* How many stations should my church or center consider establishing?
That is somewhat difficult to answer because traffic patterns and the behavior of people will naturally vary greatly. But as a rule, follow this formula:Assumption #1 Two Children Per Household
Assumption #2 70% of Households Will Ultimately Use The Self-Serve Express Mode
The Number of Children ๗ 2 = Number of Households
400 x .70 = Express Terminal Households
400 x .30 = Staffed Terminal Households
Express Terminal Households ๗ Processing Time Window
(Example: 800 Children)
(Example: 400 Households)
(Example: 280 Express Households)
(Example: 120 Staffed Households)
(Example: 280 Express Households)
(e.g., 10 Minutes) = 28 Households per Minute
28 Express Households per Minute x .1666 (10 sec. Total Express processing time)
= 4.6 Express Stations (5 automated terminals process 70% of the children.)*
120 Staffed Households ๗ 10 minute time window = 12 Households per minute
12 Staffed Terminal Households per Minute x .5 (for 30 second processing time)
= 6 Staffed Stations (6 staffed terminals process 30% of the children)
*In the case of Express Terminal Islands in a lobby, one staff member can easily oversee 4-6 automated stations.
Clearly, if the check-in/out window is tighter than 10 minutes, additional terminals would be required. In extremely high traffic patterns, Parent Pager strongly encourages phasing-in the use of Parent Pager in the following manner to reduce staff and parental anxiety over institutional and technological changes and to better accommodate learning curves:
Phase 1 Use Parent Pager for persons with special needs and visitors only.
Phase 2 Integrate Parent Pager into the nursery.
Phase 3 Integrate Parent Pager into the Pre-school program.
Phase 4 Integrate Parent Pager into the Elementary programming.