Here’s what a modern Crew Management solution can do for you
If your railroad company is looking to make those days a thing of the past and transform your crew management through a digital solution, then think of automation and optimization as two of the biggest ways to modernize railroads – yours included.
Navigating train crew management in an increasingly digitalized world means that the railroad can also benefit from the modernization of their crew management systems. This will impact every facet of crew management, and today we’re going to talk about how a modern crew management software solution for railroads can benefit your timekeeping operations, resulting in rapid crew allocations and automated timekeeping data and reports for auditing and payroll.
By making strides in integrating a cloud-based crew management solution into your railroad, you’ll
Major challenges for crew managers
The logistics of running a crew are complex and tricky, not to mention overwhelming if you don’t have the right tools to do it. Functioning under a manual system, the chance of making errors or experiencing redundancies and making erroneous pay calculations increases.
Working within an inflexible system isn’t the best way to optimize your processes and make timekeeping and tracking crew allocation more efficient. Here are some of the major challenges that crew managers face in their daily operations:
- Manual notifications resulting in communication breakdowns
- Decentralized data
- Inefficient use of crew and long layover times
- A slow learning curve
But the prognosis for the future isn’t all doom and gloom for railroad companies – especially if you’re ready to take the next steps and digitalize your crew management solution. Cloud-based systems have gone a long way in addressing the challenges of a multi-faceted transportation organization, including the ones listed above.
You don’t have to stay stuck at step one: identify your pain points. Let’s talk about the next step in your crew management modernization.
Integrate a centralized, rail crew management system
An important step in modernizing (thus, digitalizing) your crew management system is to centralize all your data in one location. You want to make sure that crew availability and allocation is tracked continuously in real-time. That way you avoid having to go back later and manually input crew hours of service (HoS) or crew allocation.
Within this crew management solution, an automated pool order is created, and an optimal crew rotation plan is delivered that complies with both crew union rules and FRA regulations. Valuable data is then delivered in real-time, via a that is accessible through a desktop computer or mobile device.
Integrate a mobile app within that system
This brings us to the next step, implementing a solution that allows for the integration of a mobile app. This would enable accessibility and crew call for rail crew working anywhere, including remotely. Keeping this in mind, we created myCall, the self-care mobile that is a part of the CloudMoyo Crew Management solution.
There are three primary ways that this app will help your modern crew management system help you work more efficiently:
- Increased productivity: The app extends your reach outside of your office, due to it being accessible on the desktop or with a mobile device.
- Easy to use and upmarket: Who wants another complex application? myCall empowers you to save time by doing routine activities smartly.
- Track your crew: This is one feature you don’t want to miss. The app enables real-time notifications that enhance instant communications among railroad employees.
Integrated within the system is the myCall app, which provides a self-service portal for rail crew. This offers VR and SMS-based duty assignment and confirmations, attendance and leaves management, on-duty reporting, see forthcoming shift plans and receive notifications – all at the fingertips of crew members.
Generation of analytics and actionable insights
To require a system to automate timekeeping, you want to have cloud-based crew scheduling software that produces sophisticated analytics that addresses your unique pain points and needs and suggest actionable insights that can help you manage crews of employees and contractors.
These insights will help your management to determine the right crew size for a region, access the cost implications of different crew sizes, and monitor the effectiveness of a crew in a situation. This analysis will also factor in crew eligibility based on FRA regulations and labor union rules.
Addressing these complex considerations prior to sending your crew out to a locomotive or into the yard means that you can avoid the hassle of manual timekeeping and making payroll adjustments later, streamlining every process within crew management.
What else can this digital solution offer you?
Railroad companies need an application that will allow daily reporting and collaboration between remote crews, with real-time capabilities. The crew will be able to document where they have been allocated from whatever location they’re in, bypassing the need to access an immobile terminal.
Not only do you avoid the hassle of manual timekeeping, but you also enjoy the benefits of rapid crew allocations and the generation of timekeeping data and reports for auditing and payroll purposes.
If you consider effective crew management and operational efficiencies to be at the cornerstone of your railroad’s crew management, then we’d love to talk to you about taking the next step in your rail crew modernization. Connect with one of our rail Crew Management experts today to learn more or book a demo.