This article demonstrates the usefulness of the Nursing Classification System (NCS) as an operational planning and control tool. Inherent in the NCS is sensitivity both to the quality of nursing care standards and to the variability in patient acuity levels. Consequently, the NCS provides a more effective basis for setting and monitoring productivity objectives in nursig service areas than cruder measures, such as full-time equivalents per patient day. Here the authors introduce and illustrate the concept of workload indexing, a means by which the NCS assists in defining staffing needs and monitoring workload and performance. The nursing administrator will gain insight into a simple and economical method of fiscal accountability for the personnel budget.