Today, learning management system is booming in the eLearning market. They have completely transformed how training is given and received. It has automated training so that online instructors and employees can focus only on one thing and that is, “learning”. 

Although initially, the usage of learning management systems or LMS was restricted to only the education sector, it now has penetrated various industries. Be it hospitality, manufacturing, hospitals, or pharmaceuticals, almost every industry has switched to LMS to provide online training to its employees in an effective manner.

LMS ensures both quantitative and qualitative learning. Quantitative in the sense that using an LMS, eLearning professionals can create eLearning resources employing various multimedia like videos, audios, images, podcasts animations, etc, that provide engaging content to employees.

The eLearning resources can be reshaped and resized by the eLearning professionals anytime based on their needs. LMS also ensures qualitative learning in the sense that the eLearning resources are not just informative but relevant and resourceful. The use of different multimedia and language ensures that the learning needs of every employee are fulfilled. 

Now that you’ve understood how important an LMS is to your business, you should now learn more about how to ensure its successful implementation. Here are ways in which you can ensure exactly that. 

1. Build A Strong LMS Implementation Team

For launching a successful online training program, you need the involvement of various members and departments. For instance, you need the HR, eLearning project manager, IT department, L&D team, finance department, etc. all in one place. 

Different members and departments bring in their expertise and knowledge to ensure a smooth running of the training program. 

Once you build and assemble the team, you can assign individual roles and responsibilities to different departments and members. For example

• Team Leader

This person will oversee the successful implementation of your training programs and at the same time ensure that the LMS is providing excellent training to employees.

• eLearning Project Manager

The eLearning project manager ensures that all the employees are taking up eLearning courses and completing them on time. He tracks and monitors the movement of employees or learners across the eLearning platform.

• eLearning Specialist

The eLearning specialist is responsible for designing and creating online training content for the courses. He also oversees the migration of content from the old system to the new LMS platform.

• L&D Administrator

An L&D administrator helps in developing and implementing learning strategies that are in sync with the organization’s goals. 

• IT Expert

An IT expert ensures the security and safety of your LMS.

• HR Manager

They manage the employee database and help in onboarding new hires. 

2. Create An LMS Implementation Plan and Timeline

With the help of your LMS team, plan out a strategy for the successful implementation of LMS. This includes the following

• Decide which type of LMS you want cloudbased, onpremises, or an opensource LMS. This is again determined by the overall budget and the kind of industry you work in.
• Once you decide this, ask your team how much time would it take to install the LMS and migrate the data.
• Set up clearcut goals and objectives for your training programs and communicate the same to everyone.

3. Prepare For Data Migration

The number of user accounts and data you want to integrate into your new LMS also determines the timeline for the implementation of LMS. If there are so many user accounts, then obviously it would take time to migrate all the data.

Migrating old data or learning content to a new LMS requires both effort and time equally. For instance, you may want to migrate all the data into a new LMS or may just want to migrate only a few learning modules that you consider important and relevant. 

Another important point to remember is whether the data or information you’re migrating into your new LMS is compatible with the new system or not. If it is not compatible, then the implementation of LMS will be affected. 

4. Launch A Trial Run

Once your LMS is set up, launch a trial run. Pick up some employees from your organization and request them to use the LMS platform for some time. Ask them if they find any issues like technical glitches, the slowdown in the middle, difficulty in logging in and accessing eLearning resources, etc. 

If they report some issue, call on your LMS team, discuss and take suitable action. Communicate the same to your LMS vendor and ask him to address the issue immediately. 

Offer a small training program to the users who are going to use the LMS platform so they know how to use the LMS effectively. You can take the help of your LMS vendor to know all the intricacies of the platform. 

5. Time To Completely Switch To New LMS

After the successful trial run, you’re now ready to switch to your new LMS conveniently. While making a shift from an old to a new system, run both the systems in parallel before the changeover. It gives a certain amount of data security and time to employees to absorb a new change. However, once your data is secured and your employees and learners are comfortable with the new LMS, make a full switchover.

While switching to a new LMS might take some time but in case you experience some blackouts between transitioning from an old to a new system, you must raise a flag to your LMS vendor. 

6. Assess And Debrief

Once, you’ve made a complete switchover to a new LMS, and all employees after some time have embraced the new shift, you must evaluate how the LMS is working. You need to do the following assessments

• Assess how most users logged into their user accounts and whether they face any challenges while logging in.
• Check their progress in terms of the number of classes they’ve attended, completion of online training courses, submission of projects and assignments, and how much did they score in their training assessments. 
• Generate feedback forms for employees to know their user experience. If they report some issue then take immediate action on it.
• Be open to feedback even if it sounds harsh.

Through such evaluations, you can know how good your LMS is, and also about the time taken to upload new eLearning resources, user experience, etc.

Conclusion

A learning management system has revolutionized learning. If you’re planning to use an LMS or making a switch to a new LMS, then you must follow the above steps to ensure effortless and successful implementation of LMS. Remember, after you’ve implemented LMS, your work doesn’t end. You should keep optimizing and reshaping your training programs with changing times.