Case Study: City of Shawnee achieves rapid legacy-app modernization and improved citizen services with OutSystems

The City of Shawnee Brightens the Future of Legacy Apps—and the Community—With OutSystems

The City of Shawnee, Kansas, facing a backlog of decades-old Lotus Notes applications and with just one application developer on a 12‑person IT team, needed to replatform its legacy systems while keeping rapid development, adding web and mobile capabilities, and maintaining agility without increasing headcount. After evaluating low-code options, the city selected OutSystems to modernize apps, streamline workflows, and support its Agile process.

Using OutSystems, the city produced 30 production apps in one year, converted paper processes to mobile (a burn-permit app launched in two weeks now handles over 70% of applications online), and iterated features quickly (asset-management enhancements in 3–5 weeks). The platform reduced staffing and administrative costs through automation, enabled an intern-to-apprentice pipeline where inexperienced hires build production apps within months, and positioned Shawnee to retire Lotus Notes while improving citizen services and operational efficiency.

City of Shawnee

Alex Popp

Team’s Application Developer