In the LINQ model, People perform Actions and in so doing, LINQ records how their capacity is being utilised.


It is important to appreciate what the ‘People’ node represents in LINQ.  It is not a whole Person, rather it is the utilisation of a person’s time taken to perform an Action.  One person’s overall utilisation will typically be represented by multiple People nodes in a LINQ diagram.


In a typical organisation, about 80% of the costs in an Information Supply Chain are incurred as People perform Actions. LINQ calculates these costs by multiplying the person’s hourly cost by the frequency and duration of the Action being performed.


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The person has a burdened hourly cost rate (R) 


The action has a duration and a frequency:

  • Duration (D): how long an action takes (in hours)
  • Frequency (F): how many times a year an action occurs                  


Annual cost = R * D *F 


People in LINQ therefore represent:

  • The slice of a person that is performing a specific action
  • The utilisation of a person based on the frequency and action of the action being performed

When you're adding People nodes into a diagram, ask yourself how an Action is being performed and then who is performing it.

LINQ doesn't capture the work of People who aren't involved in an Information Supply Chain.  However, there is a support article here which describes how to represent the non-information-related work that a person might be performing in order to gain a better understanding of their capacity.


There are more connection tips about People and Actions here.