The Kansas State Board of Nursing (KSBN) licenses and regulates all nurses in the state of Kansas. Approximately 75,000 licensees are managed by a staff of just 27 people. As a 100% fee-funded, self-standing agency, every technology decision KSBN makes must justify itself. There is no safety net for state appropriations. Every dollar spent, from operations to technology, comes from licensee fees.
KSBN has been on a modernization path for decades. The agency was the first nursing board in the United States to offer online license renewal, a milestone that set the tone for how the agency approaches technology: prove it works, then build on it. That same philosophy is now driving its adoption of Softdocs.
After outgrowing a limited web form platform, navigating a forced vendor exit, and absorbing a year’s worth of audits, KSBN is using Softdocs to close the operational gaps between its core systems and build toward a fully digital operation on its own terms.
Results at a Glance
- 75,000+ licensed nurses are managed across Kansas with a staff of 27
- Several million documents are managed digitally across KSBN’s existing systems
- 100% fee-funded: Every technology investment is funded entirely by licensee fees
- Internal HR, leave, and IT request workflows already live in Softdocs
- Third-party continuing education platform on track to be phased out once the Individual Offering Approval (IOA) process goes live
In this live session, Adrian Guerrero, Director of Operations at the Kansas State Board of Nursing, will share how the agency approaches modernization in a practical and incremental way. Rather than pursuing a disruptive "big bang" technology overhaul, they focus on gradually evolving systems — reducing reliance on paper-heavy processes while introducing digital workflows that better support staff, constituents, and licensees. Duration: 60 minutes.
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Challenges: Paper, Patchwork Systems, and a Turning Point
For years, KSBN relied on a third-party web form platform to handle the workflows that fell outside its core licensing and document management systems: continuing education submissions, HR leave requests, education department approvals, and internal IT requests. It filled the gap well enough until COVID-19 hit, and demand for nurse licensing surged nationwide. The platform couldn’t keep up, and the team was stretched thin trying to build new processes under pressure.
The vendor was also acquired by a foreign company and discontinued U.S. service entirely. For KSBN, this wasn’t just a vendor transition. It was a data sovereignty issue. The agency needed to keep its data in the continental United States, and it needed to move fast.
Simultaneously, a legislative post-audit of KSBN’s cybersecurity posture (expected to take a few weeks) ran for two and a half months. Auditors wanted to see who approved what, when, and where it went. Fragmented processes made that difficult. In addition, the agency went through an FBI audit, two cybersecurity reviews, and a finance audit in a single year, pulling the small IT team in every direction.
Why Etrieve from Softdocs: A Platform Built for the Gaps
KSBN was already evaluating options when the vendor transition became urgent. Softdocs was in the conversation, and the timing made the decision clear.
The requirements were specific:
- Handle diverse workflows across multiple departments — HR, IT, education, and investigations — without requiring a large IT team to build and maintain custom infrastructure for each one
- Meet the state's 7230A security framework, aligned with NIST standards
- Support ADA and web accessibility requirements
- Be flexible enough to expand beyond whatever problem is in front of them today
The SaaS model was equally important. KSBN’s IT team of three covers everything: data center, end-user support, database reporting, and more. Platforms that require building and maintaining infrastructure internally are not realistic for an agency this size. Softdocs removed that burden.
The partnership between Softdocs and KSBN was also a factor. Softdocs offered something Adrian hadn't always had with technology vendors: direct access to people, fast responses, and a sense that the agency's needs actually mattered.
Implementation: Starting at the Edges
The Kansas State Board of Nursing’s approach to deploying Softdocs is deliberate by design. The agency describes itself as an evolution agency, not a Big Bang agency. It proves value before expanding investment. Rather than tackling its largest systems immediately, Adrian chose to start with the workflows that had no good home in the existing stack — what he calls the “fifth wheel” of agency operations.
HR leave requests and FMLA tracking were among the first processes to go live, giving the team hands-on experience building in Softdocs before any public-facing rollout. IT request workflows followed, replacing the email chains previously used for access changes and ID badge requests. Routing those requests through Softdocs brought them out of email inboxes and into a trackable system.
The IOA (Individual Offering Approval) process is next. It handles continuing education credit submissions from nurses seeking approval for programs outside KSBN’s pre-approved list. It will be the agency’s first externally-facing Softdocs workflow. The education department’s long-term care provider approval process is also in the build phase.
As of Spring 2026, both are on track to roll out in the near term.
Early Impact
The leave and HR workflows alone changed how Adrian manages day-to-day operations. Where the process previously meant cross-referencing spreadsheets against the state HR system, he can now pull what he needs directly from Softdocs and route documentation to the right people without chasing it through email.
Hybrid work has made electronic workflows a necessity, not a preference. Staff come into the office one to two days a week. Before Softdocs, paper documents were physically leaving the building, posing a real security and records risk. KSBN actually had documents blow down the street before. That risk is now gone with the process built into the Etrieve platform.
The agency is navigating heightened legislative scrutiny, and the ability to make small but visible changes quickly matters. When a representative asks whether KSBN can send a thank-you email after someone renews or submits a form, Adrian can now say yes on the spot without a development cycle.
Once the IOA process goes live, KSBN expects to reduce — and potentially eliminate — its reliance on a third-party continuing education platform it currently uses. That consolidation will significantly simplify operations and reduce costs.
What’s Next: Integration, Consolidation, and Scale
KSBN’s current licensing system reaches end of life in June 2027. The agency is intentionally on a code hold, limiting new investment in the existing system, while it plans a migration to a new, web-based platform. Softdocs is part of that picture.
KSBN is exploring API integrations that would connect Softdocs to the new licensing system, enabling data to flow between platforms in a way the current infrastructure doesn’t support.
Longer term, KSBN is evaluating Softdocs as a potential replacement for its Hyland document management system, a larger undertaking that would consolidate several million documents into a single platform. The phased work happening now is deliberate preparation for that decision.
Adrian serves on the state’s IT project governance committee and presents on automation and artificial intelligence to nursing regulatory bodies across North America. Softdocs has come up in both settings. When someone on the governance committee asked what KSBN was doing, Adrian pointed them to Softdocs.
For government agencies navigating the same realities of lean teams, fee-funded budgets, rising public expectations, and compliance environments that demand accountability at every step, KSBN’s story is a practical blueprint.
Start with the workflows that have no good home. Prove the platform. Build toward the core. Softdocs scales with the agency, not ahead of it.
Location
Topeka, KS
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