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River Falls, Wisconsin – Even though many Public Safety Agencies have moved from scheduling employees on paper and/or spreadsheets to an online software system, it doesn’t mean they’ve found the best option for their needs. For instance, the River Falls Police Department, in Wisconsin, switched from manual methods to cloud-based software for employee scheduling, but it wasn’t robust enough for the demands of their department.
“We switched to Aladtec because the functionality of the software we used to have just wasn’t consistent with our expectations. It didn’t meet any other goal besides being a simple schedule display,” explains Matt Kennett, Patrol Sergeant, River Falls Police Department, River Falls, Wisconsin. “With Aladtec, we’re able to do much more than just view the staff schedule online. We can now customize and automate our scheduling process. We can also create, submit, review, and store many department forms in the Aladtec system and we are now able to produce reports that are useful for analytics in our department.”
The analytics Kennett refers to is the data they use from their Patrol Log form in their Aladtec system to ensure proper staffing for each shift. “Every officer fills out the Patrol Log on every shift. It indicates their start time, end time, each type of service call they go on, the location, and whether or not they’re a backup officer. We are provided with the knowledge of how many officers are on a specific type of call, how long it takes, and then we can proceed through the analytics part of our system,” Kennett shares. “For example, if there are more calls involving areas of alcohol or drugs at certain times, we can shift our resources internally, to match those types of calls to produce better results. If they’re going to a damage of property, we don’t need two officers. But in a situation involving alcohol or drugs, we’re able to pull up that information, and see the data on repeat addresses, where we’ve needed three officers in the past, and we can send three officers right away, just to make sure that everyone is safe during that call.”
Although RFPD utilizes many workforce management features in their Aladtec system beyond staff scheduling, reporting, and forms, Kennett indicates they find great value in the software’s tracking capability. “We use Aladtec to track our State Certified Instructors. They have to get re-certified through the state within a certain time period by attending specific classes to keep their certification. In Aladtec, I can put down when they were certified as an instructor, and when their certification expires, and I’ll get a prompt, letting me know it’s time to get them in the class. That’s a very valuable resource because I can look at it in minutes – without having to go through the state system, and also, it saves us money. If I forget to send somebody, I have to send them to the classes all over again, which can be hundreds of dollars in cost just to recertify someone.”
In addition to an online software product’s ability to fit an organization’s specific needs, it’s important it’s backed-up with quality customer service and technical support. “The customer support at Aladtec is great. They’re able to help me with any question, no matter how small or big. I’ve actually had to call them to try to set-up a very unusual schedule that we have with certain officers, and they were able to go ahead and put that in the system for me. Now, all I have to do is click a button, and it’s automated for me. They are of great help whenever I need it; they are great people to work with,” Patrol Sergeant Kennett concludes.
About River Falls Police Department: They are committed to working in partnership with their community. As reflected in their Mission Statement, “To protect with courage and serve with compassion, we provide quality police service while working towards solutions to contemporary community problems.” Located in Western Wisconsin, the City of River Falls is located in both Pierce and St. Croix counties and situated along the Kinnickinnic River.
About Aladtec: They proudly provide online employee scheduling and workforce management software to nearly 2,000 organizations, primarily within the Public Safety Sector. 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 demo, please visit www.aladtec.com.
