Contracts › Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS) › Indent and Outdent CWBS Elements in Contract Work Breakdown Structures

Indent and Outdent CWBS Elements in Contract Work Breakdown Structures

You can create hierarchical relationships between CWBS elements. Indent an element to make it a subordinate of the element above it.

Use indent and outdent to designate individual CWBS elements as parent or children. Parent CWBS elements are top-level elements that have child CWBS elements associated with them. Child CWBS elements are nested beneath parent CWBS elements. You can create a parent-child hierarchical grid by indenting or outdenting CWBS elements.

Rules for Indenting and Outdenting

• You cannot indent or outdent the CWBS root node element.
• You can indent an element multiple times. However, a higher level element must always be exactly one indent level above the element you indent. You cannot indent an element multiple times when a higher-level element is not immediately one level above it.
• You can only outdent elements to the level 2 position since the CWBS root node element is always at the level 1 position.
• There is only one level 1 element and that position is reserved for the CWBS root node element.
• If the element you want to outdent has subordinate elements beneath it, the subordinate elements automatically follow to their parent.
• You can select multiple CWBS elements at once to indent or outdent.
• An error message appears if you cannot indent a CWBS element. If you select multiple CWBS elements for indenting and one of them cannot be indented, an error message appears and none of the selected CWBS elements are indented. The same rule applies for outdenting.

To indent or outdent a CWBS element

1. Select Contracts from the Earned Value Management menu.

   The Contracts list page appears.

2. Click the WBS icon next to the contract to which it is associated.

   The Contract: Contract WBS page appears.

3. Select the element you want to indent or outdent, click CWBS Layout>>, and do one of the following:
   • Select Indent.

     The page refreshes and the element is folded one level under the nearest higher-level element. A plus (+) sign appears next to the higher level element.

   • Select Outdent.

     The page refreshes and the element appears as outdented relative to the element above it.

   The element is indented or outdented.