Are you feeling anxious about implementing your Learning Management System (LMS)? You may have heard stories about other failed LMS implementations, or you’re worried about how complex the process might be. But don’t worry; implementing an LMS can be valuable for your organization if you do it right. To help you, we’ve created an 8-step LMS implementation plan to make the process flawless once you’ve chosen your LMS platform.
Building Your LMS Implementation Plan with This Checklist
What is LMS implementation?
A Learning Management System (LMS) is like a computer program that helps schools or companies manage and track learning programs. Before installing an LMS, it’s essential to make an LMS implementation checklist carefully. The software needs to be customized to fit the specific needs of each school or company.
For companies, an LMS is used to train employees and track their progress. It can also help new employees get up to speed quickly. Likewise, for the educational sector, an LMS provides students and teachers with a platform for learning and communicating.
Implementing an LMS is a complex process involving choosing the right software and ensuring it works for everyone using it. Corporate companies and schools need to create learning management system project plan to ensure everything runs smoothly. It can save a lot of time and money in the long run.
Why is LMS implementation necessary?
Introducing a new learning management system (LMS) to your business has many advantages. It can make learning more accessible and more effective for everyone. But convincing your bosses to buy one can be difficult, especially if budgets are tight and there is pressure to show results. We will discuss five key benefits of using an LMS to help you and your stakeholders understand why it is valuable.
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Save businesses time and capital
Learning management systems offer several benefits for businesses, including time and cost savings. With a customized LMS, companies can easily add new employees and assign them training courses, allowing them to work at their own pace and reducing the need for one-on-one mentoring from senior staff. Moreover, you can track employees’ progress, making it simple to monitor the onboarding process. An LMS can also help cut corporate training expenses by allowing people to train from different locations, saving on travel costs, venue rental, instructor salaries, and accommodation expenses. Online training also saves printing costs and reduces paper waste, making it more environmentally friendly. These benefits are usually one-time costs, meaning long-term benefits are very cost-effective. As a result, an LMS can help businesses save time and cut costs.
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Helps in tracking learner’s progress
Monitoring a learner’s performance is essential for proving eLearning, mainly if your organization has official compliance needs to fulfill. You will require evidence that learners have completed mandatory training and assessments. Fortunately, most learning management systems have reporting capabilities that provide various data fields and filters. It is necessary to have learners’ progress available in a central location to monitor and evaluate organization-wide training programs accurately. Advanced LMSs offer personalization and the ability to download detailed reports to assess individual and group progress. Furthermore, learners can track their progress records, which can serve as motivation to attempt new and relevant courses. Overall, effective tracking of learner progress is critical to the success of any eLearning program, and an LMS can help to accomplish this.
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Offer better training and learning experience
In recent years, the demand for technology-based learning solutions has risen. Learning management systems offer a fully interactive and hands-on learning experience that goes beyond traditional teaching methods. These systems support content in different formats, such as video, audio, and text, and use various innovative ways to deliver comprehensive and engaging learning, including gamification and real-life scenarios. Users can access online learning at their own pace, on any device, and customize their learning experience by choosing relevant modules and getting personalized guidance. Additionally, they can connect and network with others in the online community through chat platforms, forums, and live sessions. Real-time feedback helps learners analyze their progress and improve in a safe environment.
How to create your LMS implementation checklist correctly?
After selecting an LMS platform, the next crucial stage is to prepare for its implementation. This step can be complicated, and since your organization has invested considerable resources into identifying the appropriate LMS, you would want to ensure the process runs smoothly.
It’s critical to have a well-planned strategy to ensure that your LMS implementation plan proceeds efficiently without any issues. The difference between a successful and smooth LMS implementation and a negative experience can be attributed to a carefully thought-out plan. Failing to implement your LMS correctly can render all your efforts and resources useless.
To help you implement your chosen LMS correctly, we have made a checklist that you can follow:
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STEP-1 Detect and describe your learning preferences and needs
It’s essential to start with some introspection. Assess where your organization currently stands, where you aim to be, and what you must do in terms of learning to reach your desired destination. Begin by identifying your current constraints and issues and determining which challenges you could overcome if those weren’t present. Additionally, consider the user experience you desire for your new learning management system (LMS) – such as communities, portals, and classrooms, to understand better what the journey should entail. Doing so will make you a more informed buyer than simply following a functional requirements checklist. While you may require specific features like gamification, e-commerce, single sign-on, and webinars, focusing on the big picture is essential.
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Step-2 Assess your data modules before establishing your timeline
When planning your learning management project plan, it’s essential to do some research before looking for learning solutions. You must gather resources and information and consider whether you have everything necessary to create an LMS. It includes content source files, a user database, and someone to administer the platform. You may need to hire additional resources like a project manager or IT consultant. Keeping clean, manageable data and a proper LMS implementation plan to get all necessary content into your new system is essential. You should crowd-source years’ worth of content from multiple departments and obtain SCORM files before purchasing the LMS. Lastly, knowing what information you have and what can be moved to your new LMS is essential.
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Step-3 Create a deadline for your learning management system project plan
Setting a timeline for your project plan is essential when planning to implement a new learning management system. It will help you keep track of important milestones and ensure your project stays on track. To develop your timeline, ask yourself a few key questions. For instance, when is the best time to launch your new system? Is there a pressing business need that requires a new system, or are you simply looking to upgrade your existing platform? You’ll also need to consider content creation, user migration, and project management. By answering these questions and creating a solid timeline, you can ensure that your learning management implementation project plan is a success.
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Step-4 Be sure you have high-class e-learning content to get started
If you’re planning to create content for your learning management system, remember that it can be time-consuming. It’s essential to have an excellent authoring tool to help your content creators build quality content to get started. However, consider using a third-party content provider to access a broader range of content when your LMS begins to scale. Keeping enough people to manage, create, or source content for your LMS is essential. Having diverse content can help keep learners engaged and interested in their learning experience.
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STEP-5 Involve multiple departments for successful LMS implementation plan
To make sure the implementation of a new LMS is successful, it’s essential to include various sectors within the organization. Doing so will ensure that the new LMS platform meets everyone’s needs and requirements. Keeping all departments engaged throughout the selection and implementation process is essential. Seek their input on which content should be included in the new LMS and continuously engage with stakeholders and key users to ensure the LMS addresses their challenges and needs. By involving all relevant departments and keeping them engaged throughout the process, you can ensure that implementing the new LMS is successful.
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Step-6 Ask your vendors to help you with LMS best practices
When implementing a new learning management system, it’s essential to remember that every LMS provider operates differently and, therefore, has its own set of best practices. While it’s obvious to want to do things your way, it’s essential to trust your vendor’s guidance and ask for their best practices. In addition, utilize the vendor’s resources to ensure a seamless onboarding process and contribute to the success of the implementation. Finally, paying attention to the vendor’s advice during the implementation process is crucial, as it can lead to issues and complications that could have been avoided. Ultimately, working closely with your vendor and following their guidance will help ensure your new LMS’s smooth and successful implementation.
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Step-7 Always thoroughly check your LMS system before implementation
It is essential to test the system before end-users use it thoroughly to ensure the success of an LMS implementation plan. Take advantage of the sales cycle to test and demo the system’s functionality to ensure confidence in the LMS. User acceptance testing (UAT) is also crucial, where a QA or admin team goes through a specific script to test how the LMS performs in different scenarios. These tests should be conducted before end users use the LMS. It’s essential to ensure that the LMS functions as expected and that all features are working correctly to avoid any issues that may arise in the future.
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Step-8 Organize a soft launch to allow users to test LMS and ask for feedback
To ensure a smooth implementation of a new learning management system, it’s essential to conduct a soft launch where you ask a small group of users not part of the implementation team to test the platform and provide feedback. The soft launch helps detect any issues or areas that need improvement from the perspective of a new user. You can also use the feedback to create marketing material like blogs, videos, and newsletters to generate excitement and buy-in for the learning program. In addition, it’s important to conduct surveys after the soft launch to get user testimonials that can be used to spark adoption and excitement. The soft launch should last about two to four weeks to ensure everything works correctly and gather timely feedback.
Paradiso Solutions help you to implement your LMS Successfully
Implementing an LMS can be challenging and crucial for the organization’s success. At Paradiso Solutions, we understand this challenge, so we have created customer success teams. Our team continuously supports our clients to ensure they achieve their training goals. We offer this service as a bonus to every client of ours. To learn more about how our team can help you achieve your training objectives, book a free live demo with one of our specialists. They will analyze your project specifics and provide the most suitable solution.
