The big picture

Writing in the Upside Learning Solutions Blog, Amit Guatam poses an interesting question: Do customers look at a Learning Management System (LMS) as simply a tool to get specific things done more efficiently, or as part of a larger overall learning strategy?

All of the above

It takes a good degree of skill to write effective multiple choice questions that fully meet your employee training goals. Check out this list of 10 Rules for Writing Multiple Choice Questions from The eLearning Coach and see how many you are (or aren't) already following.

By design

Along the lines of the previous link (i.e. making sure your e-learning tools are the best they can be), listen to Cammy Bean's interview with Will Thalheimer on common mistakes e-learning designers make.

Just thinking about eLearning?

Tom Kuhlman offers more than a dozen reasons Why e-Learning is So Effective.

Metrics matter

Listen to this podcast from American Society for Training and Development on how technology has advanced the analysis and evaluation of computer-based training and development programs.

World of eLearning

Depending on where you fall on the e-learning spectrum, this may be really interesting or really, really yawn-inducing. A group of researchers at Anadolu University in Turkey has put together a two-volume survey of e-learning in 39 countries. The first volume of the book called E-learning Practices, is available for download at Scribd in multiple formats. Thanks to Gary Woodill's writing on the Workplace Learning Today blog for pointing this one out to us.

There's a LOT of eLearning chatter out there, so we'll keep an eye out for the most relevant information to share with you. And, of course, please post a comment if there's anything you want to share.

Intrigued? Here are five things to take into account when weighing the costs and benefits of sticking with your enterprise training management system for your specific project or using a web-based training funded by monthly costs:

1. Training-dependent launch delays: Can you afford to wait?

You're a department manager in a Fortune 1000 company - or any large organization, for that matter. You want to deploy e-learning tools, either for staff, clients or maybe even your vendors. You've defined goals, set up a project plan, and assembled relevant subject details. You've got a tight deadline.

That's when you hit the bottleneck. Learning departments, training departments, and even IT departments have been decimated by the layoffs of the past two years. Because these departments were probably already operating at low staffing levels, their lead times are longer - much, much longer. (Chances are, companywide workforce reductions didn't take your department's project into account.)

Since training often can't be designed until a product or software implementation is near completion, it's naturally one of the last steps on a project plan. When training gets delayed, it can delay product launches or internal cost-saving software implementations, or even risk expensive compliance issues.

2. Customer training solutions: Do you want your customers to use the same LMS as your employees?

As a product manager, you might want your customers to experience the look and feel of your specific product, rather than the look and feel of the company as a whole. You may want to have customer training data separated from employee training data, keeping each statistic pure. Further, if this is an early experiment into training customers via e-learning, your internal training systems may not have adequate security to allow non-employee access.

3. Compliance: How close are you to compliance deadlines?

Government-imposed compliance deadlines frequently underestimate deployment time lines. What are the penalties and risks of non-compliance? What are the public relations and brand implications of non-compliance?

4. Temporary, quick time-frame training needs: Is the web-based training need permanent or temporary?

Training initiatives can be implemented by e-learning at rollout to quickly train large employee groups. A web-based learning management system that allows fast deployment can be cheaper than hiring consultants to implement temporary training needs into a corporate e-learning system.

5. Customization: Does your company's enterprise LMS meet your department's needs for this project?

Trying to fit a square peg in a round hole can only lead to frustration and delays. Working directly with the provider of your department-level LMS cuts through several levels of red tape and allows you to get exactly what you want, when you want it. And because the LMS is dedicated to a specific project, it is faster and easier to handle any upgrades or updates.

Summary

When faced with one or more of the above issues, a responsible manager may be forced to consider other alternatives to their existing corporate learning system.

What if the opportunity costs or hard costs of delay override the actual cost of the web-based training solution that could prevent the delay? What implications would this have to your project, your department, your boss, or your entire company?

If the implications of delay are large, then the ROI of an alternative training development solution can quickly become significant enough to gain top management support.

A number of vendors offer web-based learning management systems that can be used as a stand-alone LMS, and can eventually interface with an enterprise solution if necessary, when learning and IT staff become available.

A stand-alone, easy to access, web-based LMS supported by a monthly subscription may not only be cost-effective, it may also provide the custom solution for your particular need.

Has anyone out there gone this route? We'd like to hear about your experiences.

Blogging on Bersin.com, Karen O'Leonard recently wrote about the need for a new breed of L&D professional. In O'Leonard's estimation, the ongoing global economic downturn has led to a more centralized approach to learning management as businesses cut back on training development staff to save money. This shift has led to the need for traditional training personnel to evolve into performance consultants who can assess the needs of individual units - and employees - and align them with the overall corporate strategy.

While that may be true, another implication to reductions in employee training personnel is the need for companies to have a scalable, customizable Learning Management System that can handle and track company-wide training development initiatives, as well as specific modules for individual departments and executive training and employee development efforts. In other words, the right training management software for multiple challenges.

Think about it. Everyone is doing more with less, so taking the time to find the right LMS to meet your needs is more crucial than ever. In fact, it's a decision that will have long-term implications for your ROI.

And forget about cutting back on the amount of training you provide - your competitors certainly aren't. An ongoing corporate learning program remains a must-have in the toolkit of any business or organization - large or small, global or local - that wants to remain competitive in a 21st century economy. However, the economic upheaval of the past two years has changed the way that training is delivered, with e-learning and virtual classroom training accounting for one-third of training hours delivered in 2009, which represents an all-time high. That trend is expected to continue, as evidenced by recent projections in the growth of spending on self-paced e-learning tools and services over the next five years.

At Ziiva, we're confident our product and ongoing customer service can meet the needs of your organization.

Not your father’s Learning Management System – LMS’ aren’t just for your employees anymore

Today, Learning Management Systems provide training solutions for customers as well as vendors.

End user e-learning is often offered by software vendors, but what does a Learning Management System add? e-Learning on its own can be a cost-effective delivery method, which is why many software vendors provide some sort of web based training. Can a software/SAAS vendor develop additional value adds to build competitive advantages through a Learning Management System?

Well designed web training delivered through a modern LMS can increase compatibility with client LMS systems, providing the client an integrated experience (look for SCORM compliant systems).

Well designed and deployed Learning Management Systems can actually save hard dollar costs for application development companies. Better trained client users make fewer technical support calls.

Think about that for a moment … A well designed LMS with built in feedback loops can reduce vendor-side costs by making the client happier.

Choosing the right LMS for your organization isn't easy.

There are numerous choices, from vendor systems, to open source, proprietary systems, even "free" learning management systems.  There are many stakeholders whose needs should be considered. Worse, much of the information is conflicting, and product information from competing competitors starts to look all pretty much the same.

Organizations invest significant time to investigate providers of eLearning content.

Choosing a LMS can be just as critical of a decision, significantly affecting organizational benefits, ROI, and effectiveness of an organization's training strategy and goals.

To make a better decision, answer these questions before you choose a learning management system.

Knowledge Management Software Overview:

1. What are your training goals?  Typical goals include regulatory compliance (OSHA, EEOC, other), risk avoidance (harassment, diversity, safety), quality/efficiency (ISO, Lean, or Six Sigma initiatives), increased sales (sales techniques, CRM), customer service (corporate procedure, handling difficult customers, issue tracking software),  manufacturing processes, new hire training, software/equipment training, corporate policy training, and customer product training.  Are your goals to increase learning retention?  Cut learning costs?  Develop future management?  Increase sales?  Cut manufacturing/service/delivery costs?


2. How many students do you expect now and five years from now?  How many courses?  There's a big difference in the amount of complexity a mid-sized organization will need (up to around 5,000  students) vs a large organization (tens of thousands of students).  Number of courses will also have a direct impact on the amount of complexity your LMS will need.  There's no need to purchase an "atomic fly swatter", when there are simpler, more cost effective, easier to deploy and manage solutions available on the market.


3. How much will your content change?  Are you a fast growing young business whose needs will likely change within the next 5 years?  Or are you more a stable organization where your needs and size may change more slowly?  If you expect your content to change, you'll want a LMS that can manage content changes easily.  If you expect your business to significantly change within the next 5 years, you'll want a LMS that can be easily modified as your needs change.

Learning Management Constraints:

4. How much budget and time do you have? Do you have the time and budget needed to create and support a fully customized solution - do you have significant support of your in-house IT staff, or a budget to hire teams of consultants?  Unless your organization has made training a priority over most other projects, you may not get as much IT implementation and service support as you need.  If you see a risk that your IT support may be insufficient or may shrink, a hosted solution can take some of these risks off your shoulders.


5. How much of your content is developed in-house?  Most organizations have both in house developed and vendor provided content, but which is the most important to yours?  Is your custom training developed in-house or by outside vendors?    Organizations that develop significant in-house content themselves will want a LMS with features to make content authoring easy and efficient.


6. What's more important, ease of implementation, or really cool features?  Bells and whistles catch our attention when selecting a product, but ask yourself - how often will features be actually used?  Will specific features better engage students and result in greater usage and retention?  Will specific features provide information that is actually used to manage employees or help you make decisions on your training programs?  Be careful of being drawn to attractive features that will be seldom used by your organization.

Additional eLearning Strategy Details:

7. Is customization important, or is off the shelf ok?  Most organizations want the ability to tweak the system, especially if it will be used for a number of years.  Today, many companies are used to the benefits of site customization, especially for systems that will be used for a number of years.


8. How detailed do management reports need to be?  Will you publish summary or granular training information to other parts of the organization?  Organizations having a complex organizational or cost structure are more likely to require more granular information.  While many companies may only need summary information, organizations that allocate every expense into product costs, who have a matrix organizational structure, or who have many departments based on products/functions/regions may need very granular information.


9. How easily will an LMS work with your existing training content?  If you've already purchased content, consider how well it will integrate with your LMS.  Ask potential e-learning vendors for sample course that you can test on a demo of an LMS that you are considering to make sure it works.


10. Does your LMS need to be SCORM compliant?  If your training needs to be SCORM compliant, your LMS needs to be able to work with SCORM compliant training.


11. How important is security around your training systems?  How much of your training contains trade secrets?  Would the risk of even minimal training downtime significantly impact your company?  Most organizations find that training, while important, won't contain the secret recipe to Coca-Cola and isn't so mission critical that investing in 100% uptime provides a strong ROI.  For most organizations, security, while important, isn't the central deciding factor when choosing a LMS.


12. Who is the company behind the LMS?  Have they been around for awhile?  Do they have a track record?  Will they still be here in 5 years to support my investment?  Do research beyond the website and product literature to find out how long the company has been in the LMS market, talk to customers, and research the web for customer reviews.

The best computer based training content in the world can fail to deliver intended benefits if paired with a learning management system that doesn't meet your organization's needs.  Many organizations invest more time and resources to examine eLearning content than to study the system that organizes that content, as content typically carries a steeper initial investment.  HR and training managers can avoid expensive pitfalls by asking the right questions before choosing a LMS.