The selection of a Learning Management System (LMS) is one of the most significant choices that affect your organization’s training strategy. The LMS provides the central location for all training materials and supporting documents, and its design and implementation strategy can largely or wholly determine the experiences that your learners will have in regard to training.
Our LMS Selection service implements a four-step process to help you select the LMS that is optimally suited to your needs. Click on each of the four steps listed below to learn more about our services.
The first step in selecting your Learning Management System is to establish business goals related to its use and implementation. Goals that are well defined and agreed upon by your stakeholders provide a clear framework for selection, implementation, and deployment. They also ensure that your LMS is versatile enough to meet your current and future initiatives.
Answers to the following questions help us prepare accurate, meaningful business goals:
- What is the timeline for implementing the LMS?
- What (if any) systems will the LMS replace?
- What (if any) legacy training data will need to be ported into the new LMS?
- Will the LMS be required to integrate systems such as HR systems, email programs, LCMS, and synchronous tools (WebEx or LiveMeeting, for example)?
- What Web 2.0 / social media tools will the LMS be required to support?
- What offline components (ILT sessions, pre- and post-work ancillaries, assessment activities, etc) will the LMS be required to support?
- Are the LMS users internal employees, external clients, or a combination?
- How (and from where) will users access online instruction?
- Are users constrained by bandwidth limitations?
- Is domain-like functionality required?
- What (if any) level of content security is appropriate?
- What (if any) compliance requirements (Section 508 or CFR Part 11) need to be met?
- What (if any) localization requirements exist?
- What will the future requirements does the client anticipate?
With clear business goals in place we will then help you craft a Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP serves as the primary vehicle through which you can communicate your business goals to LMS vendors and describe how you expect to use their system and services.
In addition to helping you craft the Request for Proposal, we can facilitate LMS vendor meetings to ensure that vendors understand your requirements…and that you will receive a proposal that aligns with your needs.
Once you receive submissions from vendors, you need to evaluate their proposals. Our experts help you establish efficient and accurate scoring mechanisms that ensure a consistent evaluation from one vendor to the next. Our tools and our own inputs during the evaluation phase lead to the creation of a short-list of preferred vendors who should be invited to make in-person capabilities presentations to your selection committee.
During the presentations we ensure that key components of a vendor’s Learning Management System are put through its passes, and we raise key questions and concerns that surface during the review of written proposals. As with the first-round review of proposals we help you create an accurate and efficient scoring metric to ensure that all finalists are evaluated on consistent terms.
The selection of an LMS vendor can be one of the most important decisions that your organization’s training department can make. We understand the gravity of such a decision and help you balance all factors during the decision-making process. Together we will synthesize all data points from written proposals, price estimates, and capabilities presentations, then align them with stated business goals to arrive at a selection with confidence.
