Structure of planning, Programming and Budgeting System

Abstract

What is a planning, programming, and budgeting system (PPBS)? Despite numerous publications on the subject, there is still no systematic conceptual clarification of the essential elements of a PPB system or of the implications for its use by governmental organizations. Many advantages and shortcomings of the system have been enumerated, but the debate will go on fruitlessly if the meaning of the system is not made clear. This chapter attempts an examination of .(I) the elements of norms of rationality, along with other supporting values and norms of public administration which underlie PPBS, and (2) the specific requirements and techniques of rational calculation, both proposed for, and required by, a PPB system. (Current practices, as embodied in official documents defining the operation of PPBS in selected governmental agencies, will be examined in Chapter Ⅳ). In the midst of great excitement and doubt which have accompanied the introduction of this integrated system of administrative planning, programming, and budgeting into government, it appears that proper perspective on the system sometimes is lost. Excitement stems from the "revolutionary zeal" of proponents of the "very new system" which is intended to assist governmental managers in making more rational decisions. Doubt results from concern over an untried system and the concomitant difficulty of grasping the proper meaning of the system.