Academic and strategic plans are used to assess priorities and to help justify projects. The enrollment plan is an important component of the academic plan. These plans feed into LRDP, PDF, and the CFP. Ideally, capital improvement projects are the result of comprehensive and coordinated planning that includes an analysis of the effectiveness of existing space for academics, physical planning, and resource allocation. Each location is responsible for maintaining a balanced CFP that  considers growth, renewal, improvement, infrastructure, environmental impact, and life safety. The enrollment plan is an important component of the academic plan. 

Strategic planning is the deliberate and disciplined process designed to produce fundamental decisions and actions that define what an institution is, what it does, and why it does it. At UC, this process occurs within the context of a shared governance system, which encompasses the structures and processes by which the University’s administration and the University Senate work collaboratively. 

Every other year, campuses submit Five-Year Planning Perspectives (“Perspectives”) for academic programs and academic units to UCOP. The Perspectives list the anticipated actions for creating and/or transferring, consolidating, disestablishing, or discontinuing undergraduate degree programs, graduate degree programs, schools, and colleges.

UCOP collects and analyzes Perspectives data, distributes it to select groups, and posts it on the UCOP website. While Perspectives reports are no longer sent directly to the State, information from these reports has the potential to be used in other reports to a wide range of stakeholder groups, including the Governor’s Office, the Department of Finance, and the UC Regents.

Programs. Locations consider which programs are to be initiated, terminated, expanded, consolidated, or relocated. Student enrollment, the number of faculty and staff, the types of degrees offered, patient care goals, and program time frames all impact a project's design and planning. Pedagogy, research needs, and supporting utilities and technologies are appraised before a project begins.

Facilities. Program, design, and planning issues affect the size of a structure and its construction, renovation, or demolition. A program's impact on existing space is evaluated.