Aladtec, Inc. - Experts & Thought Leaders

Emergency Reporting (ER), the cloud-based reporting and records management software for Fire and EMS agencies, announces its partnership and integration with Aladtec, the employee scheduling and workforce management software for mission-critical agencies such as EMS, fire service, law enforcement, and dispatch. The Aladtec platform simplifies staff scheduling and puts current schedules with time and attendance tools onto any smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer. Through this integration, Aladtec automatically feeds schedule information into Emergency Reporting Daily Rosters, eliminating the time-consuming and error-prone task of duplicating schedule data. First responders reporting and scheduling Emergency Reporting CEO David Nokes says that ER partners with software companies like Aladtec to connect first responders with the software products for improved efficiency, response time, operations, and asset management. “Our goal is to make it easy to discover and connect the tools you need to grow with your Fire and EMS reporting and records management solutions,” he said. “We’re thrilled to partner with a top-of-the-line software company like Aladtec and to be able to offer our users a seamless integration between the two systems.” “Like Emergency Reporting, Aladtec is dedicated to the concept of data interoperability,” said Aladtec President Dave Feyereisen. "Our customers want the best tool for the job, and they want those tools to work together without duplication of effort. By automatically synchronizing data between the Aladtec and ER systems, our customers save time and improve accuracy." Continual improvements of features Feyereisen says that the company continually reviews and acts on customer feedback to improve existing features and develop new ones that help customers work faster and more efficiently. Some of the recent improvements made to the Aladtec system: Staggered Coverage Alerts - when open shifts are required to be offered to members one at a time, like in rotational overtime, an unlimited set of rules can be configured for sending out staggered Coverage Alerts; such as by seniority, total hours worked, last accepted date, and more Daily Staffing Requirements - automatically determine whether or not members scheduled have the necessary skills and/or experience to meet scheduling requirements, thereby improving efficiency, reducing scheduling errors, and limiting liability Extra Hours - members can easily record and report holdovers, shift variances, shift adjustments, unscheduled overtime, and missed sign-ups, thus saving time, simplify reporting, and improving accountability Shift Labels - adding color and label options improve shift identification and allow for easy pattern recognition within schedule rotations

The newest enhancement to Aladtec's scheduling and workforce management software allows managers to automatically build and cycle through a list of members, offering only the appropriate individual the opportunity to work an extra shift. Entitled "staggered Coverage Notifications" in the system, the feature "allows services to easily stagger their Coverage Alerts, automatically ensuring compliance with union/service rules for who to notify in what order," said Product Manager Jaimie Hammond, a principal architect of the new functionality, Hammond described the breakthrough as "a powerful tool, and probably the most complex we've ever built." Seniority and Least hours based Rotational overtime Aladtec's 12-member engineering team has been working on the concept on and off for nearly seven years. Hammond explained that rotational overtime was the process of cycling through a list of members, offering each person, one at a time, the opportunity to work an extra shift. An individual with the most seniority or least overtime has the right of first refusal before the shift is offered to a member with the second-most-seniority or second-least-overtime, and so on. Aladtec support staff had developed workarounds for agencies that require such functionality. Still, they were labor-intensive, error-prone, and sometimes didn't work for services with extensive overtime, complex rules for sorting the list of members to notify, or strict union rules about notifications. Decentralized command for approvals Dan Hull is Asst. Chief of EMS, with the 217-member Community Volunteer Fire Department, on the western edge of Houston, TX. The agency serves a diverse urban/suburban population of about 108,000 from four stations. Staffed around the clock with part-time firefighters and volunteers, they answered nearly 9,000 calls last year or about 25 per day. Before staggered Coverage Alerts, notifications were sent to all, and the shift was usually awarded to the first respondent Hull said the new Aladtec function allows for "decentralized command," enabling supervisors to find coverage and approve it without having to contact Hull if a member is going to be on overtime. "It frees up my time to accomplish my tasks and not have to oversee the supervisor and the schedule daily." Before staggered Coverage Alerts, notifications were sent to all staff, and the shift was usually awarded to the first respondent. That sometimes meant "paying overtime when we didn't need to," said Hull. Selective alert system Since Community Fire is a combination department, the improved "alert function allows us to send a notification to the volunteers first, then to those members with the fewest hours to most hours worked.” The first-come, first-served notifications also sometimes resulted in unnecessary overtime" "The staggered alerts allow us to set a process for coverage, and when the spot is filled know it was done so in a fair and precise manner. Even if it means overtime, we know the members were notified in the specific order we want," said Hull. Another Aladtec customer enthused about the new feature is Warwick Community Ambulance Association of Lititz, PA, whose 38 members respond to about 2,500 calls annually. Preventing excessive overtime and fatigue The old practice of notifying all qualified staff members simultaneously made it difficult to dole out OT fairly, said operations manager and paramedic Christopher Buchmoyer. "The first-come, first-served notifications also sometimes resulted in unnecessary overtime," he said. "At Warwick, staff are restricted to 48 hours or less per week, with no more than 24 continuous hours, and a mandatory eight-hour break between shifts. This prevents one or two members from working excessive overtime and significant provider fatigue," he wrote in an e-mail exchange. Buchmoyer has configured alerts to send first to part-time staff, preventing unnecessary overtime. Capt. Brian Dorr schedules 194 members across 24 schedules at ten stations for Aladtec customer Navy Region NW Fire and Emergency Service at Gig Harbor, WA. Reduction in manual work The software helps control payroll costs and reduce unscheduled overtime If and when union members agree, the new functionality "will eliminate the numerous phone calls we will have to make and the need to update the voluntary list manually." Previous, Dorr and coworkers "kept a list in Excel, which we have to update and sort manually after employees work an OT shift. We made phone calls to members on top of the list. If there's no answer or they changed their mind, we called the next on the list…and so on." Dorr is hopeful his group can begin using staggered Coverage Alerts soon. "If I can convince the Union to accept some changes, then definitely yes!” said Dorr. Software for staff scheduling, attendance Aladtec puts real-time staff scheduling, time, and attendance tools, as close as a smartphone. The software helps control payroll costs and reduce unscheduled overtime with built-in work limits. Administrators can approve shift trades and time-off requests from any device with internet connectivity. The platform also includes customizable forms, an event calendar, massive storage for records and policies, certification tracking, a discussion forum, and more. Aladtec was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in River Falls, Wis. The firm provides services to more than 2,300 law enforcement, fire, EMS, dispatch, and healthcare organizations across the U.S. and Canada. More than 147,000 people use the system regularly, and nearly a billion hours have been scheduled using Aladtec.

Aladtec, the Wisconsin-based provider of cloud-based scheduling and workforce management software, will be among 340 exhibitors showcasing products and services to EMS professionals attending the EMS World Expo, Oct. 14-18 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Nearly 900 EMS agencies nationwide are using Aladtec to provide 24/7 staffing coverage, swiftly fill open shifts, and allow members to trade shifts and request time off. The program also includes a sophisticated forms tool to speed up daily routines like rig- and med checks. Aladtec's cloud-based scheduling and workforce management software is used by more than 2,300 agencies across North America, including 16 EMS, fire-, law enforcement and dispatch centers in the State of Louisiana. Improved operations and payroll process "Aladtec has improved our operations on so many levels, and we have just scratched the service. Your tech support is 'Grade A' and was key in our rollout moving as smooth as it did. We have had no scheduling conflicts or employees saying - 'I didn't know I was working!' Your timeclock feature has streamlined our payroll process, saving us hours weekly. The many options for reports have opened up new avenues for tracking specific employees or entire workgroups," said Tanya Hardy, Operations Manager with EMS Care Ambulance, Columbus, GA. "The opportunities are endless. We are saving money using Aladtec." Account executives Erin Rabideaux and Evan Tienken, and Support Specialist Matt Zinnel will offer free demonstrations of the software. They can answer user questions about Aladtec's many features and explain new integrations which enable the sharing of roster information with emsCharts, Emergency Reporting, and other popular reporting platforms. Aladtec Passport sponsor EMS World conference Aladtec, a Passport sponsor for the EMS World conference, can be seen at Booth #1053. Expo will be on Wednesday through Friday, Oct. 16-17-18. EMS World offers EMTs, paramedics and leaders can participate in two days of continuing education sessions before the actual conference convenes on Wednesday, Oct. 16th. The conference offers more than 210 educational sessions across the tracks of ALS, BLS, critical care, educator, leadership, management operations, community Para medicine, and special populations. Demonstration, ridealongs and a workshop Attendees will have the chance to participate in a variety of hands-on training experiences including an active shooter mass casualty incident demonstration, agency ridealongs, a workshop built around a simulated active shooter event, and a clinical challenge. During the exposition, Aladtec representatives will offer participants guided software system demonstrations.