When a 911 call comes in across six cities in St. Louis County, someone has to be there to answer it. Every hour, every day. East Central Dispatch Center coordinates police, fire, and EMS for that region around the clock, with just 24 employees and zero margin for coverage gaps.
But for years, the agency’s primary scheduling tool was a wall-mounted paper calendar. Cluttered, hard to read, and impossible to update remotely.
All that changed when East Central adopted Aladtec for 24/7 rotational scheduling.
Paper calendars, mounting confusion
Melissa Stites, a working supervisor, dispatcher, and training coordinator at East Central, remembers the limitations of the paper system clearly. The calendar wasn’t large enough to display all scheduling information legibly, handwritten notes were easy to misinterpret, and changes were frequently forgotten or missed. Worse, paper calendars don’t come with timestamps, so nobody could verify when updates were made.
Filling overtime was especially painful. Open shift requests and responses lived in email threads that grew longer and harder to track by the day. “It was definitely not the most effective way to manage the schedule for a 24-hour operation,” Stites said.
And whenever she was out, the scheduling problems compounded. Every change created confusion and dropped extra admin work on her fellow supervisors.
Two features that sealed the deal
When East Central’s director decided to move off paper, the agency evaluated several options. Each vendor ran a demo, but Aladtec went a step further, offering a test login so the team could try it before deciding. Stites took full advantage. She walked into the supervisors’ evaluation meeting with two pages of notes and volunteered to present her feedback.
Her recommendation: TCP Software’s Aladtec.
Two features stood out above everything else: coverage alerts and the system log. Coverage alerts enable a supervisor to notify all qualified, available employees about an open shift with a single click. The system log tracks logins and provides timestamped records of all activity, giving the agency the compliance documentation, audit trail visibility, and transparency a paper calendar never could.
Getting up and running was simple. Stites worked directly with TCP to set up Aladtec and got hands-on training to build shift repeats and rotations. She’s since become the agency’s system administrator and regularly attends Aladtec webinars to stay current on new features and releases.
Faster coverage, clearer accountability
Moving from a paper calendar to Aladtec had an immediate, tangible impact on East Central’s operations and staffing efficiency.
Filling coverage gaps with one click
Aladtec flags open shifts the moment they appear, so staffing gaps are obvious to supervisors and staff alike. One notification reaches every qualified, available employee at once. No more email threads, no more guessing who’s in. Coverage gets filled fast, and minimum staffing stays intact.
Putting the schedule in every pocket
Through the Aladtec mobile app,supervisors can share real-time updates and staff can access their schedules 24/7 so they can stay informed. Plus, staff can submit trade requests and shift swaps that follow agency approval workflows to ease admin burden without compromising coverage. For the dispatch center, this means clearer communications across their workforce and a lot less operational disruption when schedules change.
Building an audit trail on autopilot
The system log automatically captures timestamped records of every login and scheduling change. As result, East Central has clear documentation and audit trails to improve audit preparedness and maintain compliance across different state, local, and federal regulations.
Onboarding new dispatchers without the friction
Aladtec provides an employee-friendly experience that makes it easy to onboard new staff and drive adoption. Once they’re in the system, employees have intuitive access to their schedules and shift information, lessening the learning curve and reducing scheduling friction from the get-go.
Looking ahead
As Aladtec evolves, Stites sees the agency continuing to grow alongside it.
“Aladtec can easily support organizations much larger than ours,” Stites said. “I see it continuing to serve our agency well for many years to come as our needs evolve.”
With Aladtec, East Central Dispatch Center isn’t just keeping the schedule. They’re keeping the response running.
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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