An Introduction to Integrated Planning Templates

Integrated Planning (IP) Templates are a series of “excel” based worksheets that form a major component of resource planning, a key element of college/division’s Integrated Plan. It is planned that when IP at the University is fully implemented, there will be templates for all of the key resources that will be part of any Integrated Plan including dollars, people (FTES – full time equivalents) and space . For 2007/2008 planning, templates have been prepared for two of these resources components (Dollars and People).

Purpose:
Integrated Planning (IP) Templates have been developed with several major objectives;
1. To provide a vehicle to document major allocation/reallocation decisions in college/divisions.
2. To provide an overall accountability framework for decisions in the context of college/division plans.
3. To provide initial resource plans for major college/divisional initiatives.
4. To help ensure that college/divisional plans align with the overall University resources.

What to Emphasize in Completing the IP Templates:

In order to achieve the basic objectives of the templates, it is important that the primary task in preparing the templates is that they be “complete”; in other words that the estimated resource implications of all major decisions and initiatives be documented on the templates.

While the most obvious feature of the templates are the numerical “cells” on the worksheet, efforts have been made to provide input areas for “notes”. These “note” fields should be used capture, in words, the major assumptions that are stated in the Integrated Plan and which are reflected in the numbers.

The templates have been formatted using the University’s “chart of accounts” or financial dictionary. This has been done to provide a starting point for the planning; the current resources assigned to colleges/divisions. For dollars and FTES the starting point is the base budget. While the base budget is used to start the planning period it is very important to remember that these templates are not approved budgets. College/division planners therefore need not try for the same degree of precision of the future years’ numbers to the same extent they do for approved budgets and other financial transactions. What is important is that all decisions are recognized on the templates using reasonable estimates that the college/division could be justify with in the context of current costs and achievable revenues/recoveries. (These templates are expressed in “constant dollars” i.e., no provision for general inflation.)