By: Rob Lulling - Director of Operations, Ryan Brothers Ambulance, Madison, WI
Primary Pain Points:
Our main scheduling and workforce management pain points were all caused by obsolete processes, and being held hostage by paper, pens and spreadsheets!
The Schedule: As you likely know, creating a work schedule for dozens of employees and keeping it accurate isn’t necessarily easy - actually often far from it! In the past, we used one of those big desk calendars to schedule our staff. We would hand write everybody’s initials on each day, according
to their schedule rotation. We would then recreate the schedule on a computer generated calendar which we would post and place in each employee’s mailbox. Then, they would have to come to our headquarters to get their schedules. If the schedule changed, the affected people would have to be notified by telephone. Obviously, that daily task was very time consuming and painful!
Shift Trades: Keeping track of, and making, shift trades on the paper calendar was a huge hassle. We created a paper form that the person requesting the trade would have to fill out, and then it was turned in to our scheduler. If the trade was approved, the scheduler had to go into our calendar and hand manipulate the schedule to accommodate the trade.
Certification Tracking: Previously, like most agencies, we tracked all of our staff’s certifications on a spreadsheet. Each employee had an employee file that all their certification stuff was kept in, and it took hours to go through people’s certifications. Every month we had to review the spreadsheet to assure that everyone’s certifications were up to date. If they were not then we had to let them know and “keep tabs” on them to make sure their certifications were renewed.
The Breaking Point:
The Cure: Finally, we reached our breaking point and the schedule simply became too painful for us to keep creating, and re-creating, on paper everyday. We determined it made perfect sense to move our scheduling needs online. When we started looking at online (web-based) scheduling software, we tried a few products that were on the market and they just didn’t seem to help us the way that we were hoping for. Luckily, we heard about Aladtec’s EMS Manager and tried the free demo. We quickly discovered this product was the key to moving all our employee scheduling and workforce management needs to the “cloud” (online). Aladtec’s EMS Manager met our goal to find a system that was easy to implement and easy to use.
How Aladtec’s EMS Manager Cured Our Pain:
The Schedule: By creating and keeping our schedule with web-based Aladtec’s EMS Manager, everyone can access the schedule from any computer, smartphone, or device with Internet capabilities. We automate the schedule so staff can see their schedule literally years in advance. They can submit availability, request time off, update their personal contact information and trade shifts, all online from anywhere. Since the schedule and data is essentially “live” any and all changes happen instantaneously - in real time. This means our schedule, and other information in the system is always current. No more guessing and no more paper and pens!
Shift Trades: Our employees now go into our Aladtec’s EMS Manager system and make shift trade requests on their own. Administrators can then go in and easily review the request and decide whether to approve it or not. It gives our staff the ability to have direct control of their schedule and not have to make several calls to try to make it happen.
Certification Tracking: The headache is over with this process too. Tracking the certifications by Aladtec’s EMS Manager is very easy. Each employee has their own profile, the system pulls up a page that has all the possible certifications an EMT or Paramedic can have, and literally with the click of a button, you enter the certification date, hit save, and just like that the certification information is in the system. Aladtec’s EMS Manager then prompts us when someone has a certification expiring within 90 days.
Mobility: At Ryan Brothers, we have found the mobile aspect of Aladtec’s EMS Manager is a tremendous advantage. Because the system is online we can access our schedule, and other data, from anywhere. We can gain access through our home computers, the ambulance laptops, a computer at one of our six outlying stations, our smartphones, or our iPads. It is no longer necessary for our staff to have to physically come to our headquarters in Madison to get the schedule or submit availability and trade requests. I use my smartphone to access Aladtec’s EMS Manager every day. I no longer have to work exclusively from my office computer when it comes to dealing with the schedule. When something comes up and needs to be changed, I can do it immediately from my smartphone.
Time Clock: We also subscribe to Aladtec’s EMS Manager Time Clock. The Time Clock feature ensures the accountability of our staff. When you are overseeing a 24/7/365 business you do not have time to make sure that everyone is to work on time or figure out who had to stay late due to a late call. With the Time Clock tool, I am able to see who may have been late or who gets overtime because of that late call. With our Time Clock, we are able to run a report every two weeks and the report is emailed to our payroll company and our staff is paid accordingly. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
The Wrap Up:
So when all is said and done, the number one benefit of Aladtec’s EMS Manager for Ryan Brothers, is simply the savings of time. The system cut the amount of time we spent on the schedule dramatically, it’s a 10th of what it was before! During the four and a half years we’ve been using Aladtec’s EMS Manager, our company has grown and we’ve increased our staff by 20%...Aladtec’s EMS Manager has made this growth easier.
In addition to all the great benefits we’ve experienced since adding Aladtec’s EMS Manager to our business processes, I would like to add that Aladtec’s customer service is top notch. Over the years I have run into a few problems, not with the program, but rather if I am able to do something on Aladtec’s EMS Manager site. I make a call to Aladtec and within seconds I am in contact with one of their customer service reps who navigates me to a resolution. Their customer service is second to none.
As the scheduler, the most important thing for me, is now I am able to dedicate more of my time managing our people and overseeing the operation on a daily basis - versus spending many days on the schedule every month! My time is important and the time that I save each month doing the schedule is priceless!
Watch Ryan Brothers Video Customer Report and More Aladtec Videos at: www.YouTube.com/Aladtec