When you’re running a small EMS agency, every shift counts and every gap shows. Bolton Emergency Medical Services in upstate New York keeps paramedics and EMTs on the road around the clock. With a mix of 16 career staff and volunteers, the agency operates a lean, high-accountability team.
With support from the President and the Board of Directors, the Chief Operating Officer runs nearly every aspect of the organization: scheduling, payroll, inventory, purchasing, and communications. One person, one inbox, no margin for error.
And Aladtec is how the agency maintains smooth operations.
A long way from the whiteboard
The agency’s COO has been in EMS for more than 30 years, and remembers when scheduling meant a whiteboard with names on it. And nothing stopped crew members from erasing their shift or writing somebody else into one.
“People would screw with the whiteboard all the time. If they didn’t want a shift, they’d just take their name off or put somebody else’s name in there.”
Timekeeping was just as rough. Someone collected the punch cards, totaled them by hand, and keyed them into payroll if the cards made it to the desk in one piece.
Inconsistent records cost an agency more than time, they create exposure. EMS is heavily regulated and constantly audited, and an inspector asking for last quarter’s timesheets isn’t hypothetical. Aladtec gave the agency a way to keep those records straight and the confidence to hand them over without scrambling.
Building on Aladtec, one capability at a time
Aladtec was already in place when the COO joined Bolton EMS, with both scheduling and Aladtec’s native time clock up and running. A predecessor introduced the employee scheduling side first, replacing the wall calendar with a digital roster. The time clock followed, ending Bolton’s reliance on manual punch cards.
Coming in with years of Aladtec experience — first as a line officer at a prior agency, then as president — the COO knew there was more the solution could do and exactly where Bolton could push further.
How Bolton EMS uses Aladtec to improve agency efficiency
Today, Aladtec supports nearly every core operational process at Bolton EMS.
Most staff are on set rotations, so the COO uses repeats and rotations to build the monthly schedule in one step rather than manually entering each shift. What once required significant administrative time is now largely automated, freeing up time to focus on other parts of the agency.
And when someone calls out and that schedule changes, the right people can be contacted to fill coverage gaps quickly — a paramedic, an EMT, a driver — without the inefficient back-and-forth of phone trees and text chains.
Compliance got easier in the same stroke. Punches come through Aladtec’s time clock instead of paper cards, so payroll prep is a quick reconciliation, not a hunt. Every entry is logged, timestamped, and retrievable for clean recordkeeping and greater audit-readiness.
Bolton EMS also uses custom digital forms in Aladtec to manage their daily rig checks and inventory inspections. The paper clipboards they replaced were easy to lose, easier to leave half-finished. Now every check is standardized, stored, and one search away when an inspector asks for it.
A system that staff already knows
Many staff members work for two or three agencies that also use Aladtec. It’s widely used across the region and that familiarity pays off at Bolton EMS. Onboarding is faster, people ask fewer questions, and crews hit the ground running.
“Most of the agencies around me use Aladtec,” noted the COO. “It makes it easy. It’s universal.”
Bolton EMS also uses Aladtec to communicate with agency volunteers. When coverage is needed beyond what staff can handle, volunteers can be reached through Aladtec and receive alerts based on their notification preferences. This makes it quick and easy to fill staffing gaps all while controlling labor costs.
The results
- Simpler, stronger compliance – Audit-ready documentation and clear time and schedule records, improved the agency’s compliance management and reduced their risk.
- Greater scheduling efficiency – With automated scheduling workflows and self-serve shift actions for his staff, Jim spends less time on administrative tasks, and his crews enjoy more scheduling flexibility and autonomy, reducing scheduling friction and improving the employee experience all around.
- Faster, more targeted coverage – When staffing gaps appear, the team can find coverage quickly and with a lot less effort. Plus, with every schedule change now logged and administrator-controlled, schedules remain trustworthy and fair across the agency.
Looking Ahead
What began as a scheduling fix has grown into the operational backbone of the agency. Bolton EMS has been using Aladtec long enough to know the solution still has more to offer. The team is currently exploring ways to customize the dashboard and continues to find ways to unlock more of what Aladtec can do.
TCP Software’s employee scheduling and time and attendance solutions are flexible and scalable to accommodate your business and employees as you grow.
From TimeClock Plus, which automates even the most complex payroll calculations and leave management requests, to Humanity Schedule for dynamic employee scheduling that saves you time and money, we have everything you need to meet your organization’s needs, no matter how unique. Plus, with Aladtec, we offer 24/7 public safety scheduling solutions for your hometown heroes.
Ready to learn how TCP Software takes the pain out of employee scheduling and time tracking? Speak with an expert today.
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