PlanIt Police Blog

Have you ever wondered what other departments of your size are using to handle their scheduling needs? PlanIt Schedule recently released a survey that revealed correlations between the size of department and the process used for scheduling. The options were paper, spreadsheets, or software.

Over half...

of the departments with 1-9 officers reported that they use spreadsheets to handle their scheduling needs.

46% of the departments who staff between 10-99 officers schedule with spreadsheets.

These departments may use spreadsheets because they are typically free or relatively inexpensive.

Out of those who reported they use spreadsheets for scheduling...

Over 71% said that they were either neutral, somewhat unsatisfied, or very unsatisfied with using spreadsheets for scheduling.

When you only have a few officers and only factor in basic schedules, excel spreadsheets can work just fine.

But once you add more than 10 people and factor in things like time off and overtime shifts, it can get tricky.

Scheduling software built for law enforcement will not only streamline regular schedules but also things like special assignments, time off hours, overtime hours, court appearances, and shift trades.

See Some Scheduling Software Options Here

Cloud based software available on any device will improve visibility, making communication throughout the department effortless.

As you can probably guess,

almost 50% of departments larger than 100 officers reported that they use software to handle their scheduling needs.

They most likely use software because it can be extremely difficult to keep track of 100+ employees overtime hours, time off hours, shift trades, etc.

While size does contribute to scheduling needs, each department’s processes and rules can determine how detrimental scheduling software can be.

For example, the tasks involved with tracking time off. Do all requests get tracked or just approvals? Are hours accrued yearly? Monthly? How do employees see how much time off they have?

Another big scheduling task, especially in law enforcement, is overtime. How do you get officers to fill overtime shifts? How to you fairly assign it and track it? 

If your department is having trouble keeping up with and organizing personnel scheduling, check out PlanIt Schedule.

PlanIt can handle any 24x7 rotations and streamline scheduling related tasks like time off, overtime, open shifts, court appearances, and much more.

 Learn about all the findings from the survey, today!

Download our whitepaper to see how other departments manage schedules, how shift length can impact performance, and how technology can empower officers.

Read More:

• 3 Reasons Why Police Departments Are Now Using Scheduling Templates
• Law Enforcement Schedules: Top 8, 10, and 12-Hour Shift Examples
• 5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Law Enforcement Conferences