Article Highlights:
- Why software?
- How responder software protects your agency
- Benefits of a workforce management platform
Expectations for first responders and public safety agencies have never been higher. Facing increased scrutiny and higher liability risks, protecting your agency and your staff requires a more comprehensive approach than in the past.
But reducing risk without overworking your staff can be challenging. First responder software provides you with a way to help staff work more efficiently while protecting your agency. In this article, you’ll learn how responder software reduces risk across different departments, builds a culture of compliance and accountability, and ensures your first responders have the necessary tools to succeed.
Why software?
The burdens placed on public safety professionals often outweigh the resources they possess. Time-consuming manual processes, outdated technology, and limited people power continue to make the jobs of first responders extra challenging.
First responder software helps your agency do more by automating tasks that would traditionally dominate staff time. With responder software, you get tools to better engage your community, automate processes that maintain compliance, easily organize policies and procedures, and standardize agency-wide training. It’s organized, effective, and easy to use.
Here are the different ways responder software helps reduce risk in your agency.
Accreditation management
Gaining agency accreditation demonstrates a commitment to the highest standards of excellence and compliance. But many agencies view gaining and maintaining accreditation as too laborious and time-consuming to attempt. They just can’t spare the time or people power.
First responder software can reduce accreditation prep time by 50% or more and make maintaining accreditation easier. A solution like PowerStandards from PowerDMS comes preloaded with standards manuals from all major accrediting bodies and easy ways to map your policies and procedures to their specific standards.
With responder software, accreditation managers get automatic alerts when a policy or standard has changed, and with the ability to set up automated tasks, you can effectively manage accreditation without it being a giant lift every few years.
HR and admin
Public safety agencies are overwhelmed with policies and procedures. With more added all the time, it can be challenging to keep up. Not only is this frustrating for HR, but it puts your agency at risk of liability.
Public safety software lets you share critical data and policy info with staff at any time, to any device, and gives HR easy ways to track who has signed what. Tools like PowerPolicy from PowerDMS automate policy version control so you don’t have to worry if you’re compliant with the latest changes. You can build responder accountability and protect your agency without burdening admin staff.
Proper schedule management is critical in public safety but can be challenging for admin staff to maintain. The right software reduces risk in your agency by ensuring minimum staffing, providing audit trails of all schedule changes, and automating schedule management to avoid responder burnout. No guesswork, just clear and organized schedule management.
Training compliance and documentation
Documenting training has traditionally been a time-consuming process in public safety. It can lead to mistakes and differences in training standards that put your agency at risk. First responder software eliminates the manual headache of training documentation and puts the focus back on training and maintaining compliance.
The right software standardizes your training. It helps with role-readiness by providing easy-add programs to prepare staff for new positions. Training software like PowerFTO from PowerDMS gives trainers easy ways to document training in the moment instead of time-consuming manual processes later on that are more prone to error.
To protect your agency, training documentation needs to be accurate and easy to find. With responder software, you can do document audits with e-signature tracking to prove compliance. Staff can access policies from any device, enforcing accountability. And in the event you need to prove documentation, you can produce training data with just a few clicks instead of a time-consuming scavenger hunt.
Engaging the community and managing PR
Effective community engagement reduces risk in your agency and boosts responder morale and performance. Managing your public relations with the right software can demonstrate the positive sentiment in your community and provide real-time proof of citizen satisfaction.
Responder software can automatically update public-facing documents, keeping your citizens informed and protecting your agency. A solution like PowerEngage from PowerDMS builds transparency and understanding with your community with tools that inform citizens, boost responder morale, and measure satisfaction.
Take control of public relations in your community with real-time data demonstrating citizen satisfaction. With PowerEngage you can better understand and meet the needs of your community while showing responders they are appreciated.
Benefits of a workforce management platform
The right software solutions can help protect your agency, reduce risk, and boost responder wellness and performance. But getting support for multiple products can be a managerial headache. That’s where a public safety workforce management platform like PowerDMS comes in.
The PowerDMS public safety platform provides everything you need to perform at your best from one centralized location. With unparalleled customer support, our solutions are built for the unique needs of public safety professionals.
To learn more about the support PowerDMS can offer you and your first responders, schedule a free consultation with a friendly PowerDMS staff member.
