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No one said an enterprise software implementation was easy. But no one said it has to be an endless nightmare of headache after headache either. With a little bit of foresight, planning and preparedness, you too can have a smooth, seamless rollout. Here are the critical keys to success to consider before you begin your implementation journey:
As you begin your journey towards a system rollout, it is important to be aware of everything your vendor offers and how it can be leveraged for a smooth transition. From implementation plans and training to data migration and support services, make a list of all of the implementation assets your vendor provides and determine how to use these tools accordingly.
Let’s be honest; you won’t be able to implement an entire system overnight. That’s why it is important to establish a set of your use cases and determine how you and your vendor can both prioritize and deliver a solution that will meet their needs as expeditiously as possible. Define the critical use cases you envision, discuss them with your vendor and get their feedback. Remember, they have implemented many projects with many different use cases, so they are in a great position to help you prioritize them.
LMS software can be used by large businesses with hundreds of thousands of users spread across the globe. So while it is important to hear from all the voices involved, you don’t want to have too many cooks in the kitchen, as it were. Define a core implementation team of two: the LMS admin and the training lead. After that, build an extended team with an IT lead for configuration and integration as well as a small sample of end users for feedback and testing. Finally, you’ll want to make a list of stakeholders from managerial and executive teams to keep informed of project progress and developments.
In preparation for the soft launch of the system, have a basic set of LMS-compliant content geared towards learners that’s ready to launch and features a strong user experience that reflects what learners will be exposed to as they train. This content will be an essential component of assessing the success of the implementation at soft launch.
We’ve all heard about the prevalence and perils of scope creep, but preventing this all-too-common problem can be as simple as identifying key requirements for the use cases you have prioritized and focusing exclusively on those needs for the first phase of the deployment. Remember, you can always roll out ‘nice-to-have’ features later on, when the core of the system is fully rolled out and operational.
Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, no enterprise-wide LMS is implemented overnight. Before going live, do a 1-to-2-week soft launch. Bring in a small, select sample of end users collected from your extended implementation team to test the system setup. Give them specific tasks to execute, but also let them play around with the system. Collect and analyze their feedback through surveys and focus groups to learn what works with the system, what doesn’t, and what you might not have even thought of.
Like many enterprise software implementations, LMS implementations frequently fail due to overly aggressive, unrealistic scheduling. Be realistic in your planning. Depending on the scope and complexity of your system and the resources available, consider timelines ranging from 6 to 12 weeks for your LMS implementation, if not more.
As with all things in learning and development, the journey is never over. Continuous improvement is going to be central to the ongoing pursuit of excellence, and your LMS implementation is a great opportunity to try new features to keep your employees coming back for more. Explore different learning initiatives across teams and organizations such as competitions, gamification and social learning.
