Budgeting

"Once you get past grant week, it's all downhill." "It all gets easier after grant week." Quotes I've heard from past graduates of MSU Staff and Command. They're full of shit! Just started on the zero-based budgeting assignment today, and I'm overwhelmed, as I was with the departmental blog assignment. Seems like it shouldn't be that way. I didn't know the first thing about blogs, but I know what a budget is. I think I'm getting too wrapped up in the statistical end, with the manpower template that Chris Luty provided. We'll see. Maybe it will come together tomorrow.

How did the day's activities relate to your real-world work experience?
The work I was putting into the budget assignment didn't relate to my typical work day at all. However, since I was working from the PD, I got sidetracked several times, helping the acting LT with things, assisting citizens that came into the station, etc. That related to my typical day - working on a task and getting pulled away to handle real police stuff.

How will your real-world behavior change as a result of what you learned today?
While exploring departmental statistics, specifically responses to certain cases, I found that quite often there is a very limited dispatch entry in the CAD system, and also many cases are mislabeled (listed as wrong type of case). I will work with our dispatchers to assure they are entering complete information. I will also check cases to be sure they are entered under the correct heading.

What could you have done differently that might have impacted your performance?
We've had two weeks away from Staff and Command before this distance learning week. It would have really lightened the load if I had started gathering data related to this assignment before today.