Switching from scheduling over 80 fire service personnel at five fire stations on a spreadsheet to Aladtec’s online employee scheduling improves efficiencies, reduces errors and saves money in man hours for this fire department.
Traverse City, MI - In the past fire departments had no choice but to rely on using a spreadsheet or a calendar to schedule personnel. But as technology has evolved, hundred’s of agencies are turning to online employee scheduling. This option is particularly useful as departments grow and merge. The Grand Traverse Metro Emergency Services Authority in Traverse City has grown from a volunteer department covering three different townships with three stations into a combination FT/PT department now with five stations.
“As our department grew our scheduling needs grew, utilizing a spreadsheet that I implemented 14 years ago wasn’t cutting it anymore,” explains Captain Troy Holliday, Grand Traverse Metro Emergency Services Authority, Traverse City, MI. “With five people allowed to edit the schedule, there were often corrupt versions which took way too much time to fix. Sometimes we would double book staff without realizing it or the wrong people would show up for duty or they didn’t show up at all. Not to mention the amount of time it took to schedule over 70 part-time and 11 full-time people for all five stations.”
Captain Holliday indicates he discovered FIRE Manager after hearing about it from neighboring fire departments. He states he finds the system to be very user friendly and it has basically eliminated any chance of double booking or having an incorrect schedule. In addition, Captain Holliday says his staff appreciates the mobile web app so they can view their schedule at anytime from any computer, smartphone or mobile device with Internet access.
“If a station happens to have Internet issues, then we can access the schedule on our phones. And now our schedule is always accurate. With Fire Manager, it shows all of the changes and who made them in real time so there’s no mistake as to whether it is correct or not - it’s always the right version.” adds Captain Holliday. “Not one person has made a negative comment about our FIRE Manager System. This program has saved us a tremendous amount of man hours in scheduling. I’m so pleased with FIRE Manager I am talking an EMS agency into subscribing to your EMS Manager system.”
Grand Traverse Metro Emergency Services Authority is located in Northern Michigan operating as one department that covers 31,000 residents in Acme, East Bay and Garfield Townships. They operate from five stations with 35 different apparatus’ and 40 plus part-time fire service personnel.
About Aladtec, Inc.
Aladtec, Inc. is a proud provider of web-based software solutions for online employee scheduling and workforce management applications. The company’s flagship products, EMS Manager and FIRE Manager, are leaders in the public safety sector. Together with their newest product, Zanager, they serve over 900 EMS agencies, fire departments, police departments and other businesses. Over 57,000 employees use Aladtec’s online employee scheduling and workforce management products. Aladtec is headquartered just outside the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area in Hudson, Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.aladtec.com.