Organizations spread all over the world are moving towards digital learning, however with the pandemic the rate of this transformation is much higher. Most enterprise level organizations are on the hunt to adopt an LMS to cater to the learning & development needs of their workforce to achieve business growth. While there is urgency shown to implement an LMS, there are challenges too associated during the whole process. There are critical decisions to be made, tasks to be assigned to the dedicated teams, and timelines to be adhered to. In this blog, we’ll talk about the factors which make the LMS implementation process a success for enterprises. However, before that, let’s spend a few minutes going through the history of the learning management system and its future perspective.   The very first step towards LMS began in 1924 with reference as Machine learning and the first-ever software-based LMS came in 1990. The Launch of the first open-source internal network for facilitating learning on a global digital platform was done in 2002. However, it was not until 2012 that LMS became cloud-based and thereby releasing the burden of server maintenance. The overall tenure of the LMS market is not that old however it has grown aggressively over the last few years - as per the latest market research (Global Opportunity Analysis, n.d.) reveals that the LMS market will reach a value of $28.1 billion by the end of 2025.   The organizations spend months doing the research about new LMS, selecting a partner with a good LMS product. Once everything gets finalized then comes the most critical moment and that’s called the implementation phase. However, implementing a new LMS is a relatively complex, long-term, and detailed process that requires care and attention at each step. You just can’t wish for the best and hope that things will fall correctly into place instead. There is a need to ensure that your core implementation team is ready to complete the job assigned and meet the expectations. Let’s list out how you can make a LMS implementation process smooth and result oriented.  

Creating project plan

As said “A goal without a plan is just a wish”, thus planning is important to achieve desired results. Transforming your defined goals into success starts with a proper strategy and detailed planning helps you to ensure that everything is done correctly. LMS implementation project plan and template with questions define a starting point for the whole process. The standard questions include – what is the objective of the new LMS? what are the various configuration points? Is there a requirement for the new LMS to integrate with the existing or external systems?  

Building timelines

A realistic detailed timeline is needed to be set to gauge the actual progress of the whole process. The timeline must have sufficient time dedicated to the LMS implementation and problem-solving phase to work upon the issues that occurred during the complete process.  

Forming LMS implementation team

The LMS implementation team is that one group that drives the project with full steam and dedication. Team members would be responsible to create new processes, evaluating the trial out, fixing the bugs, and eventually launching the new platform. Typically, the team would include a team leader, project manager, IT support, eLearning solutions expert, and L&D administrator.  

Training LMS admins and other users

LMS administrators are the core members during the whole journey and their role is important to ensure that systems run smoothly, and the vision is met that was set up at the start. The training for the administrators and other members is very critical as they need to know the system inside out, better than anyone else using the solution. The more administrators know, the more they will be confident in rolling out the new system with entire functionalities.  

Preparing for data migration from existing system

Once the LMS has been built, then comes the most complex step of the entire process which is data migration from the existing system to the new platform. The best approach to follow is to move the data in batches as this will avoid any roadblocks and errors. IT support team plays a very important role at this stage in executing the data migration smoothly.  

Trial run with a dedicated pilot batch

A trial run of a new system is very essential so that you get the opportunity to fix the bugs before the system reaches go-live state. The pilot launch involves a small group of users spending their time exploring the functionality of the new system. The feedback from the users is gathered in the form of a short survey and worked upon to make the system more streamlined.   Finally comes a time when the full launch of the LMS is executed. However, the journey doesn’t end here as there will be opportunities to keep improving on a regular basis. The user satisfaction surveys can guide you with the directions to follow which makes the new system more robust and enhance overall performance.   The overall LMS implementation process for an enterprise is a very detailed job and after all, the organizations want to ensure that new LMS serves their learning needs to the fullest. Once, an effective learning solution has been placed, then there’s no limit to what your end users can achieve and contribute significantly towards business growth. At Tenneo (formerly G-Cube LMS), we have 20+ years of experience and 100+ industry awards in learning technologies; contact us if you would like to know more about LMS solutions.