Salesforce Implementation Work Breakdown Structure
This is a practical guide to building a work breakdown structure for a salesforce implementation project — a deliverable-oriented decomposition of the whole scope into manageable work packages, adapted to the realities of rolling out Salesforce for sales, service or marketing cloud.
What a Work Breakdown Structure is
A work breakdown structure is a deliverable-oriented decomposition of the whole scope into manageable work packages. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Work Breakdown Structure. On a salesforce implementation project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Salesforce Implementation project
Salesforce Implementation projects live or die on rolling out Salesforce for sales, service or marketing cloud. A well-built work breakdown structure gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how salesforce implementation projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Top-level deliverables
- Sub-deliverables
- Work packages (8–80 hours)
- WBS numbering
- WBS dictionary entries
Salesforce Implementation-specific considerations
Tailor the work breakdown structure to the risks that most often derail salesforce implementation projects:
- Over-customisation
- Adoption by the sales team
- Data hygiene and deduplication
Example
On a real salesforce implementation project, the work breakdown structure would be shaped by rolling out Salesforce for sales, service or marketing cloud. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — over-customisation, adoption by the sales team, data hygiene and deduplication — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.