Generate Staff Schedule Reports & Data with Public Safety Scheduling Software

Learn how public safety scheduling software saves time and improves visibility to law enforcement shift schedules through data and reports.

August 24, 2022

Article Highlights

The problem: Collecting schedule reports and data

Police departments need to store, manage, and track important data and information regarding personnel and their shifts. From scheduling to payroll to PTO and sick leave, there are many moving parts that supervisors must coordinate to keep the department functioning effectively. Viewing this data in comprehensive reports allows supervisors to identify trends and make improvements to scheduling throughout the agency. But many police departments use paper and spreadsheet systems for data management and reporting –  processes that are laborious, disorganized, and prone to mistakes.

Manual, paper-based methods for managing complex law enforcement shift schedules, tracking employee hours, and generating PTO reports don’t give law enforcement agencies the ability to view scheduling data on a larger scale. These outdated systems hinder visibility and communication across the organization and make schedule coordination and improvement more difficult. This can lead to problems like time-consuming, manual payroll reporting and errors in payroll management that frustrate staff and create liability risks for the department.

Law enforcement agencies need schedule tracking and management functions that traditional scheduling software doesn’t provide: law enforcement shift schedules for graveyard shifts, swing shifts, court appearances, overtime earned, and so on. They also need to be able to efficiently generate accurate schedule reports to support payroll budgets and reduce the already strenuous workload of their staff. 

The solution: Public safety scheduling software

PowerDMS's automated sheriff and police scheduling system, PowerTime, tracks employee scheduling data and compiles reports that police department staff can access with the simple click of a button. This police shift scheduling software stores all of your agency’s scheduling data in one central location so you can easily manage staff schedules and run payroll and time reports. The digital nature of PowerTime also means you employees can access the system to view and update their schedules from any device, 24/7.

The PowerTime public safety scheduling software has over 200 reports on scheduling data that you can export, send, or print depending on your department's requirements. Supervisors can collect accurate scheduling data for each pay period and export it easily into an external payroll system. This way, personnel can review their timesheets digitally each pay period.

PowerTime also stores contact information, hire dates, identification information, and more about your department staff so supervisors can quickly and easily locate the data they need. Furthermore, PowerTime's audit trails track scheduling activity, including PTO banks, time-off requests, and approvals. The system automatically handles the calculations for you and compiles your scheduling results into reports that are easy to access and understand. Plus, these reports are shareable and exportable, so you can provide necessary information to people who need it.

The benefits of a sheriff and police scheduling system

PowerTime gives you a clear picture of your department's scheduling by collecting accurate and comprehensive data into various reports. Not only can these show you areas for improvement that can inform future decisions, but you can also feel more confident in the accuracy of your payroll with streamlined schedule management and real-time updates.

PowerTime helps your admins save significant time, costs, and effort on payroll, reducing a days-long process to the simple review and click of a button. The software collects your entire department’s scheduling data each pay period to minimize payroll hassle and provide seamless exports. And employees can review their timesheets each pay period, which helps avoid questions and potential liability issues around their compensation.

Additionally, with PowerTime, your police department can maintain schedule compliance to meet minimum staffing requirements while also ensuring you're not overscheduling your officers. Supervisors can easily monitor PTO activity to keep track of vacation time, paid time off, and sick leave, which helps speed up the approval process for PTO requests. And with a digital law enforcement scheduling system, every officer can check their approval request statuses and access their schedule anytime, anywhere, on any device.

Ready to get started?

PowerDMS’s police officer scheduling software improves schedule visibility and reporting by automatically compiling all of your shift information and data from a single location. To learn more about how the PowerTime law enforcement scheduling software can streamline your manual processes, schedule a free demo today.

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