6 Steps To Efficiently Implement An Extended Enterprise LMS

Igor Crnatovic
Summary: When implementing an LMS to train your extended enterprise there are many tasks to juggle. But if you have a well-considered plan, the right resources, and the help you need from your LMS vendor, the process should go smoothly.

How To Successfully Implement An Extended Enterprise LMS

1. Set The "Go-Live" Date

The timeline for learning management system implementation varies massively. Some take a day, some take a year, but most take a couple of months at most. To ensure you stay on track and launch when you need to, setting a "go-live" date is a smart move. This date will be when your organization is actively rolling out and delivering its training through your new LMS. Launch dates are driven by different things. For some organizations, it’s a hard date that has to be met. For example, if new regulations for their partner audience are being introduced, or a new product is launching and customers need to be trained on it. Due to these looming deadlines, the "go-live" date is pretty much set in stone. Conversely, some organizations are more flexible with launch dates; for example, if they’re launching a new customer onboarding program that has no official release date. Whether you’re tied to a strict date or not, be sure to lean on your LMS provider for advice, particularly your assigned Customer Success Manager. They’ll have worked on hundreds of implementations in the past and will be able to advise you on realistic deadlines and offer best practice advice.

eBook Release: The Ultimate Guide To Delivering Extended Enterprise Training For Business Growth
eBook Release
The Ultimate Guide To Delivering Extended Enterprise Training For Business Growth
Discover how you can find the best LMS to help you achieve extended enterprise training success.

2. Know Your KPIs

What does training success look like for your organization? Is it a 100% completion rate on your partner certificate training? Or is it higher customer engagement post product training? Before you start delivering your extended enterprise learning, know what you want to measure. You should take stock of the metrics before the training begins so you can compare results and also know which reports you need to accurately track your key performance indicators. KPIs are troublesome to nail down as there are probably a lot of goals that your organization wants to achieve. To add clarity, lean on your Customer Success Manager. They'll help you understand the key milestones, determine whether they’re feasible, and direct you on how to accurately measure them.

3. Answer The Basics

When launching a new training program with an LMS, there'll be several decisions you'll have to make. With a varied range of features and workflows available, you'll need to figure out which ones your organization will be using and how they’re implemented. Take, for example, your users - how will you add them to the LMS? Are you going to batch upload or are you integrating with your CRM to automatically add them? And do you need permission from your security team to integrate your CRM with your LMS or does the Tech Team need to be involved? That's a lot of fundamental questions and it’s just one part of implementing your LMS. Answering these questions early on will ensure you have the necessary LMS workflows in place so you can meet your deadline.

4. Plan Your Portal Structure

The key to efficiently managing and delivering training to multiple audiences is to plan a portal structure that works best for your organization. Learning Portals work by having a single top-level
portal; this is the control room of the LMS. Then there are sub-portals - distinct learning environments that the top-level portal has control over. If you’ll need several portals, one for each of your multiple extended enterprise audiences, then a little thought will have to go into planning them. You’ll have to select which portal will be your top-portal (most organizations choose the employee training portal), and then which will be the sub-portals. You'll also need to set aside time to name, brand and white-label each of your portals, as well as decide who’s going to manage each so you'll have everything in order for launch.

5. Organize Your Team

Your extended enterprise LMS allows you to have different user roles within the platform - Administrators, Managers, Instructors, and Learners. During the LMS implementation process, you'll have to organize all of the user roles and ensure that your team members have the appropriate access. First, you'll have to plan who will be the Admins for your top portal and your sub-portals. Then, there are Managers, who play a lesser role, overseeing and reporting on their assigned Learners. Finally, who are the Instructors in each portal who facilitate training? If you know everyone's role, the level of access needed, and prepare them for what they need to do before you go-live, you’ll have a more efficient launch.

6. Do A Trial Run

Before the go-live date, it's a good idea to do a trial run. It will help you uncover any potential issues and allow your team to rectify them before you roll out training to your extended enterprise. For the trial run, organize a group of beta users, these can be employees in your organization or a small number of trusted customers or partners. You should test adding them to the LMS, enrolling them in a course, getting them to complete the course, generating reports, and any other functionality that is essential to the learning process. You can then collect feedback from users on any problems they experienced and tackle them before you launch. The best piece of advice to take when implementing an LMS is to rely on your LMS provider, your Customer Success Manager, and the LMS’s Support team. A good LMS vendor should be there to help you every step of the way, guiding you on best practices, and supporting you in creating a streamlined and successful LMS launch for your organization. Efficiently implementing an extended enterprise LMS is not an easy task. Hopefully, this article can help you on your way. In the meantime, download this eBook "The Ultimate Guide To Delivering Extended Enterprise Training For Business Growth".

Why not dig deeper and join the awesome Webinar: "Fuel Your Business’s Growth With Extended Enterprise Training.". The webinar is sponsored by eLearning Industry and presented by Phily Hayes, LearnUpon's Outbound Sales Manager.  In this session, you’ll discover the importance of extended enterprise learning, how to build a training strategy with an LMS, and how you can use it to fuel your business’s growth.

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