Employee Scheduling Software
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VSS Pro Scheduling Software Saves Working Hours at Multi Agency Communications Center
“With VSS Pro scheduling software, our life is so much easier.”
Mary Allen, Director
Multi Agency Communication Center
Customer Profile
The Multi Agency Communications Center, is one of the few truly consolidated enhanced 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Points in the state of Washington. Located in Moses Lake, Washington, Multi Agency Communications Center is civilian staffed and dispatches emergency calls for fire, law enforcement and emergency medical service providers in Grant County, Washington. With the staff of 21 full-time employees, which includes 18 communications operators, Multi Agency Communications Center answers hundreds of calls per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Situation/Challenge
With an around-the-clock operation at Multi Agency Communications Center, using a paper-and-pencil scheduling method was certainly not efficient. Creating and managing the schedule was cumbersome, especially in the area of monitoring staffing levels. In addition, any schedule changes meant very labor-intensive schedule juggling in order to find the satisfactory output. A few years ago, the center decided to switch to using scheduling software. “I needed a scheduling solution that could be quickly implemented and that would be easy to learn and use,” says Mary Allen, Director at the Multi Agency Communications Center.
Solution
The Multi Agency Communications Center chose Visual Staff Scheduler Pro (VSS Pro) for its simplicity and flexibility. VSS Pro proved it could meet the scheduling needs of the dispatch center. According to Allen, VSS Pro scheduling software is so user-friendly and intuitive, that training shift supervisors on how to use the software was done in minutes, not hours, plus, it did not require involving IT personnel.
Benefits
With the use of the scheduling software, Allen can now pre-schedule her staff as far into the future as needed. And as all the requests for time-off, or training, are being entered into VSS Pro scheduling program, Allen knows exactly if she can accommodate them. “With VSS Pro, it is easy to build practice schedules to see how schedule changes impact my staff coverage,” points out Allen. In addition, VSS Pro scheduling software saves Allen a lot of working hours. As VSS Pro automatically copies schedule rotations, and places them in future dates, the time needed to create reoccurring schedules at Multi Agency Communications Center was dramatically reduced. “I can say with the full confidence that it will take me only 45 minutes to create the entire schedule for next year,” says Allen. Other benefits of using VSS Pro is access to historical data. “If there is ever a question of past records, I have it right at my fingertips," says Allen.
In addition to reducing time needed to create the schedule, and manage ongoing schedule changes, the Multi Agency Communications Center also improved internal communication of work schedules. “VSS Pro gives us a way to provide our staff with accurate and easy-to-read schedules. The messy and confusing shift schedules are now a thing of the past,” say Allen. “With VSS Pro scheduling software our life is so much easier. I definitely recommend VSS Pro scheduling software to other public safety agencies,” Allen concluded.