Planitel is used throughout France to manage forecasters' calls

Forecaster on-call duty

Forecaster on-call duty: a 24/7 commitment

Forecasters, whether meteorologists or hydrologists, keep watch around the clock, covering both weather forecasts and alerts for floods and high water.

They work on an on-call rotation that lets them not only monitor conditions but also issue or receive alerts in real time.

This on-call duty demands careful organization, combining rigorous scheduling with a state-of-the-art phone call management system.

On-call management for a flood forecasting service

Flood forecasting services

On-call duty for flood forecasters is set up to anticipate and manage flood risk when weather events could cause rivers, streams and other waterways to rise significantly.

On-call flood forecasters talk regularly by phone with various partners, both during and outside hydrological crises.

Remote work and crisis-room operations require the service to use a single-number solution, so partners can reach forecasters easily and quickly, wherever they are.

Flood forecasters

How on-call forecasters are organized

Organizing the on-call calendar for forecasters often means building a team of several people available 24/7, spread across several sites, for a full week.

During the week, one forecaster is designated as the priority contact and takes incoming calls first. If the first on-call forecaster does not answer, calls then roll over to the other forecasters.

Finally, in a crisis, a number of forecasters must gather in a crisis room, and calls then have to be handled in a completely different way.

On-call duty at a regional environment agency

How do you manage forecasters' on-call calls?

Planitel is a tool that fits every on-call phone scenario forecasters face:

  • A phone schedule that makes it easy to automatically plan calls to on-call teams several months ahead, while respecting priorities.
  • Every escalation and call priority scenario you need, so that every call is handled.
  • Access to the Planitel interface anytime, anywhere, to change where calls go when a person or a mobile phone suddenly becomes unavailable.
  • Above all, the ability to switch on-call scenarios instantly and easily as soon as the flood service goes on alert.
  • And of course call tracking, so you know which forecaster is handling the information.

Planitel is already used successfully to manage forecaster on-call duty at several French regional environment agencies and their flood forecasting services.