By Michelle Kotulski
Making the decision to integrate a new Learning Management System (LMS) into an organization or business is a transformative step, one that requires thoughtful planning and collaboration to ensure long-term success.
Assessment
The process should start with a clear assessment of organizational needs. This can range from compliance tracking to building sales goals. No matter the final goal, training professionals should ask critical questions early to find proper alignment:
- Who are the stakeholders and the teams that will benefit from the LMS?
- What is the budget beyond implementation? Find out: What is the cost of running the system year over year?
- Who will be responsible for ongoing maintenance, upgrades, and overall ownership?
- Who will own the training data, and how will it be used?
- Which team is responsible for supporting users who have issues?
- Who will be the point person for watching new trends and system growth?
Each of these items needs input during the needs assessment, as these decisions will ensure that the LMS aligns with organizational goals for long-term success.
Don’t ignore functional requirements
Defining functional requirements—and reviewing them annually—is another critical step. Taking the time to identify the must-haves, as well as the nice-to-haves, provides clarity when evaluating potential systems.
Requirements may include items such as single sign-on, data visualization, customization of the user interface, bulk user changes, reporting, forums, system role security, video tracking, mobile, or multi-language support. Crafting a list of these items before seeing all the vendor demonstrations will help you select suitable vendors to vet and narrow your focus on your specific needs for the LMS.
Evaluation & Selection
When you begin vendor evaluation, I recommend using real-life scenarios based on your organization’s experience to guide vendor demonstrations. This can help you identify how the system actually works on a day-to-day process that matters to your team, rather than risk a demo where vendor only showcase what the system does well.
For example, your system may not handle annual compliance certifications well, which causes challenges. Writing key scenarios that highlight these challenges, and asking the LMS vendor to demo how their system would perform will give you a true starting point on the system tools and administrative burdens of the LMS.
You might also consider creating a scorecard that includes requirements and scoring to ensure an objective comparison between the various LMS demonstrations.
Learning from experience can save you years of frustration. If you have had issues in the past or items of frustration, make sure to document those and use them to help plan for future needs. For example, if you had issues with compliance tracking or HRIS integrations, document the specific issues and how you resolved them. This historical documentation can help recall items that may only occur every few years but are important items to consider in a new LMS.
Implementation
Once you have selected your vendor, it is time to prepare for implementation.
Communication and engagement are vital throughout the implementation process. Developing a communication plan that clarifies who needs to be informed, when, and why makes this a more seamless process.
Make sure to look for internal communication channels, such as intranet boards, newsletters, and system notifications to help reduce impact on staff, so they can plan accordingly. Highlighting new features or user experience can get users excited for upgrades or system replacements. It might also allow users to be more accommodating to system downtime, since they will know in advance and be excited about the coming improvements.
LMS integrations, upgrades, or replacements can be a significant undertaking. With careful planning, stakeholder involvement, and ongoing communication, training teams can ensure a successful transition.
By following these best practices, organizations might avoid common pitfalls, select a system that maximizes organizational benefit, and create a foundation for effective organizational learning.
Image credit: VectorMine
