VSS PRO Helps Reduce Expenses at Moorhead Police Department

"Now that I have all of my scheduling information at my fingertips, I can better optimize our rosters."

— Sgt. Joel Scharf, Moorhead Police Department

Customer Profile
Moorhead Police Department, a law enforcement agency with 50 sworn officers in Moorhead, Minnesota, provides crime prevention services for a community of more than 30,000 people.

Situation/Challenge
Moorhead Police Department needed a better method for forecasting and improving staff utilization. The department decided to replace their paper and pencil scheduling with scheduling software, and selected Visual Staff Scheduler® PRO (VSS PRO) for its ease of use and flexibility. "I was surprised that VSS PRO was so intuitive. You don't need to be a computer expert to use it," says Sgt. Joel Scharf, Patrol Division at the Moorhead Police Department.

Solution
VSS PRO proved to be the right solution for the department's scheduling pains. "With VSS PRO, I can easily see how any changes to the schedule will impact my shift coverage. This allows us to make better decisions when it comes to approving time-off requests or providing time availability for court duties," Sgt. Scharf adds. Using VSS PRO helps the Moorhead Police Department significantly reduce overtime expenditures. "Now that I have all of my scheduling information at my fingertips, I can better optimize our rosters. I can make adjustments quickly and move officers between shifts or divisions, instead of paying a lot of overtime hours," says Sgt. Scharf.

Benefits
In addition to reducing overtime expenses, the Moorhead Police Department also improved internal communication of work schedules. Now every officer can access schedule information, view open slots for taking time-off and print their individual schedules. And, if schedule changes occur, the updated rosters can be e-mailed to officers with just a click of a button. "The first thing I do at the beginning of each day is open my VSS PRO," says Sgt. Scharf. "I can see any annotations from my staff and adjust the schedule on the fly," he adds.

VSS PRO has brought many time and monetary savings to the Moorhead Police Department, as well improved internal processes. "VSS PRO has paid for itself many times over," Sgt. Scharf concluded.