Scheduling Automation Buyer s Guide. How to Select a New Scheduling Solution StaffReady. All rights reserved.

Transcription

1 Scheduling Automation Buyer s Guide How to Select a New Scheduling Solution 2016 StaffReady. All rights reserved.

2 Scheduling Software Evaluation Criteria 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary... 3 Are you Ready for a Change?... 3 Part One: Criteria Impacting the Delivery Model... 5 Installation & System Maintenance... 5 Implementation, Training and Support... 6 Software Upgrades... 6 Employee Access... 6 Scalability... 6 Pricing... 7 Budget... 7 Part Two: General Decision Criteria... 7 Product Features... 7 Integration and Reports... 8 Healthcare-specific Design... 8 Vendor & Product Credibility... 8 Non-negotiable Benefits... 8 StaffReady Scheduling Smart, Online Scheduling Automation... 9

3 Scheduling Software Evaluation Criteria 3 Executive Summary Are these scheduling challenges familiar to you? v It is difficult to ensure PTO requests are handled fairly v The way your schedule is being managed impacts employee morale v You and your team spend hours each week managing the schedule v You are never fully confident all your shifts are filled v Tracking shift changes is extremely frustrating v It's hard to effectively control overtime expenses v You have to manually communicate all schedule posts and changes via or paper Even with the constant time spent managing schedules, few managers and staff members feel good about how schedules are created and communicated. Why? Most organizations utilize manual processes to organize increasingly complex scheduling requirements, rules and challenges. Clinical resources have evolved and developed over time to keep pace with the increasingly complex demands of healthcare, but many staff scheduling processes have not kept pace. The thousands of healthcare professionals we work with - those who are part of ancillary services departments in hospitals like radiology, lab, pharmacy, cardio pulmonary and E/R, and those in specialty facilities outside of the hospital - have experienced these challenges and frustrations associated with scheduling. We have been able to help them improve efficiencies in staff scheduling, improve staff morale and reduce their costs. If these other healthcare organizations face these issues, there is probably a good chance you have the same challenges. This buyer s guide is designed to help you: v Identify when it is time to create efficiencies in scheduling and move to an automated scheduling solution v Select the right software solution and vendor to meet your automated scheduling needs Are you Ready for a Change? How can you tell that it s time to switch to an automated scheduling solution? There are often positive and negative situations occurring in your department that could signal it is a perfect time to make a change. Here are some questions to ask in your decision-making process: v Is your department using paper or Excel to create schedules? v Are you and your team spending hours each week managing the schedule? v Do you use a posted schedule for edits? White-out? Highlighters? v Is your schedule rarely "done"?

4 Scheduling Software Evaluation Criteria 4 v Do you have surprises in overtime costs each month? v Are you never fully confident all your shifts are filled? v Have you received complaints on employee evaluations regarding the scheduling procedures and policies? v Is tracking shift changes extremely frustrating? v Is it challenging to ensure PTO requests are handled fairly? v Is the way your schedule is being managed impacting employee morale? v Do you have to manually communicate all schedule posts and changes via , paper or fax? v Are staff being notified only a few weeks in advance of when they work next? v Do supervisors fill in emergency bench rotation vacancies due to gaps and errors in scheduling? v Are you in the middle of a Lean or Six Sigma initiative? v Have you recently gone through a merger or acquisition? v Is there a change in management occurring or about to occur? If you said Yes to more than a few of these questions, scheduling automation could create significant process improvements in your departmental operations. Automating your scheduling process is not the only solution to improving the scheduling situation in your department, but it often is the largest determining factor in whether your scheduling challenges will be resolved. Perhaps you ve even tried some automated scheduling solutions, but because your complex environment is constantly in flux, you have found it difficult to keep your automated system in sync with your scheduling realities, and you ve been stuck having to sort that out on your own. Or perhaps you ve abandoned your efforts at automation because it became too burdensome to maintain. If your department has decided to create efficiencies in scheduling and recapture valuable time and resources spent scheduling, or perhaps explore another automated scheduling alternative, the next step is to select a good software solution. Here are a few tips to use in vetting various software solutions and vendors that are on the market.

5 Scheduling Software Evaluation Criteria 5 Part One: Criteria Impacting the Delivery Model There are two kinds of delivery models to consider when evaluating automated medical staff scheduling software: on-premise and software-as-a-service (SaaS). Here is a high-level summary of some key differences: Installation & System Maintenance On-Premise (Product) Software-as-a-Service (Service) Software location On a network or On hosted vendor desktop onsite servers in the cloud IT support Required Not required Additional hardware to purchase and maintain Implementation, Training and Support Consultative analysis and Not likely Likely set-up customization Software upgrades Extra fee Included Employee Access Yes May not be accessible offsite; not usually accessible for staff No Yes for administrators as well as staff Scalability Complex Straightforward Pricing Upfront software (and Monthly/yearly hardware) purchase subscription Budget Capital expense Operational expense The answers to the following questions will ultimately inform which model is best for your environment. Installation & System Maintenance q Will the application reside on our network or on the vendor s servers? q Will this product require IT support for deployment and ongoing support? q Do I have to purchase additional hardware or software to use this application? q Are there ongoing maintenance fees?

6 Scheduling Software Evaluation Criteria 6 Implementation, Training and Support q Is there any consulting or analysis of my current scheduling environment? Best practices assistance? Set-up customization? q Will I be trained on the application? q If yes, is the training on-site or online? q Are training and set-up separate fees? q Will I have access to learning materials once training is complete? Will I be able to access them from within the application? q Will I have a dedicated trainer or will I be working with several individuals? q If I have turnover in my software administration staff, will I be able to get re-training as part of my contract? q Will I be able to have new schedules added mid-year by someone familiar with my implementation? q Will I have any kind of pro-active support provided throughout the year to help me reconfigure my implementation when my environment changes? q How is support handled for this product? q How quickly can I expect to have my issues addressed? q Will I have unlimited support and is this an extra charge? A bank of hours? q Is technical support local or outsourced? Software Upgrades q Do I receive upgrades automatically or do I have to buy the next version to receive upgrades? q Will I have to have my IT department do the upgrade and support the new version? Employee Access q Do all staff, including schedule administrators, supervisors and employees, have online access to view their schedules? q Can employees make vacation and leave requests with this tool? q Can employees view a current vacation schedule online? q Can employees use this tool to communicate with other staff about shift trading? q Is web-access an additional module (fee)? q Is web access a view-only portal? Scalability q How is the product offered in terms of base packages and delivery offerings? q Do I have any flexibility in how many licenses or schedules I have access to? q Is adding new departments or staff flexible and able to be prorated at any time?

7 Scheduling Software Evaluation Criteria 7 Pricing q Is there an upfront base purchase of licenses or a yearly, renewable subscription fee? q Do I need to purchase any hardware? q Are there alternative payment options such as quarterly or monthly payments? q Do I own the license or am I leasing the software? Budget Software purchases are being decided in real-time across organizations in a variety of ways. Extreme scenarios include IT needing to approve all decisions versus departments being allowed to purchase anything they d like. Middle ground is often that IT wants to be made aware - sometimes requiring a vendor form to be filled out - but the department has the final say, especially if it is a cloud-based product. Cloud-based products seem to have an easier time being approved at a department level as they tend to be less expensive and don t require integration into the IT workload timeline. Keep in mind, however, that if you are looking for integration between a cloud solution and your other systems, you will need to involve IT. q Do I have $$ set aside currently for this investment? q Is my organization more geared toward a large, upfront purchase of a software license (capital expense) or smaller annual subscription service fees (operational expense)? q What other individuals or departments might have to be involved in this decision? Part Two: General Decision Criteria The following decision criteria areas don t generally inform which delivery model you need. Product Features q Does the application handle specific skill levels and competencies, bench rotations, employee preferences, availability, multiple locations, etc.? q Can I apply certain set criteria to the schedules, including holiday and weekend rotations and union rules? q Can I edit a schedule that has been created? q Is schedule generation automated? q Can shifts be automatically associated to staff? q How is notification of schedule changes handled? q How is shift trading handled? q How can I ensure staff are evenly rotated through various jobs?

8 Scheduling Software Evaluation Criteria 8 Integration and Reports q Can the software link to other systems? o Time & attendance o LIS o Payroll q Do the integrations come standard or are they an extra expense? q Can the data collected be accessed conveniently for reporting and analysis? q Is the data centrally located or scattered across various computers and networks? Healthcare-specific Design q Is this a generic scheduling product or is it customizable? q Is this same product used in other industries besides healthcare? q If this is a healthcare-specific product, is it geared toward ancillary departments? Nursing? Both? Vendor & Product Credibility q How long has the company been in business? q How many customers are in their portfolio? q Will I have references I can call in my field? q Can I see a live demo of the product? q Can I have access to the application before buying? Do I need to? Non-negotiable Benefits There are non-negotiable benefits you should expect to receive from any staff scheduling automation solution that you select to meet your needs. q Significant time saved in the overall scheduling process q Improved employee morale due to better employee access q Better tuned schedules; fewer errors q Short- and long-term ROI q Growth and scalability potential without restrictions q Better business analysis due to centralized scheduling data

9 Scheduling Software Evaluation Criteria 9 StaffReady Scheduling Smart, Online Scheduling Automation StaffReady Scheduling is smart, online medical staff scheduling automation software that improves employee morale and optimizes staffing levels, with flexibility to customize for each medical staff department s unique scheduling needs. StaffReady Scheduling transforms complex healthcare staff scheduling from a frustrating, sometimes political process to an open, transparent one, improving morale and productivity. StaffReady Scheduling takes the stress out of juggling shift trading, staff shortages, fractured schedule communications, and union regulations regarding staff qualifications. We bring years of experience, expert knowledge and highly-acclaimed training to the healthcare scheduling process. We have experience implementing hundreds of healthcare staffing schedules in the past two years alone, with a multitude of complex variables, and in highly dynamic scheduling environments. With automated staff scheduling from StaffReady, you not only get a powerful and flexible software solution, you also receive comprehensive services throughout the year from an experienced partner, to ensure that you are fully utilizing our automated staff scheduling software within your dynamic environment. This approach results in you having the right people in the right place at the right time.