A good Learning Management System (LMS) is one that can be set up in a manner consistent with your organization’s specific training mandate. Additionally, long term usage requires a system that is flexible enough to keep up with organizational changes as well as shifts in those mandates.
Implementation, or the setup, onboarding and transition to using an LMS, is dependent on a few key factors. An effective implementation will result in the long term use and satisfaction of the LMS with fewer hassles or glitches. In our experience, a successful implementation requires three components:
- Senior Management Buy-In.
- Planning and preparation, including creating curriculum.
- A collaborative effort that involves Human Resources, IT, Training professionals and your LMS provider.
Organizations that fully adopt eLearning as a culture spend time up front planning for the implementation, and then work together as a team to set up the LMS correctly, ultimately save time and better manage the LMS once it is live.
1. Senior Management Buy-In For The Adoption Of An eLearning Culture
It should be a benefit, not a curse! One of the primary reasons, often stated, for a failed implementation of an LMS is the lack of an organizational adoption of eLearning as a useful tool for employee engagement, personal, and professional growth. A top-down approach will reduce the chance of failure!
2a. Planning
Know what you want the system to do! Think of an LMS implementation as the roadmap that will guide your future training program. However, it is first important to have a good understanding of how your current training and reporting takes place and what changes if any, you want to make. Then, based on whether the current needs are sufficient, or whether you plan to incorporate additional or different training mandates, the roadmap will ensure the correct setup and avoid future problems.
To guide you, and help create the implementation plan, here are some questions to consider:
- How does training need to be assigned? Is the training for the whole company, or a piece of it?
- What types of training will you be providing? An LMS is not an either, or proposition and you can utilize it for Instructor Led Training (ILT), Webinars, and eLearning. As such, it should be the primary database for all training activities. Reviewing your current mandate and then dividing it into buckets will be helpful.
- Do you have current training records that need to be migrated, or start from scratch? How will your LMS assist in mapping and uploading the data?
- Do you need to integrate with any current software you are currently using like Single Sign On or Human Resource Information System (HRIS)?
- Are there any other unique requirements for your organization? For example, do you have users who don’t have an email address and not able to receive notifications? Or, do you need to limit access to the LMS to specific locations and IP addresses? Do users have a computer or do you expect delivery on tablets and PDA’s?
2b. Creating Your Curriculum
Curriculum planning is critical to a successful implementation. You should spend time creating an inventory of current training as well training that you would like to adopt. We recommend that you address the following questions:
- If you do mostly ILTs with Powerpoint presentations, converting this to eLearning with voiceover can easily be done, but is it effective?
- Should you purchase ready made courses or create your own?
- Purchasing content can become expensive quickly. If your LMS can accept a range of multimedia formats, including videos and links, what is the optimum cost/benefit of each?
You will want to be able to make learning as engaging and compelling as possible. Time and money are your most limiting factor and carefully reviewing and planning “how” you want to train to the desired outcome is critical to long-term success.
3. Collaboration
Implementation involves a collaborative effort! To automate functions such as keeping the employees updated, automatically assigning training, notifications, and reporting, you will need those areas to coordinate and make sure you have all the information required for your LMS implementation.
It is important to know the data fields available in your HRIS for each employee. They are the foundation in making assignments and running reports, and you want to use as many as possible for filtering.
You will also want to ensure that the LMS of your choice is paired with an experienced relationship or implementation manager that will spend the time with you and provide input on how to best set up the system from Day 1.
Summary
A successful implementation has everything to do with your ability to plan and connect the learning needs of individuals with training mandates of the organization. Careful planning and working with your LMS relationship manager provides the opportunity to meet your training goals, enhance the effectiveness and morale of your employees AND save you time and money!