Metrilogics Staffing Model Calculator
for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch

Icons by Joseph Wain / glyphish.com.

Thank you for purchasing the Metrilogics Staffing Model app for the Apple iPhone. We hope you'll benefit from its ability to quickly and easily derive optimal direct production team sizes for any work environment - whether manufacturing, warehouse, financial services, or IT.

The purpose of this page is to provide you, our valued customer, with helpful information to better utilize the Metrilogics Staffing Model app.

As we receive more customer feedback in the form of suggestions and common questions, these - and our responses - will be featured below in the complete list of "Frequently Asked Questions." In the meantime, please review the short list of questions and answers that we've compiled to date, based on preliminary market study input. Hopefully, this information will help get you started using the Metrilogics Staffing Model app.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please send them to lancelatham479@hotmail.com We will make every attempt to respond within 48 hours to customer emails received. If we can't provide a detailed response, we will direct you back to this page, where your question may already be answered as we update the "Frequently Asked Questions" section.

Also, please be sure to post your comments, suggestions and product ratings of the Staffing Model at the Apple iTunes App Store site where you purchased the app.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an instruction manual for the Staffing Model app?

There is no manual. Instead, Metrilogics has provided instructional information and operational definitions within the Staffing Model app itself. If you have any questions, just touch any data field's ( i ) button to go straight to information that will answer your questions. You can also return to this web page for additional information, which will be updated as we receive customer feedback.

I'm used to establishing task rates by conducting extended time studies and detailed first-hand observations over the course of hours or days. Is there a faster - yet reliable - way to establish a task's hourly capacity rate?

Yes, there is. The Metrilogics Task Rate Calculator app for the Apple iPhone can be used to derive a task's hourly capacity rate in minutes.

How should I account for the QC staffing necessary to quality-check the other direct team members' task work?

Simply include the QC staff's various task work and corresponding hourly task rates and anticipated annual task work volumes within a given staffing model scenario - just as you would for the other direct team members' tasks, hourly task rates and annual task work volumes.

Why do the Indirect Time fields ask for percentage values instead of "hard" numerical counts of annual hours, category by category?

Indirect Time percentages are used instead of "hard" number counts because these fields represent variable costs that are typically applied across an entire team - whatever its size is ultimately calculated to be. Put another way, until final staffing size is determined, the "hard" number of Indirect Time hours - category by category - are unknown, and are irrelevant values to enter into the Indirect Time fields.

My company uses PTO time instead of Sick Time and Vacation. How should I account for PTO time in the Staffing Model app, given that PTO doesn't appear as a data field in the Indirect Time section of the app's Scenarios tab?

In an effort to avoid having Indirect Time categories that might overlap from one organization to another (for example, PTO vs. Sick Time and Vacation), Metrilogics made the decision to specify Sick Time and Vacation categories only. If your organization uses PTO time, please account for this time by providing percentage values in the Sick Time and Vacation fields, such that the total percentage allocation for both fields adds up to the single PTO percentage value for your organization. For clarification and later reference, you can enter a comment in the app's Notes field to explain assumptions and what comprises the values entered in the various fields.

Sometimes in my company, FMLA and Short Term Disability are taken concurrently. How should I account for this situation within the Staffing Model app? In other words, what percentage(s) should I enter and which field(s) should I use - FMLA? Short Term Disability? Both?

In the interest of getting an accurate staff size result, it's important not to double-count whenever "concurrent" situations occur (e.g., when FMLA is taken at the same time as Short Term Disability). To ensure the accuracy of the staff size calculation, Metrilogics suggests entering a single percentage to account for those situations when FMLA and Short Term Disability are taken concurrently. This will enable you to enter Short Term Disability-only percentage values into the Short Term Disability field (to allow for those team members who take Short Term Disability without also taking FMLA). For clarification and later reference, you can enter a comment in the app's Notes field to explain assumptions and what comprises the values entered in the various fields.