Getting trained nurses credentialed and onto the front lines quickly is one of the most practical ways a province can strengthen its healthcare system. In Alberta, that process used to take months—sometimes years. Today, in many cases, it takes just minutes.
Sam Jenkins,
“The goal wasn’t to just digitize licensing. It was to rebuild the work so that [patients] could be safer.”
Punchcard
The shift is the result of a partnership between Edmonton-based software company Punchcard Systems and the College of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CRNA), which oversees licensing and renewal for more than 50,000 nurses and nurse practitioners across the province, ensuring they meet high standards of education, competence and ethical conduct. Together they’ve rebuilt the college’s infrastructure from scratch, replacing a paper-heavy, bottlenecked process with a custom digital platform designed to cut red tape and get qualified nurses back to patient care more quickly than ever before.
College Connect, the CRNA’s mobile-first, self-serve digital platform, is now seen as a model for other regulators looking to safely and efficiently streamline legacy operations—without losing sight of the original ambition.
“The goal wasn’t to just digitize licensing,” said Sam Jenkins, Punchcard Managing Partner. “It was to rebuild the work so that [patients] could be safer.”
Don’t digitize the problem
Four years ago, the college’s licensing process was still largely paper-based, supported by an off-the-shelf system that struggled to keep up with the volume and complexity of the work.
Every nurse in Alberta must renew their licence every year. For the college, that means processing tens of thousands of renewals every August and September, on top of a constant flow of new applications. Until recently, staff were buried in documentation. During peak periods, the organization brought in 15 temporary workers just to keep up. Even then, delays stretched on for months. In some cases, internationally trained nurses waited up to two years to be approved to practice.
“We would have qualified nurses who were not working as nurses while they waited to be approved,” says Andrew Slessor, CRNA’s Director of Technology Strategy and Enablement, and the leader behind the organization’s transformation and partnership with Punchcard.
The instinct in situations like this is often to digitize a system that already exists. But that approach rarely fixes the underlying problem.
“If you automate existing processes, you just automate a mess,” said Slessor. “Now you just have a mess going faster.”
Instead, CRNA sought out Punchcard. Together, they took a step back, looking into how decisions were actually being made inside the organization. They mapped the entire registrant journey, identified where manual steps could be cut entirely and automated categories of work that had always required human handling.
That mindset shift changed what needed to be built.
When off-the-shelf isn’t enough
For the CRNA, the decision to go custom ultimately came down to control. Regulatory workflows are complex and closely tied to provincial policy and regulations. The college needed a platform that could safely adhere to the rules, while also swiftly adapting as they change, without waiting for vendor updates or forcing its processes to fit a predefined system.
That control extends to how the platform is managed day-to-day. Slessor owns the product roadmap, so changes can be made as requirements shift. During renewal season, the system scales up to handle the surge and then scales back down again when it is over, without adding staff or incurring long-term costs.
That flexibility also shapes how the system works for its users. Nurses can complete key steps from wherever they are, without needing to carve out time to sit down and navigate a complex process. As a result, application and approval times have dropped from more than 100 days to under 60 minutes, meaning qualified nurses can move into practice in hours instead of months, according to a case study published by Punchcard.
Tasks that once required printing forms, mailing documents or waiting on manual review now happen in real time, reducing delays and administrative burden. In 2025 alone, the platform automated more than 10,000 identity and criminal record checks, saving over 600 staff hours. Annual renewal time has also significantly declined.
“Renewal now is what we call a ‘nothing burger,’” said Slessor.
A model for regulators under pressure
For both Jenkins and Slessor, the clearest measure of success is how many more qualified nurses are getting to work, and how quickly they can begin caring for patients. According to the CRNA, the college’s registrant base has grown by 20 percent since 2022, while new permits issued have risen by 400 percent—a sign that reducing friction in the system is helping more nurses get where they are needed most.
The pressures behind the shift are not unique to Alberta. Across the country, regulators are grappling with rising demand, more complex requirements and growing expectations for digital service.
For Jenkins, it comes down to where you start. Redesign the journey before introducing new technology. Focus on the highest-friction process, remove what is unnecessary and build from there. “Small experiments with radical intent,” he said.
Beyond the focus on process, though, the system is ultimately about something much more human.
“It’s about how you build a safer province when it comes to healthcare and nursing,” says Jenkins. “At the root of that is empathy. You really have to understand who you’re working with and why it’s important that these systems exist.”
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With over 150 clients across Canada and the United States, Punchcard helps private and public sector organizations modernize systems and automate complex workflows. Visit our website or read the full CRNA case study.
Feature image courtesy Punchcard Systems.