Having a clientele also allows the agency to gain a sense of internal direction as well. Employees of the agency have a more clear sense of mandate when there is a definable clientele as well. This helps with direction, with effectiveness and with efficiency. Question 2. Issues assessments are conducted so that government or its agencies can learn about the variety of issues surrounding a specific subject. The issues assessment can be conducted with respect to a program or proposed program, with respect to a parcel of land or proposed development, or with respect to a subject matter such as transportation, housing, homelessness or other key issue. Within each of these issues will be a number of other issues of import to the individual stakeholders. It is the purpose of the issues assessment to uncover each of these sub-issues pertaining to the subject, so that the best course of action can be undertaken.

Question 3. Time series analysis is valuable because it relies on fine analysis of past data. This allows for budgeting based on past behavior of the numbers, and is flexible with respect to the number of statistical tools that can be applied to the technique (Rabin, 1992). The main weakness of time series analysis is that it does not accurately take into account fundamental changes behind the numbers, either in the present or even the near past. This can skew the projections. Qualitative analysis is strong because it relies on "the unique ability of the human brain to perceive relationships" (Ibid). Qualitative analysis is weak, however, because budgeting is a highly numbers-oriented task. While qualitative offers value as a complimentary tool, it is unable to capture long-term trends in numbers, deviations...

Causal techniques expand beyond the single variable analysis of time series, and analyzes in terms of multiple variables. Causal methods are therefore the most powerful means of budgeting. However, they require considerable amount of effort to identify each variable and gather the data. The method is complex, and it can be difficult to develop causal models (Ibid). Computers have made causal modeling substantially easier and have contributed to its rapid ascendancy.
Agency Institutional Role - #1

Clientele Institutional Role - #17

Executive Institutional Role - #7

Legislature Institutional Role - #15

Stare decisis - #13

True Rational Believer - #2

Pure reactive person - #4

Budget wise person - #10

Wise budget person - #12

"My hands are tied" - #9

"Maybe in the future" -- #5

"It cannot be done" -- #6

"Our program is priceless" -- #19

"Results of our program cannot be measured" -- #16

Advocate -- #14

Spender's Strategy -- #8

Cutter's Strategy -- #3

Budget boosting -- #20

Anti-deficiency Act -- #11

Marbury vs. Madison - #18

Works Cited:

Rabin, Jack. (1992). Handbook of Public Budgeting. Retrieved July 2, 2009 from http://books.google.de/books?id=jyX0oF66J3oC&pg=PA217&lpg=PA217&dq=revenue+forecasting+time+series&source=bl&ots=mSw7SNpEku&sig=GlF6iTgjQ5_0u8RpN6AhFPVWAUE&hl=en&ei=wCJNSv2fKInBsAak1uC1BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2