21 Jul Scheduling made easy with Suite Scheduler
Suite Scheduler, Inc. develops and sells employee scheduling and management products. The company was the brainchild of Jackie Hjelm, RN MSN and co-founder of Suite Scheduler, a former nurse manager frustrated with the time commitment needed to effectively schedule employees in a facility.
Suite Scheduler products are able to improve on scheduling efficiency, saving an organization up to 90% of the time to create and manage employee schedules usually completed manually. Suite Scheduler products are primarily used for healthcare organizations but have also been successfully implemented in other schedule-intensive businesses such as banks, restaurants, and pharmacies.
“As a former nurse manager, I was responsible for scheduling 100-plus employees in my department,” said Hjelm. “Scheduling is a time-consuming and frustrating task for managers and departments. The Suite Scheduler software combines everything I want in a product. It saves time, improves accuracy and employee satisfaction, and it brings a huge savings cost for the facility.”
Simply Suite Scheduler is the basic program with a wide variety of functions, allowing the scheduler to create staffing guidelines for the number of staff by role, location and shift, enter requests that automatically post to the schedule, and print final or draft schedules in seconds. In addition, the program is customizable based on individual company requirements.
Express Suite Scheduler can be used on its own or as an add-on to the Simply Suite Scheduler program. It uses a custom tool called Smart Scheduler to save more time and get the best schedule possible with all restrictions considered. Both Simply and Express have the functionality to meet the varied needs of any organization, but Express delivers more in-depth functionality for more complex schedules.
Manage Suite Scheduler is the newest addition to the software package. It manages the use of employee resources to effectively meet their budgets. Manage is an add-on to Express, offering the ability to report on the historical schedule data with easy to read reports to support your management decision-making. In addition, Manage will allow the user to print out productivity reports from the data stored in the scheduling application.
“The idea to develop software was begun in order to create schedules and manage human resources,” said Cari Lieding, account manager of Suite Scheduler. “Schedules in health care don’t get stuck on the wall – they’re alive. In the automated world, schedule changes are made on computers.”
These scheduling products enable Suite Scheduler to deliver a fully automated solution for employee scheduling to any sized department, facility or industry looking to improve on both efficiency and employee satisfaction.
“I have cut my scheduling time in half and now have been able to take on more enjoyable duties out on the floor with staff and residents,” said Cheryl Hudson, RN of Pella Long Term Care. “You can tailor this program to fit any staffing pattern in any facility. It is definitely a time saver – money very well spent.”
Douglas Snow, DO of PromptCare, PC, agrees the software has facilitated the scheduling process. “Suite Scheduler has simplified my task of scheduling physicians and mid-level providers for our Emergency Department and Urgent Care Facility,” he said. “I spend less than one hour now whereas I spent four to six hours with other programs. I urge all schedulers to take a look at this well-designed product.”
Hjelm is motivated to continually update the software based on the individual needs of her customers. “It’s just a delight to see how the software is delivering results for people, and we continually enhance it to meet our customer’s needs,” she said.
Suite Scheduler was founded in April 2000 as a privately held corporation owned by its two founders Hjelm and Judy Adams. Hjelm has over 33 years of clinical experience with 12 years of experience as a clinical consultant in healthcare automation and 15 years of nursing management experience in a variety of clinical settings. Adams’ experience includes 12 years in computer technology, marketing, new product development and quality assurance related to automation in the industries of business and healthcare.
—————————–
Jamie Hofmeister is a freelance technology writer and regular contributor to the Wisconsin Technology Network. She can be reached at Jamie Hofmeister.