LMS Options

How to best weigh them up

The LMS
Over the course of its nearly 30-year lifespan, the learning
management system has evolved into a product that isn’t just a
one-size-fits-all solution. Today’s user has over a thousand
options, with varying applications, deployments and features.
Use Cases
The use case is a handy way to appraise how well an LMS will
meet an organisation’s needs and to understand how features
are developed and utilised. Most vendors will focus on a certain
industry or function for their LMS such as training, compliance or
professional development.
Other Considerations
In addition to considering their use case, organisations should
also consider the price tag, what their IT team is capable of, what
their workforce looks like and, most of all, the goal for
implementation.
Popular LMS
Uses
 Employee Training
The most common use is to deliver internal employee training
and professional development. Organisations adopt eLearning
through an LMS because it allows organisations to easily
facilitate and monitor self-paced learning.
 Third-Party Training
In Australia, registered training organisations (RTOs) are industry-
accredited assessors and providers of training, usually offering
and bestowing certain qualifications. An LMS makes facilitating
this much easier through automated learning pathways.
Commoditised Content Providers
These providers offer content or courses as part of a paid service
– usually as a B2C transaction. An LMS provides a central portal
for a provider’s clients to browse, purchase and engage with
content through eCommerce integrations.
LMS Deployment
Options
Open Source
• Code that is freely available to modify and redistribute.
• Despite this, organisations must pay for hosting, installation,
support, training and maintenance themselves.
• Community forums can help identify security risks.
• While it’s open to be altered and shared, it requires coding
knowledge to truly customise it.
Proprietary
• Code is not freely available. Licensing fees dictate access to it.
• Only minor aesthetic changes can be made.
• Organisations are on the vendor’s schedule when it comes to
testing and implementing new features.
• Vendor is paid for support, development, maintenance, hosting
and their service.
Software-as-a-Service
• Hosted on the cloud.
• Updates are deployed quickly but problems can arise in the event
of a technical or internet outage.
• Pay per pricing model in addition to setup fees and hidden costs.
• Most utilise an organisation’s SSO, making it as secure as their
internal systems.
 5 Consistent
Considerations
 Content compatibility vs capabilities
Most online solutions require content to be in the form of SCORM or
xAPI. This leaves organisations with two options – convert current
resources or build them from scratch. Not all LMSs come with in-built
authoring tools, nor will vendors necessarily help create content.
 Interoperability vs workload
One of the best features of the LMS is integrations with internal and
external systems. However, some often cost additional fees
depending on the vendor. Installing and maintaining them is a
lengthy and nuanced process.
 Budget vs projected number of users:
Some suppliers will only charge per active user, so organisations only
pay for what is being used. Others charge regardless of usage. The
more accurately user numbers can be predicted and how they will
change, the easier it will be to choose an affordable pricing model.
 Personalised analytics vs big data
Whatever the case, most will want an LMS with user-friendly
reporting and analytic capabilities. Reporting features aren’t
standardised. What an organisation seeks may be very different to
what a vendor is offering.
 Development vs vendor timeline
The innovation of a supplier directly speaks to the long-term
viability of their LMS. Development isn’t guaranteed. Some vendors
won’t reveal or don’t even have plans for new features or
functionalities.
You can learn more about this topic by
checking out the full article:

https://acornlms.com/resources/lms-options