 facility and prepares a detailed operating and capital project plan, including budgets for both. BUDGETING AND PLANNING FORMS AND PRACTICES If you're an experienced budgeting and planning practitioner, it's likely you use a system that has evolved from a combination of learning by doing and classroom training. However, based on what we learned in Chapters 11 and SO far in Chapter 12, it seems logical that we should be able to construct a system by simply incrementing it with forward-looking details and minor caption changes. If we hang on to the intuition to take history and project it into the future, it should be possible to create a foundation from which to make changes and iterate results until we arrive at a point where we have the following: PRACTICAL IP AND TELECOM FOR BROADCAST ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS Departmental expense budget for communications cost manage- ment (CCM) Fixed asset account, capital budget, and revised depreciation schedule Now that we have determined where we want to go, the issue and focus is on how to get there. Experienced budget crunchers have come to learn that once a year, somewhere out of the blue comes a set of instructions and assumptions to prepare the budget. And thereupon begins an annual ritual akin to something between a Mexican hat dance and an Indian snake charmer festival. Typically, the only thing constant, clear, and repetitive is "don't spend any more than we have to," or "cut capital spending by 25%." Well-run, successful organizations breeze through the cycle and complete the annual business plan and budgeting with aplomb akin to a well-run ballet troupe. Why and how do they do this? Simple: They have a common-sense, well-adapted internal reporting and forecasting process They get management direction in the form of two or three alternative growth scenarios for the next year They use clear and simple assumptions regarding availability and use of headcount and capital They operate on a no-fear, no-cut, schedule with dates and deadlines for actions by key players 