Posted on December 10, 2024

As a small business owner, it is important to that the team maintains their skill proficiency level, learn the latest and greatest technology, and keep in compliance with company policy and regulations. Since we are a company of three, it is easy to maintain training records for all the team on a single laptop. However, what happens if the organization grows and there are several team members that need to be trained and ensure compliance? This is where a Learning Management System comes in handy.

In this blog we are going to look at the Learning Management System to include its purpose, benefits, features, and what an organization needs to do before acquiring LMS. 

What is a Learning Management System

The Learning Management System or LMS is a software application that provides a framework that handles all aspects of the learning process. This application is used to create, house, deliver, and track training content. The LMS helps deliver training materials and organizes skill development withing the organization. Other names for LMS are training management system, learning activity management system or Learning Experience Platform.

Purpose of an LMS

The purpose of an LMS is to make the training program easier to organize and maintain. The LMS helps with:

• Identifying and assessing individual and organizational learning goals
• Track progress toward meeting those goals
• Collecting and Presenting data for the learning process
• Deliver content
• Onboarding
• Compliance
• Skills gap analysis

Deciding on an LMS

The use of an LMS within an organization has risen in the past two years. Approximately 83 percent of the organizations are currently using an LMS for their training needs. However, before an organization decides on an LMS there are a few things to consider:

• Benefits of an LMS
• Which of the available LMS features the organization needs
• What are the specific learning goals for the organization
• An LMS helps streamline training delivery by minimizing the time spent on manual administrative tasks.
• Types of LMS
• Small medium business (SMB) vs. Enterprise
• The main difference is scale.
• The SMB should be a reliable tool that can create and deliver training.
• Main points are the speed to set things up and the ease of use
• Enterprise
• LMS with more power than in a SMB because the number of employees can range from 500 employees to thousands.
• LMS needs to be engineered from the group up to hand the large volumes of data and complexity.
• LMS need automate tasks
• Segment users
• Integrate with other tools
• Open source vs. Commercial
• Open source - free
• Require installation, hosting, Maintenance, and regular upgrades
• Can be more expensive at the end than a commercial LMS
• Commercial – Cost to set up
• Installation vs. Cloud-based (SAAS)
• Most organizations are using cloud-based services.
• Having installed means the organization must adhere to specific industry legislation or network requirements.
• Integrated
• Can the LMS work with other software such as online seminar tool integrations, payment gateways and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Course Creation
• Modern LMS allows the organization to create and distribute courses.
• Create presentations, documents, graphics, and videos
• Arrange the content in a course builder tool
• Arrange the content also in file types specific to eLearning such as SCORM and xAPI

Benefits of an LMS

The LMS centralizes the training by delivering consistent training and learning quality to all team members by supplying a single source for content, course materials and instructions. The LMS allows the organization to track learning progress and performance and generate training reports on overall or student levels.

eLearning/Online Training

Even for eLearning courses and/or online training, the training department can easily track goal progress, knowledge gains, Return on Investment (ROI), and many other items using an LMS.

Meet regulatory compliance

Many organizations are required to train, assess, and report for compliance purposes. An example of these industries includes oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, communications, and construction. The LMS will assist organizations in satisfying legal and regulatory requirements.

Additional Benefits

Other benefits an LMS can provide include:

• Arrange the content in a course builder tool
• Cost Savings
• Arrange the content also in file types specific to eLearning such as SCORM and xAPI

Specific Learning Goals

The LMS must be able to help the organization reach specific learning goals. An example of some of the learning goals include:

• Safety certification updates
• Regulatory compliance
• Internal extended learning opportunities
• Public education for brand awareness or e-commerce
• The features that you need depends on the goals of the organization
• Key LMS features
• Course creation
• Skills/certification tracking
• Mobile learning
• Asynchronous learning
• Gamification
• Video conferencing
• Social learning/message boards
• E-commerce and subscriptions

LMS Features

There are many features in an LMS that the market can offer such as creating training programs, enrolling learners, and report training completion.

Before deciding on which LMS to get and what features should be included, the organization should focus on two things:

• Does the LMS create a great user experience for learners and administrative personnel?
• Does LMS have the features required to deliver effective training?

Top LMS Features

The Top LMS Features include:

• Course Management
• SCORM & xAPI compliance
• Learning Portals
• Branding
• White labeling
• Integrations
• Automations
• Learner Experience
• Exams
• Surveys
• Online seminar integration
• Blended Learning
• Gamification
• User roles & permissions
• Groups
• Social Learning Tools
• Reporting
• Skills & Certification tracking
• E-commerce
• Learning paths
• Data migration
• Dynamic rules
• Notifications & Reminders
• Multilingual interface
• Security
• Reliability
• Responsive design
• Remote workforce ready
• Single Sign-on

Summary

It was rumored that LMS is going away due to the advances of technology. According to information above, the opposite is true because of current skills gap effecting multiple industries, the desire of continuous educations opportunities especially for the millennials, and the lack of leadership skills within the organization. Having the right LMS will result in improved employee retention, increased productivity, lower training costs, and better compliance.

Building a training program takes time and care. It is important to choose the right LMS that is able to deliver your training needs.

References

8 Important LMS Features from your E-Learning Program by Tamara Scott - April 22, 2021 https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/important-learning-management-system-lms-features/

What is a Learning Management System? And why do I need one by ShareKnowledge https://www.shareknowledge.com/blog/what-learning-management-system-and-why-do-i-need-one

Top 29 Learning Management System Features You Should Consider by Katie-Anna Lynn, July 19, 2021, https://www.learnupon.com/blog/lms-features-overview/