This document is one of five manuals designed to improve management practices in Ohio two-year colleges. This manual provides administrators with an organized and logical discussion of the planning process, examples of effective practices, practical and useful ideas to improve planning practices, and criteria for effective planning which can be used by individual colleges in evaluating and improving present planning processes. A chapter on planning processes presents a detailed discussion of how to write planning objectives, how to identify planning needs, how to calculate and forecast income and expenditures, how to determine priorities, how to allocate resources, and how to implement plans. A chapter on planning organization discusses where to begin, who should participate, and how to identify long- and short-range planning needs. A chapter on prerequisites for successful planning discusses the needs for an information data base and the criteria with which to evaluate it. The final chapter contains examples of the various products of the planning process. A detailed description of the techniques used to develop institutional goals and objectives, sample plans developed by two- and four-year colleges and a bibliography of planning literature are appended. (Author/DC)