Budget Forecasting? I think I must have blinked, and missed that. We are on a fiscal year budget plan (October 1 to Sept 30), but it almost always happens that Congress does not appropriate funds for us until well after October 1 (ike December). Meanwhile, they give us mandates of things we must do. So budget forecasting is a complete joke. Yes, there has been a lot of modernization of computing equipment. Most of us now have PCs (took place in the past two years), but they are usually out-of-date by the time we get them (they are purchased and stored in a warehouse waiting for a budget to hire personnel to install them. The main database software that contains all our patient records is still from something that was developed around 1980. I use VFP for local, departmental work, and it is not widely supported. Excuse me, I can't go on...it gets my dander up when I have to discuss the concept of 'updating systems' in the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. :)

Pete

>What happened to the 5 and 10 year budget forcasting? I'm surprised managers are still in place. Some installations (not mentioning any by name but you can guess geographically of course) went through MAJOR personnel upheavals in an effort to modernize not only the systems the government used but also the thought process. Locally, there is a large staff of programmers working full-time (and overtime) updating systems for the federal government (this does not include contracted updates and upgrades). Of course, it will takes YEARS and by then the new systems will be obsolete!
>
>>>>Cindy,
>>>>Although your suggestion makes perfect sense for a typical business situation, just for extra information, let me add this may not always be true. I work for the federal government. Congress gives us funds each year, based on a lot of political, non-business factors. We have to live with that and therefore our budget is fixed. If I go to my managers and present how much they can save by an upgrade, it will be irrelevant. That's because anything my management buys will cost extra,and no money will be 'saved'. The funds for new products have to come out of the fixed budget, no matter how good an argument I can make for increased productivity. What my management wants to know is why should they spend money on what I want, rather than what someone else wants. My management was very generous in supplying me with several copies of FPW, then VFP5, then one copy of VFP6. It will be very difficult for me to justify an upgrade to VFP7 at this point.
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>>>Silly managers! Those same people are charged with meeting certain goals and keeping within their budget. If they make spending choices that result in the greatest possible productivity for the dollars, then they will do well. However, what they appear to be thinking is that the whole group is a bunch of little kids fighting over the sandbox toys and who can have the biggest share of the pie.
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>>>Typical for government. That's why capitalism is a better system than socialism.
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>>Right. Another problem with this kind of system is that it breeds short-term planning. That is, we cut corners for this year. Next year, same thing. Etc. Finally, we have such outdated resources that it is very expensive to maintain, and extremely expensive to do a massive upgrade. Moral: short-term savings to taxpayers, long-term losses. The Dept. of Veterans Health Care System database software is circa 1980! I'm envious of people like you who are up-to-date! (I wonder if Microsoft has ever thought of marketing VFP to Washington -- there is a huge market there!)