Setting up an LMS (learning management system) often brings to the forefront different wishes from different organizational functions. For me, bringing together these disparate, often conflicting wishes is the most critical stakeholder requirement when setting up an LMS.
HR: HR would like an LMS that will integrate with other HR systems, e.g: systems for compensation & benefits, talent management, etc. They’d also like motivational features that encourage employees to interact with the LMS, and reduce their LMS administration time by setting up automated processes.
Regulatory: Regulatory would like the LMS to have a validated, automated process that ensures all training content is approved by them before being rolled out. They also need the LMS to be 21CFR Part 11/ 508 compliant, and/ or confirming to W3C Web Accessibility standards.
IT: IT would like an LMS that meets their internal IT standards. This can sometimes conflict with industry specifications that are outdated in terms of technology, design, and context, but legally necessary and thus mandated by Regulatory.
Sales: Sales would like a platform with self-publishing features that allows them to create courses quickly. Sales also benefits from reports that show detailed metric for sales training completion status, comparative regional data, and direct and indirect correlations to actual sales figures.
Operations/ Manufacturing: Oftentimes, manufacturing plants use part-time/ ad-hoc resources that are not on the regular payroll, i.e: resources that are not registered on HR systems and consequently don’t have a user ID and password. However, Operations would like to make training available to such resources as well.
Training: Training would like a platform that supports various types of training delivery mechanisms- classic e-learning, large sized simulations, video games, performance support, knowledge banks, podcasts, decision trees, mobile content, etc.
A new system lives and thrives only when it is accepted and used, and so it is perhaps to be expected that the LMS fulfills as much of each function’s wishes as is possible. Wherever not possible, the technical, budgetary/ time, and compliance restrictions of the LMS should be explained, and the functions encouraged to collaborate and compromise on the LMS. It is important they understand what the LMS will do for the organization as a whole, and not just for each singular function.
