ICMA Consulting Services conducts dozens of such studies annually using operations research approaches. We consistently find that the aggregate data produced by the typical Computer Assisted Dispatching systems (CAD) or the usual Records Management System (RMS) do not provide a clear picture of actual workload (as opposed to calls for service data). It is critical to fully understand true workload (that is, the total time required to handle the work) as opposed to calls for service (the number of calls) requires a deep dive into the data. Few police or fire departments have the internal capability to do this.