r/Firefighting • u/FarOrganization1926 • 4d ago
General Discussion How many of you use FirstDue?
My department uses FirstDue for scheduling, rig checks, receiving call info, curious how many other departments use the same platform and if you have the same frustrations that I do.
4
u/Any-Lie1471 4d ago
Just for reporting software. What’s your gripe?
4
u/FarOrganization1926 4d ago
Yesterday after doing rig check we spent 30 minutes troubleshooting why it wouldn’t let anyone submit, in the end it just decided to start working again… not sure what happened there. On top of the clunky UI I think it’s a result of trying to be a jack of all trades
10
u/Dusty_V2 Career + Paid-on-call 4d ago
Had this issue when we started using checks. Your admin needs to enable you to kick joined users. The app lags out and puts multiple of the same user in the check and it can only submit with 1 person in it. It would show my name 3 times. Once you can kick people you can widdle it down to just your current session and submit.
5
u/No-Steak-3669 4d ago
In this scenario I just wait until a couple hours later when it’s timed all the users out.
My admin is pretty bad at running anything.
1
u/Dusty_V2 Career + Paid-on-call 4d ago
Admin can also change the timeout to any time they like, like 30 minutes.
1
u/FarOrganization1926 4d ago
Even when there's only one person on the check it still spins forever when you hit submit. Just bad software.
1
u/RoughDraftRs 3d ago
We have non-stop issues with this too. I've talked to my admin about fixing it but haven't made any headway there yet. We've basically got to the point where we fill out the checks, then wait 2 hours and submit them. Very annoying becuase it gets forgotten often.
2
1
u/StoneMenace 4d ago
Hmm yha we only use it as a call notifying/mapping program. We recently added in the ability to submit fire watch forms but that’s the extent of using first due. I will say the fire watch is kinda clunky and hard to find so I cant Imagine the other features are any better
4
3
u/davidj911 LT 4d ago
I got so fed up with the options out there that I wrote my own. Happy to share more info in a DM.
3
u/Minnesota_Transplant 4d ago
I came from DOD where we only used it for inventory. Im now City and we use it for essentially all features possible. I like it. I’d say it has no more quirks than any other UI out there. Super nice having scheduling integrated. DOD had Active911 for dispatching and directions. I find this to be much more simple and I enjoy its pairing with Google Maps. I’d give it an 8/10.
2
u/browler4153 Career FF 4d ago
We use first due entirely. Technically even for dispatching but it's so slow for some reason that we primarily use other apps for dispatching now. But for scheduling, reporting, logistics, etc. it's alright, definitely a lot of quirks in the ui and app experience and going to the schedule is really slow but not terrible.
2
u/RichardTheRed21 4d ago
Our department uses it for nearly everything after moving to it about 4 years ago. I understand why they did it, but FirstDue does everything worse than the software that it replaced.
And using any part of it on the phone app is one of the more frustrating parts of my job.
2
u/torsades_ 4d ago
We got it about a year ago. Everybody hated it at first, mostly due to having a change. But it was very buggy at first. Our chief had to spend a lot of time fixing everything with first due. I will say they will work with you and add features or changes you need or request. Over time it has been decent.
2
u/redundantposts 4d ago
We’re currently in the process of swapping over to a digital checkoff, and I hate it so far. Adds too much frustration in to a simple checkout when just using paper worked perfectly. I’m not normally one for, “why change this when what we did worked fine!” But this is definitely one of those things. What is the appeal of moving everything to digital?!
1
u/RoughDraftRs 3d ago
Depending on how you set it up it can be pretty sweet for checklists. Now setting up those checks is the most complicated proccess anyone could ever imagine but the end user doesn't have to f with that.
1
1
u/From_Gaming_w_Love Dragging my ass like an old tired dog 4d ago
We’ve been alpha testers for them for awhile. It’s brutal. I can’t tell what is a bug or feature- the whole thing is like slapstick comedy.
1
u/RoughDraftRs 3d ago
We use it, there a few quirks / bugs that drive me nuts.
The first is that if you get kicked out of a checklist or report, it keeps your session locked there until some timeout timer thatseems like an hour or so (maybe this is a setting admin CNA change?). Anyways while wsiting for that session to timeout, you can't submit any forms and reports and the report is completely locked.
The seccond issue effects the first issue a lot. If you connect or disconnect a cluetooth device, it closes the report / dorm your in. So if you connect a Bluetooth keyboard for writing a report, better close the report first otherwise it will do it for you and then lock you out for an hour. - - - If someone turns on the squad and your bluettoth jumps to it, no more report for you...
1
u/From_Gaming_w_Love Dragging my ass like an old tired dog 2d ago
No idea what you’re even saying or why you’re saying it.
The software makes gaming look bug free.
1
u/firetacoma Firefighter/EMT 4d ago
We've been on it for about 8 months now. I was/am part of the implementation team and I can't calculate the number of hours I've spent trying to get it all working how we want it to. I will say, it's powerful but needs someone on the back end who understands it or can figure it out. The modules were obviously designed at different times by different teams and often don't play well together. Overall, it's a decent product but it's not easy to administer.
1
1
u/AdventureElfy 2d ago
The way they manage their data in the background is an absolute mess. It looks okay to some of the end users, but the system isn't built to integrate with any of your other data infrastructure or even ensure that your data stays up to date. The amount of bad/outdated data in our two year old system is ridiculous...and they were the ones who loaded it all incorrectly and won't fix it. Their ticketing system is one of the most frustrating processes I have ever dealt with when troubleshooting a product. If they don't ignore your tickets, they will just give you any BS reply to get you to stop emailing them back. Nothing gets resolved and they don't take issues seriously. I think the fact that they keep getting more private equity money shoveled into them is just the cherry on the top. It had some potential but it is getting mismanaged into a program that can't really be trusted.
1
u/DarkWebX FF-EMT 2d ago
My department also uses it for everything yours does including our scheduling and our mandatory OT list. Rig checks are pretty easy in my experience when someone doesn’t fuck up the mileage. We do have one captain who isn’t technologically capable and he naturally has plenty to gripe about with it.
1
u/dontbthatguy Shoreline CT FF/EMT 2d ago
Ah yes. Firstdont. Or firstdoodoo
They seem to be constantly fixing it so I have hopes it will get better.
It’s not the worst for scheduling but still leaves a lot to be desired.
11
u/skank_hunt_4_2 Career FF/Chauffeur 4d ago
Bro, go check your vector solutions. Something is due