6220 THE PROGRAM CONCEPT
(Revised 2/98)
The program concept and structure were adopted to bring forth and emphasize the purpose, meaning, and benefits of the many activities of departments.
Program
A program is a group of closely related and interdependent activities. Ideally, a program should be clearly delineated, have a minimum of overlap and interaction with other programs, and lend itself to at least partial quantification. It should be end-product or intermediate-product oriented. Meaningful programs should be concerned with specific objectives of the department. Each program should bring together all costs associated with its execution.
It is not uncommon to find different ways to subdivide programs. In the earlier budget presentations when the program format was adopted, the hierarchy of the program structure was to divide programs into elements, elements into components, and components into tasks. However, as presentations began to expand and proliferate to the lower levels of the program structure, a general policy was adopted to limit departmental presentations in the Governor's Budget to no lower than the element level. Departments need to work closely with their DOF budget analyst to determine the format of the program presentation to be included in the Governor's Budget. Program Objectives Statements, Need, Objectives, Output Authority and General Description are all potential presentations to be included in the budget.
Program Objectives Statement
All the pertinent facts about a program in a department are collected in a Program Objectives Statement. A department may have one or more program statements. The complete program statement as described below becomes a tool for the managers at program and departmental levels. It should be kept up-to-date to reflect executive and legislative action. Some parts of the program statement may be used in the annual departmental budget.
The Program Objectives Statement typically includes the following information:
- Defines the public problem or need which requires government intervention.
- Relates it to the "outside" world.
- Quantifies, such as "dollar loss to the public," "number of accidents," "education gap," "resources misused or wasted," "number of instances of illegal activity," etc.
Need
Information on the public need or problem which requires government intervention or action is central to program analysis and evaluation. Frequently, the only way to recognize the extent of the need for a program is to develop a complete picture of the problem and its dimensions. The adequate and thorough analysis of the need is essential to sound development of program objectives and means of meeting these objectives. This same prerequisite greatly facilitates the identification of output and program input on the public problem or need. A good need or problem definition is a major step to effective planning and evaluation.
The approximate quantification in explicit terms is a basic requirement of a good definition. For example, to say, "great masses live in poverty" does not convey whether the number is near one million or one hundred million, whether they have effective incomes of less than recognized poverty level incomes, whether they live in urban or rural areas, whether they are male or female, or whether they are potentially rehabilitatable or in a permanent state of dependency.
The dimensions of need are many, and to meaningfully cope with the problem, these must be delineated and given estimated relative quantification to facilitate communication of information and improve the decision-making process. Only then can objectives and work plan be purposefully formulated and pursued.
Objective
- Should relate directly to the problem or need.
- Should be specific, quantified, and measurable when accomplished.
An objective is the end product or goal toward which particular program activities are directed. The end products or goals of each program should relate to a basic mission of the department, thus establishing a direct relationship between the specific products or goals of each program and the overall broad scale objectives of the department, organization, or function. The objective may or may not cross departmental lines. It must be compatible with other objectives in other departments.
Many programs have more than one objective, and, conversely, a program may, in some manner, contribute to more than one objective.
Output
A number of measures are in use that relate to the attainment of the objective or that quantify some aspect of the program.
- Measure of accomplishment of the objective (if the objective can be expressed in units of output).
Program output data will reflect quantitative measures of program impact or accomplishment. These illustrate the results to be expected or realized from the program. Program outputs should be stated in terms of results or accomplishments which would provide a program manager with an adequate basis for subsequently evaluating actual against planned accomplishment.
In some programs, it may be exceedingly difficult to define a unit of output which will relate directly to the program objectives; yet the units of output below the program level may be clearly defined, easily counted, and contribute directly to the success of the program. In such cases, output may be expressed only by bringing together the heterogeneous outputs of elements and components in some logical pattern or model of a composite output unit.
These measures may be used often in project-oriented programs, for example, completion of projects, buildings, or perhaps in a nonproject field, units of "consumer protection."
- Effectiveness
Degree of attainment of an objective. This figure is helpful in reporting the change in condition of a situation of a program target group; for example, the percentage reduction in a particular disease, in automobile accidents, in certain type of crop infestations, or in general unemployment.
- Benefit/Data
This measure goes beyond the two measures listed above to quantify the value or benefits to society of the program accomplishments.
Some objectives are not stated in measurable terms and data that are developed may not relate directly to the accomplishment of the objective. Such data however, give an indication of the size of some aspect of the program. Examples follow.
Program Size. This type of data shows the intended magnitude or extent of the program, for example, the size of the target group or the number of classes to be conducted or projects to be done.
Workload. These data indicate the volume or number of things to be done. Examples include the number of court cases by type, the number of applications processed or examinations given.
Output. This figure reports the volume of things (goods and services) produced that are not used internally somewhere else in the program. Examples include number of court opinions rendered, graduates, permits granted, or trees planted. Operating efficiency is another statistic that is sometimes used. This normally takes the form of a ratio of output or program size to a unit of input. Examples of this might include number of fish planted per hatchery, or number of cases successfully closed per social worker. Other forms of operating efficiency might include cost of a student per day or the delay time in responding to an emergency (time is the input and has a cost).
Authority
Provide the legal (Constitutional or statutory) or administrative (Executive Order, regulation, SAM, etc.) authority for the program.
General Description
Information on the activities by which the objective is created.
Work Plan
A summary schedule of the outputs or workload (outputs, if possible) of the elements, components, and tasks that show the use and amount of the input and provide information on the magnitude of the program activities.
Input
Provides total cost information by fiscal year.
Resource requirements or input data enumerate the personnel and dollar requirements needed to support the program level specified in the work plan section of the Program Statement. This information should be aggregated from the resource requirements of elements, components and tasks which make up the program.
Skill and accuracy in estimating future year program costs results from experience and good historical data. Guides and standards for program cost accounting are combined in SAM Section 9200, et seq.
