The Missouri Division of Fire Safety Transforms Firefighter Training and Certification Management with Acadis

“A Complete Game-Changer”

Like many states, Missouri Division of Fire Safety operates with a very small staff. Yet the responsibility of ensuring thousands of firefighters across the state are trained and certified to do the job is huge and consequential.

While the Division does not offer a traditional academy experience, it operates as a virtual academy through a network of colleges, career centers, high schools, and fire departments that conduct the basic training classes required for certification and then report course completions back to the Division. The Division manages certification testing and issues certifications to thousands of firefighters and, most recently, emergency medical responders, each year. The Division also tracks ongoing professional education for specialty certifications like instructors, inspectors, investigators, rope rescue, and hazmat technicians.

In the past, manual compliance tracking and certification testing created significant bottlenecks and logistical challenges. Recognizing the need for a modern, streamlined approach, the Division adopted the Acadis^® Readiness Suite to help improve training and compliance management and optimize operations.

The Burden of Fragmented and Paper-Based Systems

Before adopting Acadis, the Division managed training and certification data using a combination of siloed and manual processes. This created several time-consuming and compliance-risk challenges.

“In the past, everything was paper. We would start a paper record, and we had a database we would back it up with, but the tracking in the database was so nonexistent that we still had to track everything by paper,” shared the Deputy Chief of Training and Certification.

Locating a record might mean a trip to the local department’s attic to sort through filing cabinets or boxes of paper. Certification testing applications arriving by mail or fax had to be manually entered into a database. Even administering tests was a challenge with only a handful of test sites, requiring staff to cart physical exams to and from the site, and then grade and process the exams. It could take up to 30 days for students to get their results.

Acadis Transforms Service Delivery through Unified Operations

• Replaced cumbersome physical exams offered at a limited number of test sites with online testing, expanding the Division’s ability to manage nearly 55 testing centers across the state.
• Significantly reduced the wait time for test results from weeks to days.
• Substantially increased testing volume by nearly 50%, often with more than 750 exams administered within a single month.

“Before Acadis, we were limited to one test a day, if that. Now, it’s common to have five happening across the state at once,” the Deputy Chief reported. “And students get their scores in as little as three days; sometimes the same day!”

Automated Training Data Saves Local Departments Time and Effort

The Division also leverages AgencyConnect to expedite and streamline training submissions from local departments through the one-of-a-kind solution. Missouri fire departments using TargetSolutions to track training can automatically transmit training data directly to the state’s Acadis system through this unique connection.

“AgencyConnect was a total game-changer for the renewal of certifications. The system monitors everything automatically,” shared the Deputy Chief. “We have training categories already set up that departments can select from, and we can add more or change them if we need to. It’s been a huge time saver. The departments love it because everything is automatically tracked.”

Unlocking the Full Potential of Acadis

The Missouri Division of Fire Safety is excited to achieve even greater efficiency in the future, with plans to offer free online learning content for recruit first responders, conduct evaluator training and credentialing, and provide local department leaders with portal access to monitor personnel certification and training status, all through Acadis.

“Almost five years in, we might be utilizing 40% of Acadis’ capabilities.” the Deputy Chief said. “The whole system has been a complete game-changer for us. Not only in records management and testing, but also in data, and how we can report where we’re seeing training and where it’s lacking. It’s huge for Missouri.”