NCJ Number
73491
Date Published
1977
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This manual was developed to help supervisors who are responsible for preparing zero-base budget (ZBB) requests.
Abstract
ZBB has four basic steps: start by assuming that you have no resources; then identify what actions must be done by your unit to reach the department's goals; next, group these actions into decision packages; and finally, rank the decision packages from the most important to the least important. In addition, there are some questions supervisors must answer to determine what must be done in the coming year and to prepare a ZBB budget. Such questions would include what activities or goals can be accomplished by each unit, what manhours are needed to complete these activities, and what activities should make up a decision package. Other questions would cover the need for and importance of these activities, how each decision package would be carried out, and whether there are alternative levels of performance or alternate ways of having the packages performed. The person preparing the budget also needs to assess how to measure performance, such as answering all telephone calls within 30 seconds; what happens if these jobs are not done; and what areas of improvement are included in the budget request.