Harrisburg Fire Department (NC) Easily Handles Complex Personnel Scheduling After Switching to Aladtec’s Online Workforce Management System
Charlotte, North Carolina (PRWEB) September 30, 2015 -- Scheduling challenges due to complicated rotating and flexible personnel schedules were eliminated - along with errors - by moving workforce management processes to the cloud. Because public safety organizations are a 24/7 operation, scheduling staff on a spreadsheet, white board, calendar or another manual method is very time consuming and by nature leads to errors.
“Because we are a combination department we have both rotating schedules and flexible/availability schedules. Our rotating schedule has to be one of the most complex, which also includes Kelly days. For 15 years we used an Excel spreadsheet for scheduling and then posted it to a web calendar,” explains Tim Wooten, Battalion Chief A-Shift, Harrisburg Fire Department, North Carolina. “There were always multiple versions of the schedule around the stations which caused confusion. Due to multiple versions and constant errors we decided it would be best to find a better way.”
After looking into a number of online software options, this fire department chose Aladtec to schedule their 50 staff members. “We felt Aladtec offered us the best solution because we have both part-time and full-time staff, and it was the only software that worked great with both types of members. Part-time members can put in their own availability, and then the system allows us to quickly select the people who are available. It also allows us to see how many hours they have already worked in a certain time period to help us avoid unnecessary overtime,” Chief Wooten shares. “I estimate we save about 10 hours per week in scheduling time now.”
By controlling overtime, this agency found that they have saved more money than they invested in the Aladtec software and their schedule errors have dropped dramatically. They also use Aladtec’s Forms feature. This allows them to keep all their daily truck checks and supply requests online within the system. Previously, these forms were only accessible on the department’s office computers.
“Now staff can do the truck checks on their smartphone. They can enter the data immediately and submit a request for any issues to be fixed. Then the system notifies the proper person responsible for the fix. Correct information is critical to emergency services,” Chief Wooten states. “Aladtec allows us to provide our members with the correct schedule, and other information, in an easy-to-use system that is accessible anywhere.”
About Harrisburg Fire Department: Harrisburg is a northeastern suburb of Charlotte. The Town of Harrisburg Fire Department utilizes a combination of full-time and part-time employees, along with volunteers. It runs out of two stations (with a third being built) and provides fire suppression, advanced life support emergency medical response, rescue services, and public & life safety education to residents of the Town of Harrisburg, as well as residents of Cabarrus County. The fire protection district is roughly 32 square miles which includes residential, manufacturing, and commercial retail structures.
About Aladtec: They proudly provide online employee scheduling and workforce management software to nearly 1,500 organizations, primarily within the Public Safety and Health Care Sectors. These customers count on Aladtec every day to help them save time and improve efficiency. For information about their affordable industry specific options, or to try a free trial, please visit http://www.aladtec.com.
Mellissa Dahl, Aladtec, Inc., http://www.aladtec.com, +1 888-749-5550, [email protected]
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