8 Surprising Ways To Use LMS Custom Reporting Features To Track Your Training Objectives

8 Surprising Ways To Use LMS Custom Reporting Features To Track Your Training Objectives
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Summary: Custom LMS reports go beyond standard analytics to track your KPIs and online training objectives. But are you getting the most from your custom reports generator?

How LMS Custom Reporting Features Help You Track Your Training Objectives

The reporting you run in your LMS should deliver actionable insights. The standard reports may provide a useful baseline, but for your individual organization there will always be specific needs. Custom reporting is an important part of individualizing your LMS, to track your company’s training objectives. It’s all about combining reports, using custom fields, to tell your stakeholders something they wouldn’t otherwise know. Custom reporting provides big data that will inform course content, individualize course content, and provide management information. Are you being creative enough while using LMS custom reporting features, to provide a continuous gauge to monitor effectiveness of corporate eLearning programs?

Key Training Objectives

It’s essential to establish a set of objectives for your online training program, to structure a comprehensive reporting schedule. LMS custom reporting features help tracking results around several key objectives:

  • Minimizing risk of fines from regulatory issues
  • Embedding a culture of continuous development through relevant, interactive online training
  • Increasing skills resulting in improved efficiency and effectiveness of workforce (which will lead to improvements to the bottom line)
  • Supporting corporate values and strategies with a consistent set of online training materials

Using An LMS Custom Reports Generator To Meet Training Objectives

If you are reviewing your reporting schedule, it’s important to focus your reports around the training objectives you have identified. It’s unlikely that standard reports will meet all these needs, so you’ll need to make use of LMS custom reporting features. You might be surprised at the information you can accumulate from custom tailored metrics:

1. Communicate With Learners That Haven’t Participated For A Set Period

Custom reporting can identify any underlying issues with participation. These are flag users that haven’t logged in for a period of time, or are inactive, or have not completed an online training course. There may be an access issue, or even disinterest due to unsuitable courses, or no performance management in place. This allows you to get to the root of the problem so that you can boost engagement and achieve the best results. For example, it might simply be a matter of mobile accessibility or frequent login authentication errors.

2. Identify Learning Trends Across Multiple Courses

LMS custom reporting features can pull data across groups, branches and courses. These can help identify opportunities for development and design that better meet learning styles. The LMS should have built-in graphs and charts that allow you to quickly spot patterns and intervene early on.

3. Develop Action Plans For Departments That Are Not Completing Compliance-Based Training

The ability to report different groups across the organization means that compliance training gaps can be identified. Target online training plans can then be implemented to address these gaps. Thereby, mitigating risks and preventing costly penalties. Not to mention, reducing on-the-job accidents.

4. Embed A Learning Culture By Working With Departments That Are Only Completing Compliance-Based Training

If only essential online training courses are completed, then there is a potential development planning issue within a team. There should be a range of online training courses being completed, and LMS custom reporting features can help identify this. For example, you can meet with the supervisor or team leader to provide them with the support tools they need. Which allows them to encourage their subordinates so that they continually hone their talents and embrace online training initiatives.

5. Identify Corporate Learners Who Are Too Short Of Time To Participate

Combined reports can show high assessment results alongside low participation. This implies there is a management issue that needs to be addressed. Custom reports allow the L&D team to work with managers to understand the underlying issues. Perhaps the corporate learner needs mobile access? Or maybe they need to carve out specific windows of time to train? Should they be given additional support – are there any stress issues?

6. Identify Corporate Learners Who Are Struggling With The Pace / Detail / Level Of The Course Content

Identifying corporate learners with high participation alongside low results could demonstrate performance management issues underlying this problem. Alternatively, the online training course content itself may need to be reviewed in the light of the reports. For instance, there may be too much information which leads to cognitive overload. Or the online training course doesn’t cater to their needs or personal preferences.

7. Monitor LMS ROI

Demonstrate performance improvements as a result of LMS reporting on completed certificates or assessments, combined with targeted performance improvements in specific teams or departments, can be powerful. LMS teams are always looking to prove their worth in terms of return on investment. LMS custom reporting features combine performance with assessment results to provide essential management information.

8. Personalize The Training Process

Roll out new training to targeted individuals. LMS custom reporting features provide the ability to identify all corporate learners that have completed a certain online training course with a high pass rate. LMS teams can then mass-assign a more detailed course, regardless of their location, team or group. This prevents employee boredom and helps you retain your top talent. As well as improves resource allocation, since you can pinpoint which online training tools are most effective and why.

With the right combination of custom fields and LMS custom reporting features, collecting the data you need will become routine. That means keeping track of compliance obligations, and avoiding fines, will be straightforward. You will be able to demonstrate return on investment for senior management regular stakeholder reports. You will also be able to identify high-performing individuals and minimize performance issues with those corporate learners who are not achieving desired results. Your LMS can provide more detailed and specific data sets if you maximize the use of the customization options in your reporting.

Conclusion

What are the warning signs that you should look for in your current LMS before deciding to buy a new one? Are your top LMS choices going to deliver the superior customer experience you deserve? Are you setting the bar so high that no LMS will ever suffice? Download our free eBook LMS Customer Experience: How To Find A Platform That Offers The Complete Package to find the platform that offers the best LMS Customer Experience. Find out why LMS Customer Experience really matters, the benefits of delivering a Superior CX for your organization, and how to set your LMS expectations before purchasing a new platform.