For the best position control management include the following:

1. Job codes to track the budgeted dollars for your FTE positions

2. Hire dates for the employees in the filled positions to track issues regarding seniority

3. Designation for full-time (FT) or part-time (PT) status as a check for your optimum or budgeted FT/PT rotation plan

4. Position control numbering schemas that allow for "loaning" filled positions to other units for some period (e.g., a diabetic educator that is hired to a unit for a diabetic education program that gets put on hold)

5. Position control reports that provide:

• Tracking by shift as a check against your budgeted "care distribution hours"
• Position tracking for weekday and weekend distribution
• Comparison of actual to budget paid FTEs to the target or variable staffing plan FTEs with variance
• Comparison of actual  and budget workload for productivity reference (e.g., how busy the unit was for the period being evaluated)

-KT Waxman, MBA, RN