Madison manages a 25% overtime cut with real-time dashboards
Madison Fire & Rescue consolidated incident reporting, prevention, pre-plans, scheduling, and operational dashboards in First Due—then used real-time insights to manage a major overtime budget reduction while staying on target.
"The monitoring tools—the ability to leverage our data and understand our data—was critical in making the budget work."
Operational Impact & Key Outcomes
Overtime Budget Cut Managed
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Land Budget on Target
Solve Real-World Budget Challenges
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The Story
Background
By 2022, Madison Fire & Rescue had cycled through multiple RMS tools and still relied on separate systems for scheduling, pre-planning, paging, and reporting. Shifting reporting requirements created another forced change, and the department needed a platform that could cover most day-to-day operations.
Challenge
Multiple logins and inconsistent data created friction and made it hard to answer operational questions—especially around staffing and overtime. In FY25, Madison’s overtime budget was cut by 25%, creating an urgent need for real-time planning and monitoring that matched existing internal workflows.
Solution
Madison chose First Due to consolidate systems into a single platform capable of supporting about 80% of operational needs. The department rolled out modules including incident reporting, inspections, scheduling, hydrants, asset management, ePCR, and pre-planning, with connected dashboards for leadership.
Results
Madison created overtime buckets aligned to existing categories, analyzed conversion behavior (about 72% converting to time-and-a-half), and monitored overtime trends by pay period and month. The department finished the year essentially on target: $556,000 planned versus $559,000 actual.
About
Madison Fire & Rescue
Quick facts
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Turn staffing data into budget confidence
First Due Scheduling & Personnel brings schedule, pay rules, and reporting together so leaders can track overtime and staffing trends as they happen.
In their own words:
- What made you start looking for a new system?
- By 2022 the department was on its fourth RMS in about five years and still relied on separate tools for scheduling, pre-planning, paging, and reporting.
- What were you looking for in a platform?
- A solution that could cover about 80% of operations and consolidate multiple logins into one platform.
- Which modules are you using today?
- Incident reporting, inspections, scheduling, hydrants, asset management, ePCR, and pre-planning, plus responder workflows.
- Incident reporting, inspections, scheduling, hydrants, asset management, ePCR, and pre-planning, plus responder workflows.
- What problem were you solving with overtime dashboards?
- A 25% overtime budget reduction required better ways to assign, track, and monitor overtime spend throughout the year.
- What are you excited about next?
- AI support in ePCR for QA/QI to review more calls than limited staff capacity allows today.
Ready to simplify your operation and act on your data faster?
See how First Due helps fire and EMS agencies consolidate tools, improve visibility, and make budget-ready decisions with real-time reporting.
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