University Business Development: Evaluations and Budget Paper

This report delves into the critical aspects of evaluation and budgeting within a business context. It begins by outlining the benefits of an evaluation plan, emphasizing its role in setting objectives, understanding target audience needs, and monitoring progress. The report then differentiates between process and outcome evaluations, highlighting how process evaluations focus on implementation, while outcome evaluations assess the achievement of desired objectives. Furthermore, the paper explores various budget types used in grant funding, including operating, cash, capital, and grant budgets, emphasizing their individual importance in financial planning and management. By providing a comprehensive overview of these concepts, the report aims to equip readers with the knowledge needed for effective program evaluation and financial management within a business or organizational setting.

Running head: EVALUATIONS AND BUDGET PAPER
Evaluations and Budget Paper
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1EVALUATIONS AND BUDGET PAPER
Table of Contents
Benefits of an evaluation plan....................................................................................................1
Differences between a process evaluation and an outcome evaluation.....................................2
Types of budgets used in grant funding.....................................................................................3
Importance of these budgets.......................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

2EVALUATIONS AND BUDGET PAPER
Benefits of an evaluation plan
An evaluation can be defined as a system or a process that is required for critical
examination of a particular program. The evaluation plan involves different kinds of activities
such as collection and analysis of information that is based on the different characteristics of
a particular activity (Carlini & Gadaleta, 2017). The next step is to form judgements about
the program for improving its efficiencies. Therefore, an evaluation plan can be used for
many purposes as stated below.
1) The plan helps in setting goals and objectives for the evaluation process that
would take place in the future. The plan provides a vision that the planners desire
out of the entire process of evaluation.
2) The evaluation plan helps in better understanding the needs of the target audiences
and the ways to be taken for addressing these needs.
3) The plan would help in designing concrete objectives that are short-term and
measurable.
4) The plan would also aid towards monitoring progress about the achievement of
these objectives more effectively as well as efficiently (Carlini & Gadaleta, 2017).
5) The evaluation system helps the users to gain more knowledge about the
procedure of evaluation.
6) Conducting an effective evaluation plan would increase the productivity as well as
efficiency of the entire evaluation program.
7) The evaluation plan also helps in developing greater support in carrying out the
evaluation program.
8) The entire evaluation system including the evaluation plan helps in the
advancement of the learning of the students such that they become aware of the
values that shape the evaluation system.

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9) Finally, the evaluation system helps in the promotion of better outcomes that
would have a positive impact on the environment.
Therefore, in order to gain advantages of the evaluation plan, an effective evaluation
system should be implemented that would consist of effective activities. The evaluation plan
should be integrated with the process of strategic planning. This is because strategic planning
helps in the formulation of questions that would be answered through the evaluation process.
Another step is to update the evaluation plan on a regular basis so that it adheres to the
current changes of the system.
Differences between a process evaluation and an outcome evaluation
The process of evaluation is broadly defined into two categories. One of these
categories is formative evaluation and another category is summative evaluation. Process
evaluation is also referred to as implementation evaluation and falls under the formative
category of evaluation. Outcome evaluation, on the contrary, falls under summative category
of evaluation.
Process or implementation evaluation can be defined as the process that examines the
way through which the evaluation program is implemented. After the successful preparation
of the evaluation plan, the process evaluation technique is carried out for judging the
adherence of the current process with the plan (Moore et al., 2015). The technique can be
done on a continuous manner or it can also be an one-time assessment. The results which are
obtained from this techniques are used for the continuous improvement of the evaluation
program. The process implementation technique is also used for focussing on the number as
well as types of participants who are satisfied with the program. The technique also
determines the level of satisfaction of these individuals.

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Another type of evaluation technique that falls under the category of summative is
outcome evaluation. The outcome evaluation is used for determining as well as judging the
extent up to which the evaluation program has achieved its desired objectives. It also judges
the way the program would be achieving its outcomes in the future. The outcomes are
generally short-term or medium-term in nature (Moore et al., 2015). The outcomes can be
defined as the change that is observed in the participants who are directly involved with the
evaluation program. This change relate to the improvements or decline of the knowledge,
skills, intentions, behaviours, attitudes and many other factors of the participants. As the
outcome evaluation gives a judgement about the direction of the process in achieving its
desired outcomes, the techniques falls under the summative category of evaluation process.
Types of budgets used in grant funding
Grants can be recognised as non-repayable funds or products which are disbursed by
one party. This party can be a department of government, a corporation, foundation, trust or a
recipient. Sometimes grants can be related to a non-profit entity which might be an
educational institution, business or an individual.
In the field non-profit entities that different budgets which are used in grant funding
are operating budget, cash budget, cash projection budget, capital budget and grant or
contract budget (Lauer et al., 2015). The operating budget is used for reflecting the annual
financial plan of an organisation and support all the program activities and related services of
the company which are operated currently. The cash budget talks about the short-term cash
inflows and outflows and used alongside the operating budget. The availability of cash is
ensures through cash budget. The capital budget is used for detailing the assets which are
used for sale and acquisition. A grant or a contract budget is typically specific to the grant
program that details the cost for the propose program or project of the grant (Lauer et al.,

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2015). The grant budget also shows the worth of the money that the funder pays for the grant
fund and lists all other costs that are not covered by the requested grant.
Importance of these budgets
Operating budgets are used for illustrating the revenue of the organisation that is
generates from contributions, special events or other sources. It also lists all the expenses that
are incurred by the organisation such as salaries, fringe benefits, payroll taxes and other
expenses. The cash budget functions as a tool for determining the shortage or overage of cash
(Vas, 2019). It highlights the position of cash of the organisation so that it can take necessary
steps for balancing such shortages or overages. Capital budgets show the list of capital needs
of the organisation, its expected income and the net amount of the total capital required by
the organisation.
Grant budgets are special types of budgets which are used for grants programs or
proposals. The grant budget is specific to a particular grant program or proposal. Granting
agencies narrate that an organisation generally establishes a specific budget that is separate
from the overall operating budget of an organisation and it is always unique to the grant
proposal (Vas, 2019). The grant budget includes both the expenses and the revenue of the
organisation and also categorises the costs so that the organisation can make sense out of it.
The different costs which are covered by the funders also get reflected in the grant budgets
such that the funders can understand the worth of their money.

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References
Carlini, E. M., & Gadaleta, C. (2017). The 2.0 cost benefit analysis and its application to the
national development plan 2017: Methodology for evaluating electricity grid projects'
benefits: Current status and further improvements. In 2017 AEIT International
Annual Conference(pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Lauer, M. S., Danthi, N. S., Kaltman, J., & Wu, C. (2015). Predicting productivity returns on
investment: thirty years of peer review, grant funding, and publication of highly cited
papers at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Circulation research, 117(3),
239-243.
Moore, G. F., Audrey, S., Barker, M., Bond, L., Bonell, C., Hardeman, W., ... & Baird, J.
(2015). Process evaluation of complex interventions: Medical Research Council
guidance. bmj, 350, h1258.
Vas, G. (2019). The importance of development funds at companies receiving state-aid
grants. Economy and Finance: English Language Edition of Gazdaság és
Pénzügy, 6(2), 209-224.