Author: Jeff Feiertag

Creating a Working Out of Class Report to Submit for Approval (MFF or LT)

Posted on August 15, 2022July 20, 2023 by Jeff Feiertag

Scenario: You are MFF or LT who has been working out of class (for at least 280 hours in the last six months, plus 10 days) and would like to submit a report for approval.

Log into FireApp and click the WOC button, located near the bottom of the left-side navigation.
Click the Create Report button after you have created your WOC entries. (If you have not yet logged those entries, please click here for directions.)
Check the boxes of the items you wish to include in your submission for approval.
Notes:
- Anything grayed out has already been submitted. If an item was denied in error, you will need to resubmit that entry.
- All selectable items (i.e., non-gray) will appear at the top of the list.
Select the appropriate battalion chief from the drop-down list and click the Send to BC button.
Note: You will not be able to send the report until you select a BC. When the items you have selected turn gray, you will know that the report has been sent. From there, you will also get an e-mail confirmation message.
Log off of FireApp when you are finished.

Creating a Working Out of Class Report to Submit for Approval (FF3)

Posted on August 15, 2022August 16, 2022 by Jeff Feiertag

Scenario: You are a FF3 who has been working out of class and would like to submit a report for approval at the end of the pay period. (Note: To cut down on the possibility for error, it is preferable for you to submit one report per pay period.)

Log into FireApp and click the WOC button, located near the bottom of the left-side navigation.
Click the Create Report button after you have created your WOC entries. (If you have not yet logged those entries, please click here for directions.)
Check the boxes of the items you wish to include in your submission for approval.
Notes:
- Anything grayed out has already been submitted. If an item was denied in error, you will need to resubmit that entry.
- All selectable items (i.e., non-gray) will appear at the top of the list.
Select the appropriate battalion chief from the drop-down list and click the Send to BC button.
Note: You will not be able to send the report until you select a BC. When the items you have selected turn gray, you will know that the report has been sent. From there, you will also get an e-mail confirmation message.
Log off of FireApp when you are finished.

Understanding MIS

Posted on July 21, 2022July 21, 2022 by Jeff Feiertag

MCFRS field staffing employees work shiftwork (96 hours in a pay period) and are assigned to a station, shift and Kelly Day (day off). Each day of the week is assigned a number 1 through 7…Sunday is 1, Monday is 2, Tuesday is 3 and so on. Shift workers work 24 hours and are off for 48 hours. Based on that, the employee’s schedule fluctuates each pay period.

When the Kelly Day falls on the employee’s shift to work, the employee is off, meaning they only work 72 hours that pay period. To make the employee whole and pay them for 96 hours, they are given a MIS Advance of 24 hours (72 + 24 = 96 hours). When an employee works too many hours in a pay period (5 shifts), a negative MIS of 24 hours is applied to make them whole (120 – 24 = 96 hours). Some pay periods, an employee will work 96 hours and no adjustment is needed. The MIS was designed to provide a stabilization of pay for MCFRS employees who don’t work the same number of hours in a standard pay period.

The MIS adjustments are added to the employee’s timecard on the 1^st Sunday of the affected pay period and appear on the employee’s payslip under Earnings.

Employees with a Sunday, Wednesday or Saturday Kelly Day never require an MIS adjustment…. they always work 96 hours in a pay period.

Each shift (A, B & C) has a different MIS cycle.

Additional scenarios re: MIS

Employees assigned to ECC work 84 hours each pay period and they have triple Kelly Days.
Employees assigned to FEI work 84 hours each pay period and they have a Kelly Day equivalent.
Employees on long term details or special schedules are given a Kelly Day equivalent.

Field staffing personnel have a 6-week MIS cycle

ECC personnel have a 12-week MIS cycle

FEI personnel have a 8-week MIS cycle

This information comes courtesy of FRS HR. Please contact them if you have any questions or concerns.

Approving of Denying Working out of Class Entries

Posted on July 11, 2022July 12, 2022 by Jeff Feiertag

Effective 07/01/2022, all tracking for working out of class is now performed via the FireApp Working out of Class (WOC) module.

Scenario: You have received e-mail, indicating that someone you supervise has submitted an entry for working out of class.

Log into FireApp and click the WOC button, located near the bottom of the left-side navigation. You will see any entries which require your attention. (Note: Do not reply to the e-mail you received about the WOC activity to be approved; they are not monitored.)
Click to select the one which you would like to approve or deny.
Review the details for the submission and click either the Approve or Deny button.

Note: You may not approve any entry that is greater than 24 hours, excluding Daylight Savings.

Entering Out of Class Hours in the FireApp WOC Module

Posted on July 11, 2022July 20, 2023 by Jeff Feiertag

Have you worked out of class (F3 as a primary apparatus officer, MFF as an officer in a station, MFF to primary unit officer while LT or LT as the sole or senior-most officer)? Effective 07/01/2022, out-of-class tracking is now done through FireApp’s Working Out of Class (WOC) module.

Log into FireApp.
Click the WOC button, located near the bottom of the left-side navigation panel.
Click the Member (Enter Working out of Class Activity) button.
Fill in the necessary fields.
Note the following:
- Activity Type: Select one of the four options.
  
  Note: The Firefighter III as a primary apparatus unit officer option will require you to select the specific incident and unit on which you worked out of class.
- Start DateTime and End DateTime: Identify the period in which you worked out of class in this role. This entry must be equal to or less than 24 hours. If you enter a time range which is greater than 24 hours, your supervisor is directed to deny the entry, except for daylight savings. (If you need to enter time for the period after 24 hours, such as for an incident than ran over into the next day, simply input a second entry for that next day’s activity.) Since tracking is now performed through the FireApp WOC module, you may enter hours that occurred prior to the last six months (plus a 10-day grace period), factoring in a rolling six-month period.
- Activity Hours: This field will auto-calculate, based upon the start and end times.
Click the Send to Superv(isor) button, located at the top of the screen.

Notes:
- This will send e-mail to your assigned supervisor. If your supervisor is on extended leave or you need to change supervisors for some other reason, you may search for another officer by using the Supervisor FSID field.
- If you make a mistake and switch to another FireApp module (effectively saving this entry without sending it to your supervisor), you may return to the WOC module and continue the entry. Additionally, if you made an error and want to have the record removed from the database, simply submit a TSR to request the entry be deleted. Please be as specific in the description as you can.

Using the PPE Quarterly Inspection Form

Posted on July 5, 2022July 6, 2022 by Jeff Feiertag

MCFRS has moved the PPE Quarterly Inspection Form to Jotform. While it is mostly self-explanatory, please note the following:

The form may be accessed via Quicklinks (Support Services menu) or by direct link here.
Pictures may be added to the bottom of the form. The images should be of the tag that is filled out and returned by Maryland Fire. An example of a ticket (although not filled out) is below:

Note: Please place the two tags side by side for you to take your picture before submitting.

Viewing SeamlessDocs Submission Attachments

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Jeff Feiertag

Did you receive a SeamlessDocs message, indicating you need to approve a form which may have some attachments? Would you like to view those attachments to determine if you should sign?

Receive the e-mail, requesting your signature and click the Sign Document link or button, as directed in the message.
Wait for the browser to load your form.
Click the paper clip (attachments) icon.
Note that the Upload Attachments window appears. It is nearly identical for someone who needs to attach a file as it is for someone who needs to review a file.
Click the link labeled Click Here to View (as opposed to Click Here to Upload). The file will either open in a new tab or download to your default download folder (typically the Downloads folder).

Running the ePCR/Elite Cache Clear

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Jeff Feiertag

EMIHS has made a change to speed up the load time for eMEDS/Elite. (It will also clear out the dashboard. The down-side to that is that, when it runs at 0300 hours each day, it will also clear out the unit and crew. If you run any calls between 0300 and shift change, please re-input your information as needed.)

If your system seems to be running slowly throughout the day and you would like to run this process on your own:

Log out of Elite.
Find and double-click the BrowserClear shortcut on the Windows desktop.
Note the window that appears and click the Clear Cache button.
Click the Yes button if you would like to proceed. (If not, click the No button and close the Clear Cache box you saw before.) You will know the process is complete when the window disappears.

Getting Rid of the News and Entertainment Posts in a New Edge Tab

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Jeff Feiertag

Are you using Edge and finding that, when you start a new tab, you see all kinds of news and entertainment posts? Do you just want a basic search page, instead?

Open Edge.
Click the three dot button at the far right and choose Settings.
Click Start, Home and New Tabs on the left side of the screen.
Find the New Tab section at the bottom of the page.
Find the first item in that section, Customize your new tab page layout and content, and click the corresponding Customize button.
Note that your tab loads with all of the news and such.
Find and click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the page.
Click Focused.

Updating Software Center to Show Most Recent App Availability

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Jeff Feiertag

Are you trying to find something in the Windows Software Center, which you know should be there but is not? Here are directions to update Software Center to show the most current list of available apps.

Close Software Center, if you have it open.
Click the Windows start button (at the bottom-left of your taskbar) and type Control, but do not press the Enter key.
Find Control Panel in the resulting list and click it, in order to open it.
Wait for the Control Panel window to open, and then find the search box at the top-right corner of the window. Click in the search box.
Type Config and you’ll see Configuration Manager appear as an option. Click the Configuration manager link
Wait for the Configuration Manager Dialog box to appear and then switch to the Actions tab.
Find and click Application Deployment Evaluation Cycle in the list and then click the Run Now button, located at the bottom-right of the dialog box. Wait for that process to finish.
Find and click Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle in the list and then click the Run Now button.
Click the OK button and then close the Control Panel.
Re-launch Software Center as desired.

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