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ELIMINATING SCHEDULING ISSUES DEPARTMENT-WIDE FOR BROCKTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
Founded in 1827, the Brockton Fire Department is one of the largest in the state of Massachusetts. Today, the Class 1 department has close to 200 personnel assigned across six stations and responds to over 26 thousand incidents a year. Managing their regular schedule, while filling multiple overtime shifts each day, can be challenging. Department policies and union rules add another level of complexity.
Brockton’s system for tracking overtime was limited to one desktop and their scheduling matrix was still performed and handled by hand. A large problem they would run into was the loss of their overtime list if the power went out or their system crashed, making shift filling a logistical nightmare. As we see with many departments, the responsibility for reconciling overtime with payroll also fell to the shift commander, spending many valuable hours trying to complete which could be allocated elsewhere.
The shift commander was having to manually make calls and wait for responses when filling department shifts. Factoring in the size of Brockton fire department, with 200 personnel, this process often took an entire day or night to complete while waiting for firefighters to decline or accept shifts.
Brockton needed a streamlined solution
They knew they couldn’t continue with the same unsuitable processes much longer, so they put their trust in the capable hands of the Firehouse247 solution. “With Firehouse 247 the guys can plan. And there’s full transparency so there are no surprises.” - Dept. Scott Albanese.
“The big thing about Firehouse 247, is that we can access it from anywhere and anytime. This is huge” - Dept. Scott Albanese. Firehouse247 allows their members to respond to overtime requests on the go and greatly improves their personnel management processes for their 200 members.
Brockton Fire Department were relying on a very limited and manual scheduling matrix to fulfil their shift filling needs. They faced the constant risk of losing their overtime list of 200 personnel in a crisis.
Challenge
The Firehouse247 scheduling, shift filling, and work management solution made scheduling and filling shift and details simple and predictable. This improved moral and allowed the firefighters to focus on what was truly important, protecting and serving their community.
Solution
Outcome
When asked why he’s chosen Firehouse 247, Deputy Chief Albanese states that in addition to helping his department save costs and time, the software is easy to use and convenient. “The big thing about Firehouse 247, is that we can access it from anywhere and anytime. This is huge,” he reiterates.
Firehouse 247 is offered as a desktop software and a mobile application. Overtime shifts, details and callbacks are filled automatically. Firefighters can log in from anywhere and receive texts or push notifications that help them manage their shifts. Accepting and declining shifts is easy and fast using the Firehouse 247 smartphone app.
With the Firehouse247 solution, Brockton Fire Department was able to:
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Log in and accept shifts on the go: Members are now able to log into their profiles from their smartphones and accept shifts wherever, whenever they can. This eliminated the shift commanders from spending countless hours making manual phone calls. Their time is now far better utilised.
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Overtime lists were safe and secure: Brockton no longer has to worry about power outages or environmental issues from affecting call back. Every personnel process is handled from one cloud-based application meaning they can access it from anywhere, on any network and carry out their processes.
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Reporting is as easy as a few clicks of a button: Gone are the days when they had to provide the Union a paper copy of their monthly shift report, with everyone on the overtime list. Now, they can simply generate a report and send it as a PDF within seconds.
Overtime shifts, details and callbacks are filled automatically in Firehouse 24/7’s online software. Firefighters can log in from anywhere and receive texts, emails or push notifications that help them manage their shifts. In addition, accepting and declining shifts is easy and fast using the Firehouse 24/7 smartphone app.
About Firehouse247
Built by firefighters, for firefighters. With first-hand experience of the biggest administrative challenges facing Fire Departments today, Firehouse247 delivers a comprehensive solution that focuses on ease of use to make daily administrative tasks simple and immediate. Issues with scheduling, shift filling and payroll are now a thing of the past.
Fill overtime shifts, details and callbacks automatically whilst adhering to your unique department policies and union rules. Easy integration with your existing systems for CAD, RMS (inspections, pre-planning, inventory, training, etc.) NFIRS, payroll and dashboarding. First-class customer service experience from the Firehouse247 team.
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