts

8 days

Mon 10/3/11

Wed 10/12/11

Assemble Prototype

4 days

Mon 10/17/11

Thu 10/20/11

5

3,4

Laboratory Test

7 days

Fri 10/21/11

Mon 10/31/11

6

5

Field Test

10 days

Tue 11/1/11

Mon 11/14/11

7

6

Adjust…