Planning-Programming-Budgeting System

A form of cost-benefit analysis (described separately) associated with systems analysis and used as an operational tool in a wide variety of contexts (government agencies, universities, corporations, nonprofit centres, etc.). The integrated PPBS provides relatively few innovations for the individual elements of planning, programming, and budgeting; its value lies in its systematic coordination of all of these. A conceptual basis for the total allocation process is provided. Planning, programming, and budgeting constitute the process by which objectives and resources, and the interrelations among them, are combined to achieve a coherent and comprehensive programme of action for any organization conceived as a whole. The need for a holistic approach arises from the indissoluble connection between the allocation of human and material resources, or budgeting, and the formulation and conduct of policy. It provides a conceptual framework for delineating the complexities of purposive, goal-seeking public policy.