Employee Scheduling Software

Middleton Fire Department Improves Daily Operations with VSS Pro Scheduling Software

“VSS Pro scheduling software allows me to keep my staff up-to-date, plus it saves me time I spend on scheduling.” 

Capt. Thomas Martinuk - EMT-P, Fire Prevention Officer
Middleton Fire Department, Massachusetts

Customer Profile

The Middleton Fire Department is a full-spectrum, lifesaving agency protecting more than 9,000 persons daily who reside in a community consisting over 14 square miles. The fire department staff is comprised of 35 firefighters, dispatchers, and paramedics, working full and part-time. The fire department operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, providing fire suppression, emergency medical services, hazardous material mitigation, disaster response, 9-1-1 dispatching, public education, and community service.

Situation/Challenge

The Middleton Fire Department needed a more efficient way for creating shift schedules and communicating work assignments to their personnel. The department decided to replace their paper and pencil scheduling with scheduling software. They selected Visual Staff Scheduler® Pro (VSS Pro) for its simplicity and ease of distributing schedule information. “VSS Pro scheduling software is very intuitive and easy-to-use. Plus, I can print, post online, or email updated schedules with a click of the mouse, which allows us to keep everyone up-to-date,” says Capt. Thomas Martinuk, Fire Prevention Officer at Middleton Fire Department.

Solution

VSS Pro proved to be the right solution for the fire department’s scheduling needs. VSS Pro automatically counts the number of staff required versus scheduled, making it easy to maintain adequate coverage per specific shift, position, or area of responsibility, and to react quickly to any schedule changes. “With VSS Pro, we can bring all requests for days off and sickness notifications into one master schedule, and easily see how any changes to the schedule impact shift coverage. This allows us to make better decisions when it comes to approving time-off requests or calling in for additional staff,” Capt. Martinuk adds. In addition, VSS Pro ’s user-friendly display allows scheduler to instantly spot specific staffing situations. “VSS Pro’s highlighting feature helps me to quickly see all staff members that are working specific shifts, or are not available due to sickness or vacation,” explains Capt. Martinuk. Another VSS Pro feature benefiting Capt. Martinuk is setting up the scheduling reminders, which gives him adequate notification when specific tasks need to be completed, such as e-mailing schedules, preparing reports, or approving time-off requests.

Benefits

In addition to securing proper shift coverage, VSS Pro scheduling software saves Capt. Martinuk time by creating recurring schedules as it automatically copies schedule rotations and places them in future dates. “With VSS Pro’s automation features, I save five hours on preparing monthly schedules alone,” explains Capt. Martinuk. Since the Middleton Fire Department started using VSS Pro to manage their shift schedules, they have also reduced the time it takes to communicate work schedules. According to Capt. Martinuk “I can now email, without any extra effort, personalized monthly schedules to all my staff members. Schedules show not only shift start and end time, but also specific tasks a person will be assigned. I also print a group schedule to display in the watch-room, so everyone can get a big picture view.” With access to past scheduling information stored in VSS Pro, immediate answers are available whenever questions arise. “Now, instead of flipping through pages of hand-written schedules, I can use a query function in VSS Pro to search for the information I need ” explains Capt. Martinuk. “Any fire department who wants to streamline scheduling tasks and reduce time spent on scheduling will definitely benefit from VSS Pro scheduling software,” Capt. Martinuk concluded.