LMS Selection

Every organization's requirements for a learning management system differ. Once you have made the decision to implement an LMS, the next step is to analyze your needs. There are many learning management systems to choose from with a wide variety of functionality. What functionality does your organization really need? Creating use studies is an excellent way to determine what functionality your program must have versus what is just nice to have. Once you analyze your needs, you can better decide which LMS will meet those needs.
What are your organization's LMS needs?

Hosted verses Installed Solution

There are two types of learning management system platforms – the hosted LMS and the installed LMS. An installed LMS is one in which you install the LMS on your own hardware and then manage and maintain the system with your internal resources. A hosted LMS is operated, supported, and maintained by your LMS vendor or a third party web-hosting provider outside of your organization. Neither solution is inherently better than the other one. Again, ask yourself what your needs are and whether your IT staff can commit the additional resources to this project. Does your LMS need to be hosted behind your organization's firewall? If so, you probably want to look at installed LMS solutions. Do you have the resources, ability, and technical staff to maintain your LMS on a 24/7 basis? If your technical support staff has other projects or is already limited with resource allocation, a hosted solution would be best.

Administration and Report Functionality

A major concern when selecting an LMS is its ability to render the reports your organization needs. Ad hoc or on-the-fly reporting systems are the best. They allow you to generate any report and when you need it.

Language Support

Do you need to support languages other than English? Do you think you will need multiple language delivery in the future? If so, make sure your LMS of choice can support multiple languages before you make a commitment. You should always ask the vendor to demonstrate their ability to support multiple languages.

Blending Learning Management

Most companies start with live training programs and then evolve to blended learning environments. Do you currently have live training? Are you planning to continue your live training? Do you plan to convert some live training to online courses or offer options for training delivery in the future? If you have any type of training outside of the standard online self-paced course, you should consider choosing an LMS that has live training and alternative training event support. You lose a lot of efficiency when you have a learning management system that only supports half of your training program.

Content & Course Development

Select an LMS that allows for options in training production and delivery methods. Are you planning to produce your own courseware? Are you looking for an LMS that has built in course development software or are you looking to produce the courseware with a third-party software product? Are you planning to outsource your courseware development to a third party? Make sure the LMS is standards compliant so that it can support courseware coming from a third-party source or one built internally.

Needed Functionality vs. the Nifty Factor

When looking at different learning management systems, ask yourself, "Does the LMS have all the features I need?" Does the LMS you are evaluating have features you don’t need or won't use? Are these features bundled into the price of the LMS? Yes, that functionality might look cool, but do you really need it? Don’t sign on for functionality or features you don't need and will never use. This will increase the price of the LMS.

Flexible... Analyze LMS Solutions You know what your needs are - now you need to analyze how well each LMS vendor can meet your needs and, more importantly, how well the vendor will work with you to help meet those needs.

Scalability

Implementing an LMS is a great step toward ensuring the success of your organization. If done correctly it will help you grow to become better and more productive. As your organization grows, ask yourself, can the LMS grow with you? We hear from people all the time that tell us that their current LMS, which worked fine when they first got it, isn't meeting their new needs. The organization is then forced to repeat the whole LMS selection process again. Learning management systems are meant to help your organization grow, so remember to select an LMS that will grow with you.

Upgradeability

Are you using the first release of the word processing software you purchased? Are you still using the first computer you purchased? Our guess is you aren’t. So why should you be forced to use an LMS that is three, five, or even ten years old? Learn which upgrades and patch features are available.

Efficient Implementation

How long will it take to implement the new LMS? We are not talking about an overnight implementation. This is a big project and will take some time. Depending on your functionality and integration needs, look for a vendor that can deliver in a reasonable amount of time, with processes in place for an organized LMS implementation.

Standards-Based

There are certain standards that were created to help facilitate cross vendor and platform integration. You should look for an LMS that is standards compliant to help alleviate integration problems. Is the LMS you are evaluating SCORM compliant? Can it support SCORM compliant courses built with third-party authoring software?

Painless... Analyze Customer Service The selection of an LMS is more than just selecting the LMS application. It is also selecting the people who will work with you to make your LMS implementation and ongoing support a successful partnership between you and your vendor. Look for a vendor who will be responsive to your questions and needs. The vendor should be there to help guide you when you need it.

Company Stability

How long has the provider been in business? Select an LMS from a company that has been in business for at least seven years and has a verifiable record of demonstrated customer support. The last thing you want is for the vendor you choose to go under – leaving you with an unsupported product.

Small Doesn't Mean Bad

Don’t let the size of the vendor company fool you. Although you can get poor service from the over loaded one-man shop, you can get just as poor service from a company with over 100 employees. Each of those 100 employees can be just as busy as the one from the one-man shop. It’s not the size of the company that makes good customer service - it’s the quality of the people and allocation of resources from the vendor that makes the difference.

Vendor Responsiveness

Pick a vendor who will get back to you in a timely manner, will keep you in the loop, and will be responsive to your requirements and needs. Does the vendor make time to meet, discuss issues, and answer your questions?

Current Client Testimonials

Vendors want to sell their product and they are going to tell you anything and everything you want to hear to make the sale. Don’t take the vendors word for it. Read what current and past users of the LMS have to say about it.

Affordable/Pricing

After your needs assessment, you’ll likely ask yourself, "How much is this going to cost me?" What is the total cost of the LMS? What is the price breakdown for the product components and services provided? What are the one-time charges and ongoing support fees? Be wary of large shifts in prices. It costs what it costs. Shop around - there is a vendor with the right services, commitment, and price for you.

What Should Happen Next?

Now that we have given you an overview of the considerations in the selection process, do your homework and let us demonstrate how the Athena LMS is the Logical, Flexible, and Painless choice.

A demonstration of the Athena LMS will show how you are in control and have multiple options in training production and delivery methods. A demonstration of the Athena LMS and a discussion with us will clarify how we can customize it to your needs. Contacting our customers will testify to our longevity, long-term commitment, and verifiable record of outstanding customer support.

The LMS selection criteria and process of evaluating Athena, consulting with our staff, and talking to our customers will demonstrate how selecting the Athena LMS and TheAcademy.com is the correct decision resulting in a true partnership for successful training for your organization.

When you are ready to begin this important process, please e-mail us at info@TheAcademy.com or call 210.530.2700.