CHELMSFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new public safety survey titled “Scheduling Integration: How Will You Leverage Existing Technology” commissioned by Kronos Incorporated and conducted by The Praetorian Group reveals that a majority of public safety agencies still rely on paper or spreadsheet templates for first responder scheduling and other workforce management tasks. These outdated tools negatively impact agencies in two areas: lack of centralized staffing, personnel, payroll, and reporting data; and the inability of the agencies to share this critical data with complementary solutions such as computer aided dispatch (CAD), records management systems (RMS), payroll, HR, and time and attendance.
News Facts
- “Scheduling Integration: How Will You Leverage Existing Technology” surveyed public safety professionals employed in supervisory positions such as chief, lieutenant, captain, and sergeant, as well as in roles of officer, EMT, firefighter, and corrections deputy. Agencies included were fire, EMS, police, corrections, and state and federal organizations. The survey explored the types of workforce management technology currently used in public safety and their role in operations as well as perceptions among public safety professionals about how such systems should integrate with other technology.
- More than 50 percent of respondents noted that they did not have any scheduling and resource management automation. Specifically, 38 percent said they use a manual spreadsheet such as Excel™ to create schedules and 14 percent stated that their employer still relies on pencil and paper.
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The survey also found lack of integration between scheduling or
workforce management solutions and other key technologies as an
overarching problem. And more than 60 percent of respondents agreed
that better integration will save data entry time and reduce errors.
- Public safety agencies rely on CAD systems for dispatching service calls and 65 percent of respondents noted that their agencies do not leverage integration between their scheduling and CAD systems. And 60 percent of respondents agreed that pre-loading roster and personnel information into the CAD system will save data entry time and reduce errors.
- Nearly 60 percent of respondents indicated that their agencies do not have integration between their scheduling and RMS used for incident tracking, personnel records, training, and inventory. And 65 percent of respondents agreed that pre-loading roster data such as name, ID#, and unit will save data entry time and reduce errors.
- 60 percent of respondents also reported that their agencies do not integrate scheduling and payroll systems. And more than 60 percent agreed that automatically importing payroll data from a scheduling system will reduce errors and eliminate data entry.
- Kronos TeleStaff™, the public safety industry’s leading scheduling and notification solution, centralizes scheduling, roster, personnel, and payroll data. TeleStaff delivers an out-of-the-box set of parameters already defined and ready for export to CAD, RMS, payroll, and time and attendance systems to help agencies share data across the enterprise, eliminate redundant work processes, and reduce errors.
Supporting Quotes
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Greg Ekstrom, vice president and general manager, Kronos TeleStaff
Solutions Group
“This survey reveals that decentralized workforce data and lack of integration with other systems can result in staffing and payroll errors, untimely delivery of data, and overlapping work processes. At a time when the public safety industry is struggling with resource and budget constraints, it needs a centralized, integrated scheduling and workforce management solution to more effectively control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve productivity.”
Supporting Resources
- About The Praetorian Group
- Connect with Kronos via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
- Subscribe to our workforce management blogs.
- Take a look at the lighter side of workforce management in our Time Well Spent cartoons.
Survey Methodology
The survey was conducted online through
four popular websites for public safety personnel: CorrectionsOne.com,
EMS1.com, FireRescue1.com, and PoliceOne.com. Survey respondents
represented agencies ranging in size from one sworn member to more than
5,000 sworn personnel, with the majority of agencies surveyed falling in
the range from one to 300 such employees. The 19-question survey covered
topics ranging from the types of technology used in public safety and
its role in operations as well as perceptions among public safety
professionals about how technology should work together, and more.
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos is the global leader in
delivering workforce management solutions in the cloud. Tens of
thousands of organizations in more than 100 countries — including more
than half of the Fortune 1000® — use Kronos to control labor
costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity.
Learn more about Kronos industry-specific time and attendance,
scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and labor
analytics applications at www.kronos.com.
Kronos: Workforce Innovation That Works™.
© 2013 Kronos Incorporated. All rights reserved. Kronos is a registered trademark and TeleStaff is a trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.