Offered load is evaluated per child in the scheduler hierarchy. The offered load is the amount of bandwidth a child queue or scheduler can use to accommodate the data passing through the child. It is separated into two portions; within-CIR and above-CIR. Within-CIR offered load is the portion of bandwidth required to meet the child’s CIR value. It can be less than the CIR value but never greater. If the forwarding requirement for the child is greater than the CIR value, the remaining is considered to be the above-CIR offered load. The sum of the within-CIR and above-CIR offered load cannot be greater than the maximum rate defined for the child.