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A Best Practices Guide Making the Case for an LMS Key Steps for Success
A Best Practices Guide
Making the Case for an LMS Key Steps for Success
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 2
Introduction
If your organization is considering a Learning Management System
(LMS), finding one that best meets your organization’s needs may not
be easy. There are hundreds of LMS products available. The
investment in time to find the right solution is significant, but given
what’s at stake, it’s well worth the effort.
You stand a much better chance of being successful if you follow best
practices for:
- Developing your case for an LMS to gain your organization’s
approval;
- Evaluating and selecting an LMS that best meets your
organization’s needs;
- Marketing the launch of your new LMS and subsequent
training initiatives.
To help guide you through this process, we’ve consolidated the best
practices that we’ve learned from our own clients throughout the
years. Our step by step guide, Making the Case for an LMS, is the
first in a series that should help to jump start your research efforts, and
ultimately help you speed up your LMS selection and implementation
process altogether. Follow these best practices and you’ll be well on
your way to LMS success!
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 3
If your organization is considering an LMS, or if your team wants your
organization to consider an LMS, you’ll need to be fully prepared to
present your case in order to get your investment approved.
Gathering the information to present your case is probably the most
important part of your journey. It’s this information that drives the
criteria to help you make your final LMS decision. Although this can
be a very time consuming process; the benefits you’ll gain far
outweigh the detailed approach.
Developing Your Case: Top 3 Benefits
Gain valuable information and insight into your
organization’s goals and objectives.
Gain buy in from key stakeholders that will support your
efforts and help make your case for implementing an LMS
far more compelling.
Generate new ideas for training and development plans that
are aligned with your organization’s departmental goals.
Making the Case for an LMS
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ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 4
Why are you considering an LMS? It’s a fairly simple question, but perhaps
not a simple answer, so you’ll want to perform a needs analysis to identify
your key business drivers.
Learning technologies, such as an LMS, help to facilitate the learning and
development within an organization. At a minimum, an LMS will help your
organization to schedule, administer and manage training initiatives in less
time and with less cost. An LMS will also help to provide centralized
tracking and reporting for greater visibility into the effectiveness of your
training programs. These are all quite obvious reasons for why you may
need an LMS. Perhaps though, if you dig a bit deeper, you’ll find
additional reasons to support your need for an LMS that prove to be of
great value to your organization.
STEP 1. Perform a Needs Analysis
Industry Insight: Organizations today suffer from a “skills supply chain” challenge. Not only do more than 70% of organizations cite “capability gaps” as one of their top five challenges, but many companies also tell us that it takes 3-5 years to take a seasoned professional and make them fully productive. – Josh Bersin, Bersin by Deloitte1
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 5
Needs Analysis: Sample Question Worksheet
These question can help guide you through your team’s initial needs analysis.
1. Is your organization dependent upon affiliates, partners, distributors,
etc. to generate revenue?
2. Is your organization geographically dispersed with multiple office
locations requiring a consistent training approach?
3. Is your organization looking to sell training to generate additional
revenue?
4. Does your organization have limited staff, time and budget to deliver
effective training?
5. Does your organization operate in an industry where many of your
employees require annual training to meet licensing or compliance
requirements?
STEP 1. Perform a Needs Analysis
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 6
6. Does information within your organization or industry change
frequently requiring fast and effective communications?
7. Do you support an organization with high employee turnover?
8. Do you work in a highly competitive industry where employee
knowledge, performance, or service can be a key differentiator?
9. Is your organization predicting rapid employee growth due to
expansion, merger or acquisition?
10. Are there specific organizational challenges or pain points that you’re
looking to eliminate?
STEP 1. Perform a Needs Analysis
Industry Insight: According to Brandon Hall, 37% of organizations think creating learning for external audiences is a strategic priority. It can generate additional profits, boost brand image and improve strategic relationships.
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 7
Now a few words about ROI…
When presenting your case for an LMS, not only will you want to show how
the LMS can help your organization reach its goals, you’ll also want to
demonstrate that the LMS will have a positive impact on your organization’s
bottom line.
How do you do this? The best place to start is by analyzing the financial
impact of your current training program. Focus on the direct costs
associated with number of employees trained, time in hours, employee cost
per hour, travel fees, venue costs, meals, lodging, administrative costs,
instructor fees, etc. This will provide you with a baseline of tangible cost
savings. Then, shift your focus to the strategic and intangible
benefits/savings, such as reduced liability, improved agility, employee
engagement, etc.
If you’re looking to create an in-depth case for Return on Investment (ROI)
contact ePath Learning today and ask about our ROI calculator!
Industry Insight: Organizations spend on average 18% of their overall training budget on learning technologies. - Brandon Hall Group3
STEP 1. Perform a Needs Analysis
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 8
By now you know exactly what needs are driving your team’s decision to
implement an LMS, but what about the rest of your organization? What are
the strategic goals of your organization and how will an LMS and your
training programs support these goals? For example, does your
organization want to achieve a larger market share, or perhaps they want to
improve their customer satisfaction score? Once you’ve identified these
goals, you’ll be able to demonstrate to your senior management team how
the LMS and your training plans align with your organization’s overall
business goals and objectives. The more aligned your programs are with
your organization, the better your outcomes!
STEP 2. Identify and Align with Organizational
Goals
Better Overall Effectiveness
Lower Overall Cost
Higher Learner Engagement
Improved Performance
Strong Alignment with
Organizational Goals
LMS/Training Program
OUTCOMES
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 9
What are our organization’s top
goals for this coming year?
How will our LMS/Training
programs support these goals?
Example:
Successfully launch new widget in Q3
Example:
The LMS will be used to provide product
support and sales training for customer
service, sales team and national
distribution network prior to widget
launch. Distributing training via the LMS
will result in an expedited training cycle;
reducing our typical 4 week training
cycle to a 2 week training cycle.
1.
2.
3.
STEP 2. Identify and Align with Organizational
Goals
Organizational Goal Assessment Worksheet
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 10
Now that you’ve detailed what your organization’s overall strategic
objectives are, it’s time to drill deeper to get a better understanding of the
objectives for each of your business units/departments. You’ll need to work
directly with the key stakeholders from your business units to identify their
department’s strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and unique training
requirements.
Moreover, at the end of this exercise you’ll have a solid foundation by which
you can measure the success of your training initiatives against individual
business unit results. Organizations typically struggle with measuring the
impact of training initiatives, but when training is aligned with business unit
key performance indicators, it’s far easier to determine success.
During this time you’ll also want to solicit buy-in from your key
stakeholders. Their support and influence can be extremely beneficial when
it comes to justifying your need for an LMS. You’ll want to speak with
leaders from Human Resources, C-Suite, Sales and Marketing, IT,
Manufacturing, Quality Assurance, Compliance, to name a few.
STEP 3. Identify Key Stakeholders/Department
Goals/Training Requirements
Industry Insight: The learning of the future must be closely aligned to overall corporate strategies in order for companies to achieve results. Any program or technology investment should involve input from business leaders to ensure that learning is driving retention, engagement, and performance. - David Wentworth, Brandon Hall2
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 11
STEP 3. Identify Key Stakeholders/Department
Goals/Training Requirements
Departmental Objectives: Interview Worksheet
Department/Business Unit:
Business Unit Leaders:
1. What are your department’s
strategic goals for the upcoming
year? Are there any specific short or
long term goals?
Note: Keep in mind how departmental
goals may be related to your overall
corporate goals?
2. What tactics do you plan to
implement to achieve these goals?
Who is involved with implementing
these tactics? Will they require any
specific skills to succeed?
Note: Answers will reveal who may
need to participate in training and what
types of training may be required.
3. How will your department be
measured on success? Are there
any specific Key Performance
Indicators that your department
tracks? How often are these
measured?
Note: Remember, you’ll want to tie in
your training programs/results with any
Key Performance Indicators.
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 12
4. What specific challenges does
your department face in
successfully achieving your goals?
5. What training does your
department currently participate
in? How often is it conducted?
What training would you like your
department to participate in?
6. Is your department’s success
dependent upon any other of our
departments?
Note: You’re probing to identify any
synergies between departments that can
be leveraged and consolidated for
training purposes and for key
stakeholder buy-in.
STEP 3. Identify Key Stakeholders/Department
Goals
Departmental Objectives: Interview Worksheet
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 13
Business Unit
Mandatory
Training
Requirements
Current Training
Timeframe
Suggested
Training
Example:
Human Resources
Example:
• Onboarding
• New Hire
Training
• OSHA
Compliance
Example:
• Onboarding: 6
months
• New Hire Training: 2
weeks
• OSHA Compliance: 4
hours
Example:
Behavioral-
based
Interviewing
Techniques
Departmental Training Requirements Worksheet
STEP 3. Identify Key Stakeholders/Department
Goals/Training Requirements
Reminder: During your stakeholder interviews, you should be prepared to describe
how an LMS will positively impact each department and the organization as a whole.
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 14
By now you should have enough information to present your case for
investing in an LMS. To ensure that your leadership team understands the
value and opportunity that an LMS can provide you’ll need to clearly
communicate your vision. You’ll want to position your case so that the LMS
is viewed as a technology that can help your organization to achieve their
strategic business goals while also achieving a return on investment. Focus
your case on the following:
A well researched and well documented business case will help your
organization to justify the investment in an LMS. Once you’ve achieved that
buy-in and agreement, the next step will be to evaluate and select an LMS
that best fits your organization’s needs.
STEP 4. Present Your Case
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Most importantly,
describe how the
technology and your
training programs are
strategically aligned
with your
organization’s goals,
including the goals of
your business units.
Identify key business
challenges and how
the LMS will help you
to overcome them!
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Provide details on
the strategic benefits
of implementing an
LMS, such as
increased employee
engagement, lower
employee churn,
agility, increased
profitability, etc.
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Demonstrate how
the LMS will provide
immediate cost
savings and generate
return on investment.
ePath Learning, Inc. | Making the Case for an LMS | ©2016 15
ePath Learning’s cloud-based learning management system, ASAP, enables
your organization to manage training and create learning opportunities
that improves training and human performance for business. ASAP is easy
to use and provides everything you need for an online training program. It
enables you to author content, manage and deliver training, track ILT,
support social learning, create assessments, run meaningful reports, and
more. To round out your training needs, ePath Learning also offers custom
course development and off-the-shelf content libraries.
Would you like to learn more about how implementing LMS technology can
benefit your company? Perhaps you’d like to see a live demonstration of
our LMS platform? Feel free to contact us at 860-444-8090, via email
[email protected], or visit our website at www.ePathLearning.com.
About ePath Learning, Inc.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2014/02/04/the-recovery-arrives-corporate-training-spend-skyrockets/#5b93c2ba4ab7 https://trainingmag.com/5-trends-future-learning-and-development Brandon Hall Group: LMS Trends 2015: Is it Time for Something Different Icon made by [author link] from Information icon courtesy of www.flaticon.com ?
