Planning is the process by which the college accomplishes its mission. It occurs and benefits everyone at all levels of the college, from the smallest units to the college as a whole. Through the planning process, units examine where they are now, decide where they want to be and by when, and create a plan for how to get to where they want to be.

Not only does planning focus the activities of the unit to achieve its goals, it also lets all other units of the college, especially those in the same area, know about the goals on which each unit intends to work. Thus, planning improves the efficiency with which the college functions, avoids conflicting goals among college offices and helps individuals make better-informed decisions about allocation of resources and the future of the college. Lastly, planning helps the college meet accountability mandates set by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) for its programs and activities.

Pasadena City College has the following four levels in its planning process:

The lowest level is the program. Programs can be disciplines within a division, such as the Psychology and History programs in the Social Sciences Division, or they can be offices or programs within a unit, such as the Registration Office within the Admissions and Records unit, or the Grounds program within the Facilities Services unit.

The next level of planning is the unit.  Examples of which are given in the paragraph above. Generally, several programs will make up a unit, especially in the case of divisions, such as Engineering and Technology and Social Sciences, each of which contains several programs; however, it is possible that a unit may consist of only one program, especially in the areas outside of Instruction. For example, the College Bookstore unit contains only the Bookstore. Such exceptions aside, plans developed at the unit level are based upon the plans developed by the programs that make up the unit.

The third planning level is the area, of which the college has four: Instruction, Student and Learning Services, Administrative Services, and the President�s area. The plans developed at the area level are based upon the plans of the units that make up the area.

The fourth and largest planning level is the entire college. The college level plan is developed by a college-wide Strategic Planning Team and one of its subcommittees, the Goals Subcommittee. It uses the area level plans to develop the overall goals of the college.