Fractiles provide incident counts for performance over an increasing time span. For example, here's a text fractile that provides incident counts and percentages for the arrival of the first apparatus on the scene in 15 second increments from the time the request for assistance is received at the dispath center:

There are 11,763 Incident records being analyzed.

1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:00:00 .0% (0)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:00:15 .2% (20)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:00:30 .4% (45)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:00:45 .7% (79)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:01:00 .9% (106)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:01:15 1.3% (151)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:01:30 1.7% (202)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:01:45 2.0% (241)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:02:00 2.4% (286)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:02:15 2.9% (343)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:02:30 3.6% (424)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:02:45 4.4% (515)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:03:00 6.0% (708)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:03:15 8.0% (941)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:03:30 10.6% (1,247)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:03:45 14.0% (1,648)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:04:00 18.2% (2,135)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:04:15 22.9% (2,692)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:04:30 28.4% (3,338)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:04:45 34.6% (4,065)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:05:00 41.0% (4,820)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:05:15 47.3% (5,567)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:05:30 53.7% (6,311)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:05:45 59.2% (6,968)
1st Apparatus On Scene <= 00:06:00 64.8% (7,624)
  
   ---  Cut-off at 6 minutes

Median 1st Apparatus On Scene 00:05:22 (5.37 minutes)
Average 1st Apparatus On Scene 00:05:55 (5.91 minutes)

A similar fractile can be displayed in graph form. The graph below illustrates first unit arrivals by number of minutes.

Notice 6-minutes has the highest number of responses. In fact a vast majority of responses fall between 3 and 8 minutes.

This is just one type of fractile graph. Other types can compare performance by year, by time of day, by shift, by station, by vehicle ID, etc. Fractiles are far more reliable than averages since a fractile measurement cannot be thrown-off by a small number of outlier records. For this reason fractiles are considered "best practices" measurement these days.

Compliance Testing

Compliance testing is a type of fractile analysis that uses a "pass/fail" testing criteria. In a compliance report the Y-axis (the vertical axis) always runs from 0% to 100%. Every compliance test includes a goal to be used for testing. For example, a first apparatus arrival goal of 6-minutes can be tested. The rise in the bar indicates the percentage of incidents that met the goal.

Since compliance testing can be conducted in different ways, it's a good way to spot trends. For example, first apparatus arrivals can be tested at 6-minutes and compared by station, by hour of day, by shift, by Vehicle ID, by incident type, by district, etc.

One of the most powerful testing criteria is measuring compliance by year or fiscal year. Here long-term performance trends can be tested to spot fire department services under stress.

Deployment Compliance

Deployment Compliance is a type of compliance testing that digs a bit deeper. Rather than just testing for the speed of a response Deployment Compliance tests for the "weight" of the response as well. Here's what's meant by "weight".

In a city core the first arriving apparatus can be expected quickly. The second apparatus is not far behind. This response has good "weight" because many resources can arrive in a short period of time. In peripheral areas of the city a close fire station may provide a quick first arrival, but it takes a long time for additional apparatus to arrive on the scene. Here the "weight" of the response is light. The Deployment Compliance graph measures both speed and weight.

The Deployment Compliance graph has four bars. The first two measure the arrival pass/fail percentage for both the first arriving apparatus and the second arriving apparatus, for example arrival of 1st and 2nd apparatus in 6-minutes. A second pair of bars measure the arrival of the first alarm assignment as well as the first alarm assignment plus 1 ladder or 1 additional engine company. So here 11- minutes could be used to measure both arrival percentages. By comparing the deflection between the first and second and third and fourth bars on the graph we can see not only the speed of the response, but the weight as well.


Notice for the entire department the percentage for arrival in 6-minutes drops from over 60% to just about 40%. The 11-minute first alarm arrival and first alarm plus one arrivals move from 80% to 60%. The same graph calculated for each station area provides a great wealth of information about the speed and weight of responses in each fire station district. These measurements are helpful for assigning resources and placing truck and rescue companies.

EMS Compliance

The same deployment compliance concepts can be used for evaluating EMS operations. But here, instead of measure first arrival and second arrival the measurement moves to BLS arrival vs. ALS arrival. It is also helpful when measuring the compliance of transportation on the scene of EMS emergencies.

All of these fractile capabilities may be found in the Time Analyzer.