A major difficulty facing IT departments is ensuring that the projects and activities to which information and communications technologies (ICT) resources are committed represent an effective, economic, and efficient use of those resources. This complex problem has no single answer. To determine effective use requires, at the least, a…

Although some serious limitations in the cost analysis technique do exist, the need for cost data in decision making is so great that every effort should be made to obtain accurate estimates. This paper discusses the several issues which arise when an attempt is made to make quality, trade-off, or scope decisions based on cost data. Three methods…

Describes a planning and accounting system that has resulted in improved costing and planning in a mental health clinic. (Author)

Resource allocations, in terms of funds, people, facilities, and the delegation of appropriate authority to formulate appropriate policy, for research and development and implementation of computer-assisted instruction are discussed in this paper. A description and justification of CAI as a technology is included. The need for incorporating a…

In order to communicate a feeling for the costs of the new instructional technology tools, the author presents an estimated annual cost table for three major instructional technologies--instructional television, computer access, and computer assisted instruction (CAI). He builds a model school district of 100,000 elementary and secondary students…

In response to increasing pressures for improvement in the management of resources, many institutions of higher education have investigated the application of planning- programming- budgeting- systems (PPBS) some have adopted it to meet the demands imposed by jurisdictional agencies, and a few have introduced it frequently in modified form into…

A hospital administrator and a nursing school director point out the value of realistic allocation of costs to determine the economics of the diploma program. (Editor)

Summary of report on study entitled PLANNING FOR EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN A PLANNING, PROGRAMMING AND BUDGETING STSTEM," by Selma Mushkin (Education Commission of the States Steering Committee meeting, December, 1968).

A presentation of a linear planning model to be used in economics for education. (Author)

This book offers an independent analysis of the New York City education budget for 1981 by the Educational Priorities Panel (EPP). It represents an alternative to the mayor's budget, which calls for $89 million in cuts, and the board of education budget. The first two chapters contain background information on the EPP and an explanation of the…

A PROGRAM BUDGET IS A POLICY AND PLANNING DOCUMENT WHOSE GOAL IS TO DEFINE PROGRAM ELEMENTS AT AS HIGH A LEVEL OF AGGREGATION AS POSSIBLE WHILE REMAINING CONSISTENT WITH A DESIRABLE LEVEL OF HOMOGENEITY. THERE ARE THREE MAJOR PHASES OF PROGRAM BUDGETING--PLANNING, PROGRAMING, AND BUDGETING. DISCUSSIONS OF A UNIVERSITY BUDGET, DECISION MATRICES IN…

This document consists of three sections: a summary of the development of government budgeting, a discussion of the concepts and applicability of performance budgeting, and a critique of the techniques and usefulness of PPBS with a detailed analysis of its economic assumptions. Appendixes show that an optimum solution to the problem of allocations…

Presented here is a model developed at Santa Barbara City College (California) for assessing vocational and non-vocational program costs. The primary purpose of the project was to compare costs during 1971-72 for these two types of programs. On an institutional average, vocational instructional costs appeared to be higher than non-vocational,…

A vocational teacher, assessing the significance of the new federal legislation for Florida teachers, reviews techniques that can be applied to the decision-making process of vocational educators responsible for the allocation of dollars to various vocational programs. (JT)

Not all data for a program evaluation may be equally valuable, and costs of collection may vary when using several methods to obtain data from several sources. An approach to maximize information yield for a fixed, limited budget using a mathematical technique known as linear programming is described and generalized. (Author/CM)