What - This enhancement enables immediate processing of work type-based accruals when off-roster entries are approved, eliminating the previous delay where accruals were only processed during the midnight batch job and ensuring accruals are added to employee banks in real-time rather than waiting until the next day.
Why - This improvement was implemented due to customer request to provide immediate feedback on accrual calculations and reduce the delay between shift approval and bank updates that could impact payroll accuracy and employee visibility into their earned time.
How - To utilize this enhancement:
Use Case - When a firefighter works an off-roster overtime shift on Monday and the administrator approves it Tuesday morning, the employee's vacation or sick time accruals are immediately added to their available balance rather than waiting until the next day's batch processing, allowing for accurate real-time tracking of earned benefits.
What - This enhancement allows users to customize how they receive notifications by selecting specific delivery methods including App Notification, Email Notification, and Notification Center for different notification types, enabling users to manage notification fatigue while ensuring they never miss critical updates.
Why - This feature was developed due to customer request to provide granular control over notification delivery methods and reduce notification overload while maintaining reliable communication for essential updates.
How - To configure notification preferences:
Use Case - A fire captain can choose to receive time-off notifications only via email while receiving trade notifications through both app and email channels, allowing them to customize their communication preferences based on the urgency and type of information while ensuring they remain informed of all critical scheduling updates.
What - This enhancement addresses the filtering logic for time clock punches to ensure proper data access control by correctly filtering Own Punches to display only the logged-in user's records and restricting Employee Punches visibility based on appropriate permissions.
Why - This improvement was implemented due to customer request to enhance data security and ensure users only see time clock information they are authorized to access, preventing unauthorized viewing of other employees' punch data.
How - This feature works automatically based on user permissions:
Use Case - A firefighter can view their own punch records in the Own Punches section to verify their time entries, while only supervisors with appropriate permissions can access the Employee Punches section to review and manage time clock data for their entire crew, ensuring proper data security and role-based access control.
What - This enhancement improves shift visibility by displaying pending off-roster entries alongside approved entries in the My Shifts view, allowing users to easily track the status of their overtime submissions and ensure timely payroll processing without navigating between multiple views.
Why - This feature was developed due to customer request to consolidate shift information in one location and improve user experience by eliminating the need to check multiple screens for complete shift status information.
How - This enhancement works automatically:
Use Case - A firefighter who submitted overtime for three different shifts can now view all their regular scheduled shifts plus see which overtime requests are still pending approval and which have been approved, allowing them to follow up with supervisors on pending items and confirm their total expected hours for the pay period.
What - This enhancement modifies call shift rotation behavior to honor contract-specified timing by allowing users to rotate to the bottom of the ranking list on the actual day of their shift rather than when they accept it, providing more accurate rotation timing that aligns with organizational contracts and ensures fair distribution of call shift responsibilities.
Why - This improvement was implemented due to customer request to align rotation timing with existing labor contracts and ensure fair distribution of call shift opportunities by preventing users from losing their ranking position simply by accepting shifts in advance.
How - To enable this feature:
Use Case - When a firefighter accepts a call shift on Monday for a Thursday shift, they maintain their current position in the rotation ranking until Thursday morning arrives, at which point they automatically rotate to the bottom of the list, ensuring their ranking reflects the actual work date rather than the acceptance date and providing fair rotation opportunities for all personnel.
What - This enhancement introduces new rotation rules that are now available for use in the scheduling system, offering more flexibility in shift assignments with complex rotation patterns including various on/off combinations that accommodate different department scheduling needs.
Why - These new rotation patterns were developed due to customer request to support additional scheduling configurations that better match their operational requirements and staffing models.
How - To utilize the new rotation patterns:
Use Case - A fire department with specialized apparatus assignments can now implement a rotation pattern like "1 on / 5 off / 1 on / 42 off" for their hazmat team, ensuring proper coverage while providing extended time off periods that accommodate advanced training requirements and specialized certifications.
What - This enhancement improves staffing visibility by incorporating unassigned 24-hour call shifts into the global vacancy count on the shift board, providing administrators with more accurate real-time staffing numbers by treating unassigned call shifts as potential coverage for vacant positions.
Why - This feature was developed due to customer request to provide more comprehensive vacancy tracking that reflects actual available coverage options and improves situational awareness for staffing decisions.
How - This enhancement works automatically:
Use Case - When a fire station shows 5 vacant positions but has 2 unassigned 24-hour call shifts available, the vacancy display shows 3, giving the shift commander a more accurate picture that two positions could potentially be covered by call shift personnel if needed for emergency response.
What - The Personnel Emergency Contacts and NEMSIS Licensure/Certifications Import Wizards now support both Excel (.xlsx) and CSV file formats, allowing users to directly upload Excel templates without requiring manual conversion to CSV and streamlining the import process while maintaining template validations and formatting rules.
Why - This enhancement was implemented due to customer request to eliminate the extra step of converting Excel templates to CSV format and reduce potential conversion errors that could impact data integrity during personnel imports.
How - To use the enhanced import functionality:
Use Case - HR personnel can now directly upload the Excel template they use for collecting emergency contact information from new firefighters without having to save it as a CSV file first, reducing the risk of formatting errors and streamlining the onboarding process while preserving dropdown validations and data formatting rules.
What - This enhancement improves administrative oversight by displaying work type and time-off type subtypes during the time card approval process, providing administrators with complete context that was previously limited to viewing only the main category during approval decisions.
Why - This improvement was implemented due to customer request to provide complete visibility into time card details during the approval process, enabling more informed approval decisions with full context of the work performed.
How - This enhancement works automatically:
Use Case - When reviewing pending time cards, a fire chief can now see that overtime was worked specifically for "Training - Hazmat Certification" rather than just "Training," allowing them to make more informed approval decisions and better track specialized training costs and compliance requirements.
What - The Scheduling module has been integrated with the platform's global audit log system, providing a unified audit experience across all platform modules while maintaining robust scheduling-specific audit capabilities. All 144 scheduling actions are now written to both the legacy scheduling audit log and the new global audit log simultaneously, ensuring comprehensive audit trails and enhanced visibility for administrators and compliance teams.
Why - This enhancement was implemented due to customer requests for consolidated audit tracking across multiple modules, enabling compliance teams to review platform-wide activities in a single interface while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing scheduling audit workflows.
How -
Use Case - A fire department's compliance officer needs to review all system changes made during a specific pay period for audit purposes. They can now access the global audit log, filter for scheduling module events, and see all 144 tracked scheduling actions alongside other platform activities such as personnel changes and administrative updates, providing a complete picture of system modifications without switching between multiple interfaces.
What - The Accruals Hours Import Wizard now supports native Excel (.xlsx) file uploads in addition to the existing CSV format. Users can import data directly from provided Excel templates without the extra conversion step to CSV, and the system automatically detects the file type and processes data from the first worksheet tab with clear error messaging for unsupported file formats.
Why - This enhancement was implemented due to customer requests to streamline the import process and reduce potential errors from manual file conversions, allowing departments to work directly with the Excel templates provided without additional formatting steps.
How -
Use Case - A fire department administrative assistant receives the monthly accrual hours update in the provided Excel template format. Instead of opening the file, converting it to CSV, and verifying the conversion was successful, they can now directly upload the Excel file to the Import Wizard, reducing the import process time and eliminating the risk of data corruption during file format conversion.
What - The Accruals Profile Import Wizard now supports native Excel (.xlsx) file uploads in addition to the existing CSV format. Users can import data directly from provided Excel templates without the extra conversion step to CSV, and the system automatically detects the file type and processes data from the first worksheet tab with clear error messaging for unsupported file formats.
Why - This enhancement was implemented due to customer requests to streamline the import process and reduce potential errors from manual file conversions, allowing departments to work directly with the Excel templates provided without additional formatting steps.
How -
Use Case - When implementing new accrual policies for probationary firefighters versus veteran personnel, the HR coordinator can prepare the accrual profiles in the provided Excel template with different accumulation rates and carryover rules for each group, then directly upload the .xlsx file to update all personnel profiles in a single import operation without converting to CSV format.
What - New custom rotation patterns have been added to the scheduling system, providing additional flexibility for shift assignments and workforce scheduling.
Why - These rotation patterns were added due to customer requests for scheduling configurations that match specific departmental staffing models and operational requirements not covered by existing rotation options.
How -
Use Case - A fire department transitioning to a new staffing model that requires a 48 on/120 off rotation pattern for their emergency response teams can now select this pre-configured rotation rule instead of attempting to create a custom workaround. The scheduler includes the new rotation rule, associates it with the appropriate shift, and assigns personnel to the rotation, ensuring accurate schedule generation and Kelly Day calculations that align with the new staffing agreement.
What - Organizations can now configure how early employees can clock in before their scheduled shift start time through a new Time Clock setting. Administrators can set an organization-wide early clock-in window of up to 60 minutes, allowing employees to clock in for legitimate pre-shift activities while ensuring accurate time tracking that reflects actual clock-in times rather than scheduled shift start times.
Why - This feature was implemented due to customer requests to accommodate pre-shift activities such as equipment checks, briefings, and station preparations without requiring manual workarounds or shift board adjustments, while maintaining accurate time records that align with contractual and policy requirements.
How -
Use Case - A fire department requires all apparatus operators to arrive 15 minutes before shift start to perform equipment checks and inventory before going in service. The administrative chief enables the early clock-in feature with a 15-minute window, allowing operators to clock in when they arrive for their pre-shift duties. An operator scheduled for an 8:00 AM shift arrives at 7:45 AM, clocks in immediately upon arrival, and their timecard accurately reflects 7:45 AM as the start time, ensuring proper compensation for all pre-shift work performed.
What - Assignment scheduling capabilities have been expanded to allow administrators to apply custom rotation recurrence rules directly to assignments during creation. This enhancement works with both AWT (Advanced Workforce Tracking) and regular assignment types, and assignments appear on the shift board only on dates matching the selected recurrence pattern, automatically hiding them on non-applicable days to minimize blank space.
Why - This enhancement was implemented due to customer requests for more sophisticated assignment scheduling that aligns with specific rotation patterns, enabling departments to schedule specialized assignments that follow the same rotation cycles as their shift schedules without creating duplicate entries or manual workarounds.
How -
Use Case - A fire department operates a specialized Technical Rescue Team that follows a 48 on/96 off rotation pattern matching their A Shift schedule. The training coordinator creates a "Tech Rescue Standby" assignment and applies the 48/96 rotation recurrence rule during creation. The assignment now automatically appears on the shift board only during the 48-hour on-duty periods for A Shift, and personnel assigned to this specialized duty can be scheduled accordingly without the assignment cluttering the schedule on off-duty days, providing clear visibility of when the team is available for deployment.
What - The Personnel API now includes POST functionality, enabling programmatic creation of new personnel records through the API. This enhancement completes the full suite of CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update) for personnel management using a consistent data structure across all endpoints, with each successful POST request automatically generating a unique personnel ID and real-time validation against existing client data.
Why - This functionality was added due to customer requests for complete API-based personnel management capabilities, allowing external systems and integrations to create new user records alongside the existing GET and PATCH capabilities without requiring manual data entry through the web interface.
How -
https://[your-environment].firstdue.com/fd-api/v1/personnel/https://[your-environment].firstdue.com/fd-api/v1/personnel/[personnel-id]https://[your-environment].firstdue.com/fd-api/v1/personnel/[personnel-id]Use Case - A fire department uses an external HR system that manages new hire information and needs to automatically create corresponding user accounts in the scheduling system when new firefighters complete orientation. Their IT department develops an integration that uses the POST Personnel API endpoint to create new personnel records when the HR system triggers a "new hire onboarding complete" event, automatically populating department, station, rank, and other relevant fields. The API returns the new personnel ID, which the HR system stores for future updates, eliminating manual data entry and ensuring immediate scheduling system access for new personnel.
What - The time clock kiosk has been expanded to support clocking in for Activities/Events, Training, and Incidents in addition to the existing Shift Board functionality. Users can now select from four module options when clocking in and accurately log their time across multiple operational areas without being required to appear on the shift board, with the system displaying relevant options based on the selected module (all activities available for the current day, training classes assigned to the user for the current day, or open incidents from current and previous day).
Why - This enhancement was implemented due to customer requests for comprehensive time tracking across all department activities beyond scheduled shifts, allowing accurate logging of time for training exercises, special events, and incident responses while maintaining consistent data structure and reporting across all time clock functions.
How -
Use Case - A firefighter arrives at the station for a scheduled hands-on training class on vehicle extrication techniques. Instead of clocking in through the shift board (where they are not scheduled that day), they access the time clock kiosk, select "Training" from the module options, choose "Vehicle Extrication Class - October 15" from the dropdown of their assigned training classes, and clock in. Their time entry accurately reflects attendance at the specific training class with the class name recorded in the Location field. Later that day, if they respond to an actual vehicle accident, they can clock in again by selecting "Incidents" and choosing the specific incident, ensuring separate and accurate time tracking for both the training activity and the emergency response.
What - The shift assignment process now includes intelligent availability duration tracking that accurately calculates and displays remaining availability based on whether shifts consume full or partial availability windows. When users are assigned to shifts, the system determines if the assignment uses their complete availability window (such as a 24-hour shift for 24-hour availability) or only a portion (such as an 8-hour shift for 24-hour availability), and the Availability tab updates in real-time to reflect remaining unassigned hours.
Why - This enhancement was implemented due to customer requests for real-time visibility into partial availability after shift assignments, enabling schedulers to identify personnel who remain available for additional assignments rather than removing them completely from the availability pool when they still have unassigned hours.
How -
Use Case - A scheduler is staffing multiple units for an anticipated busy day and sees that a paramedic has indicated 24-hour availability. The scheduler assigns the paramedic to an 8-hour shift on the primary ambulance. Instead of disappearing from the Availability tab completely, the paramedic remains visible with 16 hours of remaining availability displayed. Later in the scheduling process, when a different unit needs coverage for a 12-hour period, the scheduler can easily identify and assign the same paramedic to fill that shift, maximizing utilization of available personnel without having to manually track who has partial availability remaining.
What - This fix resolves a critical issue where trade acceptors were being incorrectly removed from the Unassigned Person section after editing Trade Time Off records, ensuring proper maintenance of trade acceptor visibility and status throughout the entire trade lifecycle for accurate personnel tracking and workflow continuity.
Why - This fix was implemented due to customer request to address data integrity concerns in the trade management workflow where personnel visibility was being lost during routine record maintenance activities.
How - This fix works automatically:
Use Case - When a firefighter who accepted a trade has their Time Off record edited to add project codes or update notes, they remain visible in the Unassigned Person section, ensuring supervisors can continue to track their availability and the trade remains properly documented in the system without losing personnel assignment visibility.
What - This fix resolves a critical bug where editing Time Off Requests incorrectly updated the Initiated date to the current timestamp instead of preserving the original creation date, ensuring accurate reporting and maintaining proper audit trails for approval workflows.
Why - This fix was implemented due to customer request to address reporting accuracy issues that were causing confusion in approval workflows and impacting audit trail integrity for time off management.
How - This fix works automatically:
Use Case - When a firefighter submits a vacation request on January 15th and later edits it on January 20th to add additional notes, the system continues to show the Initiated date as January 15th, ensuring accurate reporting of request timing and proper audit trails for administrative review and approval processing.
What - This fix resolves a console error that occurred when switching users and attempting to copy week data on the time card page, ensuring seamless user switching functionality and eliminating browser console errors that previously disrupted the copy week workflow.
Why - This fix was implemented due to customer request to address data handling issues that could have led to data integrity problems or unexpected behavior during timecard management operations.
How - This fix works automatically:
Use Case - When a supervisor needs to copy the previous week's timecard data for multiple firefighters, they can switch between different personnel using the user dropdown and use the copy week function without encountering system errors, ensuring reliable timecard management across all employees under their supervision.
What - This fix resolves a critical issue where the system failed to properly detect users with APPROVE/DENY TIME OFF permissions when those users were assigned to multiple roles with mixed permission sets, ensuring users with required permissions are correctly identified and available for time off approval workflows regardless of which specific role grants them the permission.
Why - This fix was implemented due to customer request to address approval workflow bottlenecks where eligible approvers were not available for assignment despite having the correct permissions through their assigned roles.
How - This fix works automatically:
Use Case - A fire captain who has both "Station Officer" and "Training Coordinator" roles, where only the Station Officer role includes time off approval permissions, will now correctly appear in the list of available approvers, ensuring they can be assigned to approve vacation requests and other time off for their personnel without permission detection failures.
What - This fix resolves a critical validation issue where users on rotation for split shifts could exceed configured maximum working hours when being assigned to call shifts, ensuring proper enforcement of hour limits across all shift types and rotation statuses for compliance with configured work time restrictions.
Why - This fix was implemented due to customer request to ensure consistent application of maximum hour limits regardless of shift assignment status and prevent scheduling violations that could impact personnel safety and regulatory compliance.
How - This fix works automatically:
Use Case - A firefighter working alternating morning and afternoon rotations who has accumulated 36 hours over several days will be correctly excluded from available call shift assignments if the maximum consecutive hours is set to 39 hours with a 9-hour break requirement, ensuring compliance with fatigue management policies and preventing over-scheduling.
What - This fix resolves a critical issue where users were incorrectly excluded from call shifts due to faulty consecutive work hours validation, ensuring the system properly calculates maximum consecutive work time including partial shifts and break periods so that eligible users are correctly available for assignment.
Why - This fix was implemented due to customer request to address scenarios where users were being incorrectly marked as unavailable for shifts despite having adequate break time and not exceeding actual consecutive work hour limits.
How - This fix works automatically:
Use Case - A firefighter who worked 24 hours on November 8th, 8 partial hours on November 9th, and 24 hours on November 10th (totaling 56 total hours but only 32 consecutive hours) followed by a 48-hour break period will now be correctly available for shifts on November 13th since their consecutive hours (32) are below the 48-hour maximum and they had adequate break time, rather than being incorrectly excluded from assignment.
What - This fix resolves a critical issue where Job Board notifications were not being sent to users at their scheduled times, ensuring that when Job Boards are created with daily notification settings, users receive timely SMS and email notifications as configured for improved operational reliability in call shift management.
Why - This fix was implemented due to customer request to address notification delivery failures that were impacting operational communication and call shift coordination when Job Board functionality was enabled.
How - This fix works automatically:
Use Case - When a fire department creates a Job Board for available overtime shifts with daily notifications scheduled for 8:00 AM, all eligible firefighters now receive their SMS and email notifications reliably at the configured time, ensuring proper communication about available opportunities and maintaining operational readiness for call shift coverage.
What - The system now correctly calculates and displays off-days for 48/96 rotation schedules in the My Shifts view, ensuring users see the expected 4 days off in their rotation cycle rather than an incorrect 3-day display. This fix addresses a calendar display inconsistency that occurred specifically when a 48/96 rotation rule was deactivated and subsequently reactivated, causing the calendar calculation logic to lose sync with the rotation parameters.
Why - This fix resolves a data integrity issue affecting 48/96 rotation schedules where the calendar display did not match the shift board after rotation rule activation changes, causing confusion for personnel trying to plan their schedules around the correct rotation cycle.
How -
Use Case - A fire department temporarily deactivates their 48/96 rotation rule during a pay period transition and then reactivates it at the start of the new pay period. A firefighter on B Shift checks their My Shifts calendar to plan a family event during their upcoming off-duty period and now correctly sees 4 consecutive days off (96 hours) following their 48-hour shift, allowing them to accurately plan their time off without confusion. Previously, the calendar would have shown only 3 days off, potentially causing the firefighter to miss a day of their actual off-duty time or incorrectly believe they had duty on a day they were actually off.
What - The system now correctly maintains Time Off scheduling restrictions for call shifts even when the associated Time Off type has been deleted from the system. Users with active Time Off periods remain properly excluded from contactable lists for call shifts, honoring the original "Include in Call Shift" configuration regardless of whether the Time Off type still exists.
Why - This fix resolves a critical scheduling issue where users with deleted Time Off types were incorrectly appearing as contactable for call shifts during their off dates, due to the system losing Time Off context when the relationship was severed by type deletion.
How -
Use Case - A fire department reorganizes their Time Off type structure and deletes the legacy "Personal Leave" category after migrating active requests to a new "Discretionary Time Off" type. A battalion chief creates a call shift for emergency coverage on a date when several personnel had previously been approved for Personal Leave (before the type was deleted). The system correctly excludes these personnel from the contactable list for the call shift, preventing them from being contacted during their approved time off and maintaining the integrity of the original Time Off approval, even though the Personal Leave type no longer exists in the system.
What - Console errors that were occurring during basic interactions on the Mandatory Ranking page have been eliminated. The errors previously appeared when selecting options from the STATUS dropdown menu and when clicking the RESET button, and have been resolved to ensure stable page performance without changing any visible functionality or user workflows.
Why - This fix was implemented to address underlying technical errors that could have potentially led to system instability or performance degradation over time, ensuring reliable operation of the Mandatory Ranking page even though users were not experiencing broken features.
How -
Use Case - A training coordinator accesses the Mandatory Ranking page to review certification compliance across all personnel and uses the STATUS dropdown to filter for only those with expired certifications, then clicks RESET to view all personnel again. These interactions now occur without generating console errors, ensuring the page operates reliably during daily certification tracking and compliance reporting activities without any technical issues affecting system performance.
What - Time off editing functionality is now consistent across different navigation paths within the system. Users can now edit time off entries and adjust time frames (including START TIME and END TIME fields) from both the Shiftboard → Scheduling Deputy → Time off interface and the Time off → Review interface, providing the same level of control regardless of the access path used.
Why - This fix resolves an inconsistency where users could only edit time off entries and adjust time frames from the Time off → Review interface, while the same editing capability was unavailable in the Shiftboard → Scheduling Deputy → Time off view due to START TIME and END TIME fields not being displayed.
How -
Use Case - A deputy chief reviewing the shift board for the upcoming week notices that a firefighter has a vacation day scheduled but needs to adjust the start time from 0800 to 1200 to allow the firefighter to work a partial shift in the morning. Instead of navigating away from the shift board to the Time off → Review section, the deputy chief can now edit the time off entry directly from the Shiftboard → Scheduling Deputy → Time off view, adjusting the START TIME field and saving the change without disrupting their scheduling workflow.
What - The iCal calendar feed now properly synchronizes updated assignment names to external calendar applications after user assignment modifications. When users are removed from shift assignments and those assignments are subsequently modified, the changes now immediately reflect in both the MY SHIFTS view and the iCal calendar feed, ensuring consistent scheduling data across all platforms and eliminating discrepancies between internal views and external calendar applications.
Why - This fix resolves a critical synchronization issue where the iCal calendar feed displayed outdated assignment names in external calendar applications despite the MY SHIFTS view showing correct updated information, due to the iCal feed generation logic not properly refreshing assignment data after user deletion events.
How -
Use Case - A firefighter is initially assigned to "Engine 5 - A Shift" but is later moved to "Ladder 3 - A Shift" by the scheduler. The firefighter uses the iCal feed to sync their schedule with their personal Google Calendar for family planning purposes. Previously, their Google Calendar would continue showing "Engine 5 - A Shift" despite the MY SHIFTS view correctly displaying "Ladder 3 - A Shift," causing confusion when they arrived at the wrong station. With this fix, when the assignment change is made on the Shift board, the iCal feed immediately updates, and upon the next refresh cycle, their Google Calendar accurately displays "Ladder 3 - A Shift," ensuring they arrive at the correct assignment location.