This Resource Breakdown Structure Software Development document shows how Eduardo Montes organized all resources of the ProjectAdm SaaS platform into a hierarchical structure — breaking down human resources by role category, physical resources by type, and virtual resources by service category. This Excel workbook provides a complete resource taxonomy that was used for capacity planning, cost allocation, and procurement tracking across 28 sprints and 13.5 months of development.

What Is a Resource Breakdown Structure?

A Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS) is a PMBOK 8 output in the Planning Performance Domain that organizes project resources into categories and subcategories using a hierarchical structure analogous to the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). It provides a framework for organizing and reporting resource information — helping project managers visualize all resource types needed, track their allocation, and ensure nothing is overlooked during planning. For software projects, the RBS typically has three major branches: human resources (organized by role), technology resources (organized by layer — infrastructure, platform, tools), and external services (organized by vendor or function).

What This Resource Breakdown Structure Software Development Includes

The ProjectAdm RBS organizes all 40+ resources across three top-level branches:

• Branch 1 — Human Resources (7 roles) — 1.1 Project Management: Eduardo Montes (PM/SM, 100%); 1.2 Technical Leadership: Henry Douglas (PO/Tech Lead, 80%); 1.3 Backend Development: Marcus Webb (Sr. Backend, 100%); 1.4 Frontend Development: Julia Chen (Sr. Frontend, 100%); 1.5 Fullstack Development: Bruno Silva (Fullstack, 100%); 1.6 Design: Camila Rocha (UI/UX, 80%); 1.7 Quality Assurance: Lucas Park (QA, 60%)
• Branch 2 — Technology Resources (4 subcategories) — 2.1 Cloud Infrastructure: AWS EC2 Auto Scaling (us-east-1, sa-east-1), RDS MariaDB Multi-AZ, S3, CloudFront CDN, WAF; 2.2 Development Environments: MacBook Pro M3 (×3), Windows 11 Dev (×3), Ubuntu WSL2 (×1); 2.3 Development Tools: GitHub Teams, Notion Pro, Figma Professional, PHPUnit 10, PHP-CS-Fixer, ESLint; 2.4 CI/CD Pipeline: GitHub Actions, AWS CodeDeploy, automated test runner
• Branch 3 — External Services (3 subcategories) — 3.1 Payment Services: Stripe API v2024 (Starter+), PayPal API v2 (Starter+); 3.2 AI/ML Services: OpenAI GPT-4o API (Professional+ tier, Sprint 20+); 3.3 Communication Services: AWS SES (transactional email), Google OAuth 2.0 (authentication), Twilio SMS (Sprint 16+ addition)
• Branch 4 — External Vendors/Contractors (2 subcategories) — 4.1 Security: external penetration test vendor (Sprint 26, $3,200, one-time); 4.2 Localization: Spanish freelance translator (post-launch, $800, one-time)
• RBS Cost Allocation Summary — Branch 1 (Human): $233,960 (98.3% of base costs); Branch 2 (Technology): $17,040 (7.2% — includes AWS 13.5 months); Branch 3 (External Services): $10,800 (4.5% — API costs + subscriptions); Branch 4 (Vendors): $4,000 (1.7%); Note: percentages overlap where human resources operate technology resources; net distinct cost allocation tracked in Cost Baseline

How Eduardo Montes Used This Resource Breakdown Structure Software Development

Eduardo Montes used the Resource Breakdown Structure Software Development during the project planning phase to ensure no resource category was overlooked in the cost estimates. The RBS revealed that the Twilio SMS service (added in Sprint 16) had not been included in the original Branch 3 budget — a discovery that led to a rapid cost assessment (under $200/month, within Eduardo's $5,000 authorization) and prevented an unauthorized scope addition from becoming a budget surprise at M4.

How to Use This Resource Breakdown Structure Software Development Document

When building your own Resource Breakdown Structure Software Development, create the RBS before finalizing the cost estimates — not after. The ProjectAdm experience shows that a complete RBS reveals resource categories that might otherwise be overlooked until they appear as unplanned costs mid-project.

Download the Template and Deepen Your Knowledge

Ready to create your own resource breakdown structure? Download the blank Resource Breakdown Structure Template (PMBOK 8).

• Download the Resource Breakdown Structure Template — PMBOK 8 (blank, ready to use)
• Read the full guide: Resource Breakdown Structure in PMBOK 8

Want to go deeper? The PMBOK Guide 8th Edition is the definitive reference for modern project management. Get your copy and use it alongside these examples to build a solid, practical understanding of every performance domain.

Format: Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) | Project: Software Development (SaaS Platform) | PMBOK Edition: 8th (2025) | Domain: Planning