10 days to lms success...10 days to lms success contributing to business success in measurable,...

10 days to LMS success

10 days to LMS successContributing to business success in

measurable, meaningful ways and doing

it year after year are among the most

important aspirations of any corporate

learning function. And among the toughest.

An LMS (learning management system)

is more than just software to help

deliver training and automate training

administration — it is the engine behind

your learning and development (L&D)

strategy and the ability to drive business

results. Managing the distinct needs

of disparate business divisions and/

or separate brands, catering to various

employee, contractor and external learning

audiences, and delivering the right content

to meet goals — both now and in the future

— should be a central focus of any LMS

implementation. Alignment with business

goals and balancing learner needs are the

foundations of a successful

LMS implementation.

Organizations fail to realize the full benefit

from their LMS implementation when they

focus on functionality alone.

A learning management system alone is not a solutionOver the years, we’ve seen what it takes for

a company to succeed in implementing and

managing an LMS.

Like any successful software adoption —

up-front planning and a clear understanding

of the desired outcomes are key. But what

exactly does your LMS team need to plan for

— and to what level of detail?

Through our experiences working with

customers who are realizing the full potential

of their LMS, we have identified 10 key factors

in learning system adoption and operation.

In this e-book, we’ll share best practices you

can follow whether you are deploying a new

LMS within your organization, replacing the

one you have, or wanting to get more out of

the investment you have already made. We’ll

cover strategies for securing stakeholder

buy-in, streamlining your business processes,

succeeding with user adoption and

much more.

An LMS is more than just software to help deliver training and automate training administration — it is the engine behind your L&D strategy and the ability to drive business results.


Day 1What are the strategic business

drivers for an LMS?

What is the vision for the employee

learning experience, and how does

the LMS help drive that experience?

What operational challenges will an

LMS overcome?

What are the top five qualitative

and quantitative success measures

for your LMS?

Successful teams know where they are headedSenior leadership should define the overall vision of the learning experience within the workplace and address the strategic objectives for L&D. The challenge comes in balancing multiple business objectives and audiences. For example, the learning experience needed for your call center can be completely different from the learning experience needed by IT or sales divisions. Clear articulation of business drivers and audience needs will shape your LMS

architecture and operating model.

Measures of successTo understand whether you are making progress toward achieving the strategic vision, you need clearly defined measurements. Because there are so many aspects to an LMS, you need a balanced scorecard with success measurements defined for each of the following:

• LMS adoption

• L&D operational efficiency

• Learning consumption/course completion

• Business outcomes

Establish how to maintain long-term alignmentEstablish how you will revisit your strategy and success metrics after the initial implementation is complete. While implementation of an LMS is a project with a defined launch date, you need to ensure that you remain closely aligned with your business clients by revisiting vision and success measures periodically as business needs and technology change.

DXC perspectiveThe most successful learning organizations are those that obtain executive buy-in to a balanced scorecard at the outset of an LMS adoption and regularly conduct executive scorecard reviews through the life of the system.

Establish vision and objectives


Select a strong project team — each

member should be collaborative and

have a clear understanding of the

business goals and learning operations.

Empower members to make decisions,

improve existing processes and change

the status quo.

Clearly outline the role and goals of

the business leads, HR, L&D and IT

departments to eliminate any silos.

Identify any interdepartmental

roadblocks or undercurrents that will

affect how the LMS is managed.

Address any personal agendas head-

on and foster an atmosphere of open

communication to keep team members

from getting sidetracked.

Day 2Resource planning is critical at every stageWhether you are preparing to implement your first LMS, transitioning to a new one or realigning LMS resources for more efficient operations, it’s important to take time to think through the roles needed, the mix of individual skill sets required and how team members will most effectively work together.

Successful project or operational teams are rarely made up of the people who just happen to have availability. Establish priorities to ensure that the people assigned to the project are able to focus the appropriate time to fulfill their obligations.

Define cross-functional responsibilitiesIn most organizations, the LMS is implemented and operated with the involvement of members from various business units, including L&D, HR and IT. With the complexity of cross-functional projects and matrix operations, it is critical to clearly define roles and accountabilities.

To facilitate collaboration at all stages, identify and document the executive sponsors and stakeholders. Determine who will champion learning initiatives and technology solutions across the organization. These are often not the same leader. Identify which executive sponsors and stakeholders will be contributing and

who simply needs to stay informed.

Define core team rolesFor the core team, define the roles needed and identify the skills required. When recruiting team members, identify who will fill in for their regular work during the time they are committed to the LMS initiative. While smaller projects might not be a problem, larger implementations can be a full-time commitment.

Different skills are needed for implementation versus operations after go-live. Keep in mind that some roles/tasks are temporary. The best person for the job may be outside the core project team, but could be temporarily contracted to support a key piece of work.

Assemble the team


Day 3Establish the team’s guiding

principles:

Conflict resolution — how does

the team agree to work out issues

among each other?

Decision making — how will

decisions be made?

Escalations — what is the process

for issue escalation?

Take time to discuss and document

learning principles and the business

rules for learning.

Identify policies and procedures

that should be re-evaluated with the

new system implementation.

Whether team members are discussing functional requirements as part of the buying process, engaged in configuration workshops during initial implementation or deciding how to implement newly released capabilities, they will not always share the same perspective on what should be done and how.

To help the team be effective in decision making, the team needs to adopt some guiding principles. We recommend two distinct sets of principles — one focused on the team interaction and one that spells out the desired culture, business rules and norms used by the learning function.

Develop team principlesEstablish values and standards of practice

for the project team. For example:

• We will openly share project information.

• We will show respect for new ideas.

• We will take risks and press beyond the status quo.

• We will hold each other accountable.

• We will seek an outside perspective when at a decision impasse.

Define learning principlesFormalize the learning principles by describing the learning experience you want to build with the LMS. Think of learning principles as the business rules and norms for how the learning function operates.

You will likely find that business units and/or functional groups have different perspectives on learning principles. For example:

• Are learners encouraged to take the initiative to plan their learning in alignment with career objectives or is learning prescribed and controlled?

• Do you have a culture of manager accountability for learning? Do you promote self-service for managers to monitor their team’s development and complete compliance training?

• Do you have common standards around pass rates for tests, registration processes, wait lists, attendance, cancellations, departmental chargebacks for training, etc.?

Gaining agreement on learning principles will give team members the confidence that comes from a shared understanding.

Activate the team

-

-

-


Work with your marketing department to

ensure that your LMS design aligns with

the desired employee experience.

Decide whether you will have one

generic LMS home page or a customized

page for distinct audience needs.

Involve outlying stakeholders in your

LMS home page design. Learning

administrators are generally too close

to the content, business processes and

system functionality to be objective

about the final user experience.

Budget for changes to your design

over time and in response to user

feedback. The LMS should never feel

stale to users, and usability issues need

quick responses.

As with any commercial website, there is a science and an art to planning the user experience you want to create with your LMS. Analyze your audience needs and the business context in which they will be using the LMS. Do users need to get in, take courses or find content and get out quickly or do you want them to explore learning options and plan their development? Or, do you need the LMS site to support both scenarios?

The best LMS portal pages are designed from the inside out. Before you start to plan your home page, be sure you have a good handle on the content you need to offer.

Architect your content• What content will you push to learners

as assigned, mandatory training?

• What subject structure will be used to help learners browse by topic?

• Which courses or curricula will be suggested to users based on their roles?

• What meta-tags will you use to improve

searching?

User interface design for learner and business needsDesign the search function to meet the various ways your learners are likely to query the system — from course names to regions to mobile-enabled. Also consider what user behaviors your learning

department needs to drive:

• We need to feature courses that are at risk of cancellation due to low enrollment.

• We need to keep the LMS looking fresh and highlight recently added courses.

• We need to drive compliance completion

by the end of this month.

DXC perspectiveFirst impressions are critical to user adoption. Invest the time needed to build out a great LMS home page. All the change management and communication effort you expend to drive users to your LMS is quickly lost if they don’t immediately feel the site looks good and is easy to use.

Day 4

Define the experience


Day 5Define which processes

are within the scope of the

LMS platform.

Recognize that the background

business process work done to

support the LMS architecture

will pay off in a smooth user

experience aligned to

business needs.

To set the stage for project success, take the time to document the key business processes to be supported by the LMS. Conduct interviews/workshops with those in learning operations to develop use cases.

Use cases define each business scenario in which a user, manager or administrator needs to complete a process in the LMS. Use cases are an effective and widely used technique to define user requirements that are then used for configuration, and again during testing to confirm the system meets necessary requirements. Taking a use case approach helps the team focus on user goals of each aspect of the LMS, rather than emphasizing system functionality.

What is key at the outset is to define the business need. For example:

• X users need to be able to enter the system to print a certificate and submit the certificate to an outside organization.

• Managers in X department need to be able to quickly determine if a team member is certified to perform a certain function.

As you develop use cases, some will be general, applying to all learners and

managers, while some will be specific to a role, division or learning program. Because you are adopting a new system, the “how” and step-by-step details will be determined later, during configuration.

Empower the team to challenge the status quoIt’s important to recognize that assessing and changing business processes is difficult. Recommending changes to “the way we always did it” requires objective and creative problem solving. Learner experience and business alignment must be the top priorities.

DXC perspectiveTechnology is a tool to enable strategy and automate business processes. Too many clients leave some business processes out of the LMS and fail to gain the full benefits. Be sure to challenge yourselves to automate wherever possible.

Assess business processes


Day 6Ensure that all executive

sponsors have a high-level

understanding of the LMS

functionality, including

functionality not

immediately implemented.

Provide formal training on the LMS

for the core project team, including

hands-on practice to build

confidence with configuration,

testing and troubleshooting.

Include system administrators

early in training.

Implement a plan to ensure that

the system will be kept current with

vendor releases.

To bring business processes to life, project team members need to have a full understanding of the LMS core functionality. Because they will be making decisions for the organization, members need to be familiar with the software and its key capabilities. Formal training, followed by hands-on practice, will build the understanding and confidence the team needs.

Executive sponsors should be exposed to the full functionality the organization has at its disposal. A high-level functional understanding of the LMS will enable executives to better support the implementation, adoption and ongoing operational decisions.

Build a confident administrator teamIdeally, you will be most successful with your LMS if your key learning administrators are members of the implementation team. Those who will be accountable to play a key learning administrator role after go-live — super administrator, business unit administrator, training coordinators, etc. — should be hands-on during the implementation and testing.

With a clear understanding of the basic LMS functionality, L&D professionals will be better equipped to visualize how learning programs can be designed within the framework of the system.

Learn the system

DXC perspectiveDon’t get caught with only one key person who knows how the system works. Budget for annual formal administrator training and be prepared for staff turnover. Stay current with functional releases to ensure that you are maximizing your value from the system.


Day 7Start content planning early.

Your content architecture will

feed your requirements definition,

configuration and the design of

your overall learner experience.

Assess the full range of the

organization’s learning content.

You are likely to uncover the

need to archive content that is

outdated or no longer relevant.

Budget for technical testing

and, potentially, some rework to

e-learning courses.

Keep business requirements in focusContent planning is a critical component of the LMS implementation. Your L&D team can help you assess your current status.

If you don't have many courses yet, conduct a formal assessment to populate your LMS with the right content to meet the desired learning and business outcomes. If you have thousands of courses, tests and resources to migrate from multiple sources, you will need to take inventory of the full spectrum of content to be offered through the LMS.

Working with all business units, build a plan to populate your LMS with the right content to meet the desired learning and business outcomes. This will include the e-learning courses you want to store in the LMS, the instructor-led courses you will list in the catalog, and any tests/assessments and learning resources that accompany e-learning and instructor-led offerings.

• Challenge business units to make mandatory only content really needed to drive business results.

• Identify irrelevant content to archive.

Determine solution requirementsDefinition of reporting requirements should accompany decisions on organizational data structure and content strategy, early in the requirements process.

Work with stakeholders to uncover learning reporting needs. The choices you make to catalog your learning content and configure LMS settings will affect your search options and reporting.

• Decide which data your managers and administrators will need to access self-serve and in real time.

• Determine which preconfigured reports can work for your business stakeholders.

• Determine how you will you manage requests for ad hoc custom reports.

• Decide which business scenarios require reporting dashboards.

DXC perspectiveThe most successful L&D organizations define key learning KPIs and deliver consistent learning

metrics across the organization.


Day 8Define communication strategies.

Develop communication plans

Core team, partners and

stakeholders

Project status plan

End user marketing plan

Assess organizational change

readiness:

Consider change history

Evaluate change fatigue

The LMS implementation will affect many departments and people within the company. Because only a small group of individuals (the project team) is directly involved in the planning and implementation work, successful adoption of the system hinges on a good communication strategy.

When outlining your strategy, identify who is responsible for communicating to the departments across the company. Clearly define what needs to be communicated and when before choosing the best vehicle. Determine who should receive communications, including:

• Future users of the system

• Anyone directly affected by the initiative

• Project stakeholders — both corporate

and business unit leadership

Keep communications simpleThe goal is to create awareness, educate users and stakeholders about the LMS and build interest in using the new system. Training and ongoing system support will help employees buy into the upcoming changes. Timing and targeting of content

is key. Plan a timetable for regular communication to keep everyone in the loop without overwhelming or boring them.

Assess your readiness for changeTo ensure that your users and organization

are ready for change, evaluate:

• How have similar implementations gone previously?

• Are any business areas experiencing adverse effects?

• Do any business units have initiatives that will compete for resources or mindshare?

• Are business unit leaders actively

supporting the project?

Once you’ve assessed your readiness, you can create a plan to manage organizational change.

Establish a communication strategy

-

--

--


Day 9What are the initial project risks and

how will they be managed?

What other projects are competing

for resources?

Is leadership committed to staying

actively involved throughout

the project?

Do your users see and understand

the value of the LMS to them?

Ensure a smooth transition with an adoption planOne of the biggest and most disheartening risks of an LMS implementation is experiencing low usage after launch.

To avoid low user adoption, develop a comprehensive LMS adoption strategy that includes the following five elements:

• User experience design

• Change management planning

• Communications strategy and campaigns

• User support strategy

• Learning program and content marketing

LMS adoption is not a one-time challenge to solve. Your organization needs to implement an ongoing strategy to achieve a high usage rate and high user satisfaction.

More than just adding an implementation project workstream around change management and planning for launch communications, your user adoption plan should include introductory and ongoing evaluation of the user and learner experience.

• Ensure that the LMS design has a look and feel that will appeal to users.

• Identify the content to be showcased on the main portal page to ensure ease of use and relevance to each learning audience.

• Create a streamlined process to manage a complex, multitiered end user support function where users get quick help with the LMS interface.

• Establish a process to provide detailed answers to learning content questions or urgent help with a live instructor-led course.

• Implement processes to introduce new functionality delivered through SaaS updates.

• Establish processes to onboard new

business to the LMS.

Make sure that your team gives adoption the focused attention required to be strategic and proactive — all aimed at delighting your learners with the LMS experience.

Create a risk management plan


Day 10Create internal stakeholder

engagement processes to support

continuous improvement of the LMS.

Establish processes to encourage

user feedback.

Cultivate a learning administrator

community.

Establish a budget that will support

continuous improvement of

functionality, user experience and

administrator training.

Continuous improvement drives long-term useThe goal of the implementation is not that LMS is a perfect solution on day one — rather, the project team has established a strong foundation that will support development and improvement of the platform over time. Ongoing commitment is important for user adoption, continuous process improvement and achievement of

long-term business objectives.

Close the feedback loopAs you go live, encourage user feedback and act on it quickly. Have a solid end user support process in place and treat your users the way you would treat outside customers in terms of response time and resolution targets.

Cultivate a community of practice among your learning administrators to:

• Keep them aligned with agreed-upon learning standards.

• Keep them informed of user feedback, functional improvements and process changes.

• Gather feedback from them about what is working and where the LMS could be

further improved.

Support an ongoing learning council Keep senior leaders engaged in learning and accountable for long-term LMS success. While you may want to demonstrate the sheer volume of learning activity in the organization, you can take it one

step further.

• Share executive dashboards on the state of the learning function (now that you have an LMS rich with learning data).

• Use the LMS data to tell the story of how learning is helping to transform the skill sets within the organization.

• Ask for executive input on where they see emerging skill gaps in the business that learning can help address.

Serve your users

Establish vision and objectivesEstablish strategic business drivers

Define the learning experience vision

Establish measurable goals

Assemble the teamIdentify team members

Empower team

Identify roadblocks

Serve your usersPlan ongoing engagement processes

Close feedback loop

Plan for continuous improvement

Create a risk management planAssess initial project risks

Identify resource competition

Ensure active leadership involvement

Establish communication strategyDefine communication strategies and plan

Create end user marketing plan

Assess change readiness

Determine solution requirementsPlan content architecture

Assess current content

Test current e-learning courses

Learn the systemExpose executive sponsors to full LMS

Provide formal LMS training to team

Build a confident administrator team

Assess business processesDefine which processes are in scope

Align user experience with business needs

Develop use cases

Define the experienceAlign with marketing

Architect your content

Involve outlying stakeholders

Activate the teamDevelop team principles

Define learning principles

Re-evaluate policies

10 day highlights at a glance

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 1

Implement with confidenceDXC designs and delivers learning and talent management solutions that take organizations to new heights. Our approach is all-encompassing — from asking the tough questions to strategizing, designing, implementing and supporting the right human capital management (HCM) solution — all while providing knowledgeable support and guidance that engages your people and derives the maximum benefit from your investment.

We've worked on HCM solutions for thousands of users across many industries. Our experienced team guides you from strategic planning through implementation, go-live readiness and ongoing operational support.

Our end-to-end approach starts on day one with a focus on your ongoing journey, not just the project. To set you up for long-term success, DXC Technology offers additional benefits far beyond HCM, such as:

• Business transformation and organizational change: Reinforces project and business outcomes through change leadership, strategies for communication and involvement, organization and job design, process training, benefits realization and more.

• Data and technology strategy: Includes strategy for master data management (MDM) and roadmaps to sequence initiatives that may include LMS, customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence and analytics, configurators, customer/vendor portals, and integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP).

• Learner experience design: Develops strategies for improving the user experience, including portal customization, multimedia integration, targeted user experience, and usability — all focused on delivery of the desired experience.

• Content management strategy: Plans and structures the management of content by defining the content an organization needs, the technology to support the content, and the process in which content is delivered with quality controls and the intended user experience.

• Business process improvement: Identifies, prioritizes and maps areas for improvement across learning and development, marketing, sales, service, supply chain, operations

and finance.

Reach out to DXC for more information about 10 days to LMS success.

www.dxc.technologywww.dxc.technology/contact_us

10 days to lms success...10 days to lms success contributing to business success in measurable,...

Documents