Sudbury-conceived software finds staff, stat: Staffstat recognized for innovation, continues to grow.

• Author: Myers, Ella
• Position: SUDBURY

When Melanie Morin had to call down the list for nurses to fill last-minute shifts, shed reach a "pain point."

Now, Morin is the CEO and president at StaffStat, a Sudbury-based software company that is automating staff scheduling to eliminate that pain point in health-care facilities.

In November, StaffStat gained provincial recognition when it won the the Innovator of the Year award in the Innovator's Den at the 2016 This is Long-Term Care provincial conference in Toronto.

"We've got a pretty good fan base in the North. The fact that a little company from Northern Ontario gets to go down south against all these people with more access speaks to how relevant the product is," said Morin.

StaffStat was developed in 2012 by veteran nursing professional Sheri Tomchick, who had started up Plan A Healthcare Staffing in 2011. She hired Morin as her director of services after her "resume fell into her lap."

The Northern Ontario staffing agency was successful, but Tomchik and Morin were troubled by the amount of time they spent calling their roster of employees to fill missed shifts.

"We couldn't do anything but callouts," said Morin, who estimates they'd spend at least five hours a day just filling shifts. "We looked for automation, but didn't find anything."

That's when they decided to produce a software to automate the process. StaffStat was developed and hosted by Sunwire, another Sudbury-based company.

By 2013, StaffStat was Plan A's in-house scheduling software.

They got their big break in May 2014 when they participated in the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT) PITCH competition.

The annual event by the Sudbury innovation centre celebrates innovative ideas in the city.

StaffStat won the people's choice award, which got them $25,000 worth of services and in-kind development.

With the win, Tomchick and Morin headed toward commercialization, "rather than keep it an in-house secret."

Since officially launching in November, 2014, the team of two...