Overall, the NAWH produced a more accurate budget for staffing needs that reduced the county’s chronic staffing shortfalls. The new NAWH methodology proved better at predicting budgeting needs for staffing requirements than the old methodology, which produced a 10 percent budget shortfall in fiscal year (FY) 2005. The consequences of budgetary shortfalls for departments of correction are enumerated, as is the specific process of the NAWH methodology. NIC offers a Worksheet to Calculate NAWH, which was used by Montgomery County to estimate the total projected expenses related to staffing for FY 2005. Specifically, two basic methods for predicting staffing budgetary needs are described that either use several years of data to identify trends and patterns in staffing or use employee time off to estimate an accrual method of staffing hours. Two more techniques for refining these estimates are also presented and involve either predicting the impact of new department policies on staffing needs or adjusting future projections based on past data. The effectiveness of the NAWH methodology has encouraged Montgomery County to apply other staffing analysis techniques to its operations. Endnotes