Provide a brief explanation of how to plan a lab budget.

What will be an ideal response?

ANSWER: Lab costs can be broken down into monthly, quarterly, and annual expenses. The better you understand these expenses, the better you can delegate resources for each investigation. Using a spreadsheet program helps you keep track of past investigation expenses so that you can extrapolate expected future costs. Remember that expenses include purchasing computer hardware and software, renting facility space, and trained personnel. When creating a budget, start by estimating the number of cases your lab expects to examine and identifying the types of computers you’re likely to examine, such as Windows PCs, Apple systems, or Linux workstations.