<P> The federal ZBB budgeting system had the following components: "Budget requests for each decision unit were to be prepared by their managers, who would (1) identify alternative approaches to achieving the unit's objectives, (2) identify several alternative funding levels, including a "minimum" level normally below current funding, (3) prepare "decision packages" according to a prescribed format for each unit, including budget and performance information, and (4) rank the decision packages against each other ." </P> <P> ZBB was officially eliminated in federal budgeting on August 7, 1981 . "Some participants in the budget process as well as other observers attributed certain program efficiencies, arising from the consideration of alternatives, to ZBB . Interestingly, ZBB established within federal budgeting a requirement to: </P> <Ol> <Li> Present alternative levels of funding; and </Li> <Li> Link (them) to alternative results ." </Li> </Ol> <Li> Present alternative levels of funding; and </Li>

A zero-based budget is created by using the previous year’s budget figures and past performance