What does 'Throughput' measure in a system?

Throughput measures the rate at which work enters and exits a system, making it a critical metric for evaluating the overall efficiency of processes within that system. This concept helps organizations understand how effectively they are delivering services or producing outputs. By focusing on throughput, organizations can identify bottlenecks and optimize their workflows, ultimately increasing productivity and improving service delivery.

Understanding throughput is essential in many contexts, such as manufacturing, IT service management, and project management, where it directly ties to performance metrics. High throughput indicates that a system can handle a significant amount of work efficiently, while low throughput may highlight areas that need improvement.

The other options do describe important aspects of managing workflow, but they do not align with the specific definition of throughput. For instance, measuring the amount of work ready to be processed identifies potential work volume, while the total time taken for a task pertains to efficiency and performance at a task level, and the total number of tasks in progress reflects current workload rather than the rate at which tasks are completed.