4 Surefire Tips For A Successful LMS Implementation

4 Surefire Tips For A Successful LMS Implementation
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Summary: Choosing the LMS that best fits the needs of your organization is a challenging task. However, the LMS implementation process can be equally as challenging. LMS implementation is the phase where many things can go wrong in an eLearning project. In this article, I’ll share 4 surefire tips that will help to ensure LMS implementation success.

Effective Tips For A Successful LMS Implementation

While there’s a lot of time and money spent on finding the best LMS for an organization, companies often skimp on their LMS implementation due diligence. This is a huge mistake! Even if you find the perfect LMS, one that’s loaded with modern features and the flexibility to match your company’s exact needs, if it’s not properly implemented, it won’t deliver. You could also end up with a very costly implementation that drags on for months.

The free eBook LMS Buyer’s Kit provides rich insights into effective techniques that help deliver a successful LMS implementation. For this article, let’s cover the top four.

LMS Buyer’s Kit: How To Quickly Find The Best LMS For Your Organization
The LMS Buyer’s Kit by Expertus is the ultimate guide to people that are looking to buy an LMS.

1. Find A Strong Sponsor

The most important thing you can do to ensure LMS implementation success is finding a strong, passionate sponsor. If someone within your organization doesn’t own your new LMS solution, it will die a fast death! Your lead sponsor must also set clear strategic goals and make decisions. Beware of setting goals that take into consideration only a small portion of the needs for your overall organization. LMS adoption will quickly falter in other groups who feel they have limited input and ownership.

In addition, consider establishing a steering committee comprised of department-based LMS owners within sales, HR, business units and the extended enterprise. This enables your lead sponsor to make sure each department meets specific needs. It also helps quickly resolve conflicts.

2. Know Your Needs And Audiences

Don’t wait until you start your LMS implementation to figure out who will really be using this new solution and how it will benefit them. Use the following questions:

  • What groups within your organization need training, now and in the future?
  • Who can represent the specific needs for each group or audience?
  • How will members of each audience interact with the training content?
  • Will they be on mobile devices?
  • Will they have limited access to the internet on a job site?
  • Are they external to your company? If so, what information will you know about these learners?
  • Will some learners need to purchase the learning before consuming it?
  • Are there job or role-related compliance requirements that need to be considered?

3. Create A Training Blueprint

In addition to setting clear strategic goals, you need to do a thorough analysis of what is done for learning today, and what are the requirements for learning in the short and long-term.

Not knowing your “training blueprint” before you sign a contract may ensure that the system you select will not be able to accommodate your detailed requirements. Plus, it will probably delay your LMS implementation efforts for weeks as your project team tries to pull these details together. Expertus and the LMS Buyer’s Kit provide abundant information on that.

Your pre-implementation training discovery process should ask these critical questions:

  • What training programs do we have in place today?
  • Are these trainings owned and created in-house or are they licensed from a third-party content vendor?
  • Are the trainings delivered in a classroom setting, in a virtual learning environment or are they self-paced?
  • How are the training programs structured and tracked?

Understanding the organization-wide scope of the courses and training needed by your company sets the groundwork for your LMS to meet those requirements. It also speeds and simplifies LMS implementation significantly.

4. Begin An Adoption Plan

Does your discovery effort show that some groups have ongoing training you can interrupt for the next two quarters? Are some groups ready to move now, while others have budget constraints that will delay their entry?

You need to approach your LMS implementation with a clear idea of who is in scope, when they will be rolling onto the system and what they will be bringing when they arrive. However, don’t start stressing out. The free eBook LMS Buyer’s Kit guides you through all such issues. It may be a simple answer that all groups within your organization will be included within a single implementation project. However, you may find that the complexity of a phased rollout is unavoidable. As a result, you might need to address it from the start.

This is why you should create an adoption plan. The plan should include change management considerations for all of your audiences. You should also determine how you will communicate the new solution to each learning group and how to ensure your audiences know how to follow new LMS-based processes. You probably won’t have this flushed out before you start, but it needs to be on the radar and included as a critical work stream for your LMS implementation.

LMS implementation can be a complicated and demanding process without the right preparation and know-how. These four tips will help ensure you follow an effective LMS implementation path that does not undermine the quality of your corporate training programs and new LMS.

Download the free eBook LMS Buyer's Kit and get informed on important questions to help you analyze your company’s LMS selection needs. The LMS Buyer’s Kit will additionally educate you on criteria that will help you select the best LMS software provider for your organization