Introduction to Position Control

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Position Control Definitions

What is a position?
What is a position number?
What is position control?
What is a full time equivalent (FTE)?

What is an incumbent?
What is an employee based system?
What are jobs?

What is a "Position"?

A position is a specific functional job within an organization. Information tracked about a position often includes:

Budgeted FTE for the position
Budgeted Annual Cost of the position
Date position was established
Incumbent's Start date in position (often differs from position's established date and from incumbent's hire date)
Incumbent's End date in position (often differs from position's end date and from incumbent's termination date)
Vacancy statistics tracking including: number of times vacant, total time vacant, and average vacancy
Position's Active status
Position's Funded status
Position History
... and many other items that pertain to the specific position.

Example: There are four first-shift shipping assistant jobs for company ZSI. The second of those four jobs is Position SR-011002.

What is a "Position Number"?

A position number is a unique 'number' that identifies a specific position. Frequently this 'number' is made up of both characters and numerals.

Example: There are four first-shift shipping assistant jobs for company ZSI. Each has a specific position number.

Position number SR-011001 defines the first of those four
Position number SR-011002 defines the second of those four.
Position number SR-011003 defines the third of those four
Position number SR-011004 defines the fourth of those four.

What is "Position Control"?

Position control refers to a system of tracking information based on positions rather than employees. It allows you to create a framework of positions for all the jobs within your company without regard to whether you currently have an incumbent in a specific job or not.

By defining a budgeted cost for each position, you can compare actual incumbent costs against those budgeted for the position. Because each position has its own unique ID (position number) you can track information about the position regardless of whether it is filled or vacant.

As incumbents grow and change jobs within an organization, their job title, salary and other attributes also tend to change. But the position the incumbent was in probably still exists and maintains its budgeted cost. Position Control allows you to track the history of the position without regard to the changes to your incumbents.

Position Control is especially useful for:

Budgeting and comparisons of actual incumbent costs vs. budgeted position costs
Vacancy tracking
Tracking Shared Positions

It is important to not only track your positions, but to be able to report on them in ways that are meaningful for your organization.

Example: There are four first-shift shipping assistant jobs for company ZSI.

* Position number SR-011001 is budgeted at $40,000 annually.	* Incumbent #123 is in this position and earns $41,600.
* Position number SR-011002 is budgeted at $40,000 annually.	* Incumbent #425 is in this position and earns $39,520.
* Position number SR-011003 is budgeted at $35,000 annually.	* Incumbent #367 is in this position and earns $31,200.
* Position number SR-011004 is budgeted at $31,000 annually.	* This position is vacant. $0
* Total budgeted = $146,000 annually.	* Total spent = $112,320.

What is a "Full Time Equivalent (FTE)"?

A Full Time Equivalent is the amount of work that is expected to be performed by one Incumbent, working full time. In most cases, a position that has 1 FTE allocated to it will be filled by one full time incumbent. There are, however, cases where several part time incumbents will need to fill one position to provide 1 FTE.

What is an "Incumbent"?

An incumbent is simply an employee in a position based company. An incumbent is available to be assigned to one or more positions.

What is an "Employee Based System"?

An employee based HRIS system tracks employee information and employee history. This often includes tracking:

Employee contact information
Hire date, start date, & termination date
Job and job title
Salary information
Benefit tracking
Performance reviews
Training and certifications
... and many other items that pertain to the specific employee.

What are "Jobs"?

Jobs are the different types of work within an organization. More than one incumbent can be needed for each set of jobs.

Example: A manufacturing company may have the following jobs:

Job Number of Incumbents Needed for Job

President

1

Accountant

1

Manager, First Shift

1

Manager, Second Shift

1

Line Operator, First Shift

100

Line Operator, Second Shift

50

Packer, First Shift

6

Packer, Second Shift

3

Shipper, First Shift

4

Shipper, Second Shift

2

Sanitation Worker, First Shift

1

Sanitation Worker, Second Shift

3

Total Number of Jobs   =   12

Total Number of Incumbents Needed =   173