Creating The Right Selection Team For Choosing An LMS
When choosing a Learning Management System, all members of your selection will be using the LMS in different ways and their feedback is critical. The features an information technology person deem important may be quite different than the HR perspective, right? Here are the team members you need:
- Administrators/HR/Training.
These folks have a lot of input in the LMS buying decision. They will be using the system the most and will be concerned about things such as how easy is it to create a new training course, how flexible and configurable is the system, and what type of reporting features it has. - IT.
Be sure to always have an IT expert on your team. They know the business and IT strategy of your company and can provide crucial input on an LMS. They’ll be concerned with on-premise vs. cloud LMS, how much customization is needed, and how much maintenance and on-going administration will be necessary, to name a few. - Organizational Depts.
With larger companies, various departments will often times have their own training needs outside of the corporate LMS. It’s important to have their input on how they might need the system for their specific needs. - Learners.
Don’t forget to include your learners before making any big decisions. If your employees aren’t using the system, you’ll be back at square one. for example, this person on your team will want to know how easy the system is to use, how does one see the courses they’ve completed, and what tech skills are needed to use the system.
Do You Have A Leader?
This person needs to drive the team, an “LMS champion”. They should be well versed in your company’s learning needs, has the backing of management, and controls the budget. They should also be able to bridge the various needs of the LMS team and come to a consensus.
Who Will Be Using The LMS?
It’s important to define your customers and the ways in which they’ll be utilizing the LMS. Come up with a variety of scenarios or initiatives with the customers in mind. Map out exactly what needs to be done and what tools are needed to implement the initiative. One example would be onboarding: If you know that in the next year that your company will be hiring a lot more staff and/or expect changes in user information, it will be particularly useful to have real-time integration features with your selected LMS.
Making A High-Level Requirements List
Your team of decision makers will be a big help in creating the list. Think about what your company goals are as well as some big projects coming up. Needs will not be the same across the organization, so it’s a good idea to think about questions that every member of your LMS selection team should answer. Examples include:
- What tasks am I going to perform with the new LMS?
- What is a must-have?
- If there was another LMS before, what features weren’t utilized and why?
Some of the questions might be role-specific, such as:
Administrator/HR/Training:
- What training goals do I have?
- What processes do I need to set up?
- How will I show that my goals have been achieved?
- What reports do I need to have?
- Are there any certification requirements?
IT:
- What will I need to integrate the new LMS with? HRIS? Active Directory? CRM? SharePoint?
- Will I need to set up single sign-on?
- What are compliance/security requirements?
Organizational Departments: The sales department might need mobile features or marketing needs product knowledge training.
The Problem With The Endless Features List: Developing Use Cases
Once a high-level requirements list has been drafted, it should be fairly easy to work with. One of the biggest traps when shopping for an LMS is asking for every feature that is available that may or may not be needed.
One way to avoid this problem is to develop use cases. This strategy will help you stay on task and focused. With your team assembled, ask each member to come up with their top scenarios that they need the LMS for.
For instance, let’s say that Sally Smith, training manager, needs to be able to add an eLearning course that would be required for mid-management level staff in all departments, but also optional for another department. She also needs to add a test after the course.
Another example: John Doe needs to be able to provide comprehensive reporting in order to receive government funds. He also has multiple territories that all have different training needs and requirements. And did we mention that it all has to be done behind the firewall, too?
Now it’s easy to provide a vendor with your list of use cases so they can demonstrate how their systems will do the job. Doing this is beneficial to your team so you can better understand how the system can solve your training needs without just looking at features alone. Different systems can call a feature the same name, but what really matters is how easily you can do what you need to do in your LMS of choice. In addition to your use cases you can still have a list of most important features. But always accompany them with appropriate scenarios that will take advantage of the feature.
Final Word
With all the prep work down, you can now add priorities to each of your use cases/features/requirements to understand what’s crucial, what’s important, and what’s just nice to have. For more information about choosing a Learning Management System, check the free eBook What Everybody Ought To Know About Choosing An LMS.