Preparing an organization to implement a Learning Management System (LMS) is no easy task. It takes a good bit of research to select a vendor, a pinch of finesse, and a load of patience. What follows are some strategies to facilitate the selection and implementation of an LMS, derived from first-hand experience.
Gain Advocacy of Key Individuals
Successful implementation begins and ends with influential advocates within the organization. Buy-in is crucial early in the process, and should be secured well before discussion of potential vendors or even budget.
This is a time where the learning professional must take off their training hat in favor their business hat, making sure to have credible, ready answers to questions like: "how will this affect business outcomes?" or "how does this align with business strategies?" All the angles of how the implementation will affect business must be accounted for. Be ready with evidence of how the LMS will benefit the bottom line, relating to increased efficiencies, increased profits, or money saved. Think short run and long run. Back up your assertions with data and examples.
Once you have won over an influential person or group of people in the organization, arm them with information - as much as they can handle. Provide them with enough ammunition to articulate the benefits of an LMS to their peers and superiors. Formulate "crib-sheets" with bullet points and responses to potential questions. As always, relate the need for an LMS to overall business strategy. Provide examples as well.
Identify Needs
A thorough needs analysis is a crucial first step in building a business case for an LMS. The document should describe how an LMS will address business needs and how it will fill in gaps. Articulate key benefits, such as return on investment (ROI), in bottom-line terms – money or time saved, increased efficiencies, increased productivity, faster time to market, increased channel readiness, etc.
Be sure to differentiate needs from wants. Categorize features of the LMS under headings like: Absolute Need, Nice To Have, and Not Needed. Doing so early will help alleviate the scope-creep many organizations experience when evaluating potential systems. Keep your core needs in mind will help you weed out the superfluous and concentrate on what really matters. It will save money.
Research
I can't say enough about the value of research. The range of LMS services offered by vendors goes from, to use an automobile analogy, Yugo to Mercedes-Benz. The price tag of an LMS can reach into the six to seven figure range, depending upon the complexity of the feature set and the amount of customizations. Even if your organization has deep pockets, "more expensive" does not necessarily equate to "better." The same goes with market reach. The smaller, lower-profile vendors may offer a comparable product to the larger, higher-profile players in the LMS market. In some cases, the smaller vendors offer more feature-rich applications at a vastly lower price.
One of the best investments an organization can make is to purchase comprehensive research reports comparing LMS features, platforms and vendors. Brandon-Hall and Bersin & Associates, to name two, offer comprehensive, up-to-date LMS research.
Another approach is to attend trade shows like ASTD's TechKnowledge and the Training series produced by Training Magazine. Stop by the vendor booths in the exposition hall, but don't go without having a specific purpose in mind. When approaching a booth, insist on speaking to the most senior representative – often the product manager or even CEO is working the show. Set up an appointment if need be. When speaking to the representative, whoever it may be, be clear as to your organization's needs, specifying features, infrastructure, etc. Be up front regarding your budget and get them to give examples of how much a "typical" installation of their product has cost. It's a waste of your time and theirs if you are looking for a Yugo and they are selling a Mercedes.
Write a Complete, Coherent Business Case
After the needs analysis and preliminary research is completed, a complete, sound business case for the LMS should be written.
A business case outlines the productivity advantages of implementing an LMS. It clearly explains how an LMS will address the organization's needs for learning and/or human capital management and how it aligns with overall business strategy.
When writing a business case, stick to the facts. Be complete yet succinct. A business case can include:
- An executive summary
- A needs analysis
- Any background information about the organization's learning goals
- Current state
- Proposed solution
- Associated risks
- Timelines
- Estimated costs
- Potential vendors and their pricing
- References
Choose a Vendor
After the business case has been written and, hopefully, approved, the next step is to evaluate potential vendors. Here's where research ultimately pays off. Compare your "must have" features to the feature sets of various vendors in your budget-range. Figure out what you can't live without vs. what you can live without. This may be a lengthy and possibly arduous undertaking.
The benefit of purchasing research from a respected and credible source, such as Brandon-Hall, at this point cannot be over-emphasized. It's worth the investment to have much of the legwork done for you. My company purchased Low Cost Learning Management Systems, a 300+ page report comparing 17 vendors, from Brandon-Hall for $500. A small price to pay considering man-hours and time saved. The report helped me identify key features we needed in an LMS while giving me a starting point for further research.
Narrow down your choice of vendors to the top five and request a demonstration. If you have done your research, you should have plenty of questions at the ready for the demonstration. Also, insist on a trial version of the software for evaluation on your own time.
From there, narrow your choices down to three and issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to those companies that details which asks the vendors to detail:
- Your organization needs
- Proposal terms
- Proposal response and delivery guidelines
- Contact information
- Proposal structure
- Product information
- Pricing
- Hardware and platform
- Desired features and functions where vendors indicate whether their product has each or not
- Product roadmap
- Why your organization should choose their product
- Implementation summary
- Sample agreements
- Customer references
Make sure to specify a due date for the proposals and stick to it. Evaluate the proposals and make your recommendation to your advocates and/or senior management. Arrange for the vendor(s) to present their proposal to these key decision makers in your organization. Await their decision and, if a vendor is chosen, begin your implementation plan starting with contract negotiation.
Otherwise, the process begins again...back to research and issuance of further RFPs.
Have an Implementation Plan
Once a vendor is chosen and the contracts are signed, a carefully crafted Implementation Plan should be fleshed out in collaboration with the vendor and Project Management personnel.
If the vendor is acting as an Application Service Provider (ASP or "hosted" plan), the hardware infrastructure and operating overhead is taken care of on their end. It's for this reason that ASP solutions are a sound choice for smaller organizations or for organizations that do not have the necessary infrastructure or capital to implement an installed solution.
If your organization is planning on hosting the application, termed an "installed" solution in the industry, the proper hardware infrastructure must be in place. A close working relationship with your IT department is crucial here. If your organization employs project management personnel, they should be spearheading the LMS implementation by this stage, making sure that your organization's IT personnel are synched up with the vendor's IT personnel at all times.
No matter what the platform or delivery mechanism, a sound implementation plan will have firm delivery dates based upon your organization's established project management procedures. These dates should be in the contract with consequences of failure to meet them clearly outlined.
Implementation plans should outline:
- Hardware/infrastructure readiness expectations and deliverables
- Software implementation deliverables
- Data preparation expectations and deliverables
- Data transfer expectations and deliverables
- Testing processes and deliverables
- Launch readiness expectations and deliverables
