Top 4 Challenges to Overcome in the Implementation of an LMS (Solutions Inside!)
There are implementation challenges with every new piece of software. Likewise, a learning management system functions similarly! Everyone involved will have to go through a learning curve, make crucial decisions, and assign tasks. But don’t worry, we’re here to assist! These are the top 4 challenges in a Learning Management System (LMS) implementation that customers encounter, along with effective strategies to get past them all.
First Challenge: Your Team Lacks Focus!
eLearning can involve a wide range of stakeholders for businesses, including managers, instructors, designers, developers, and creators of courses. Setting objectives, managing tasks, and getting everyone on the same page are challenging when there are a lot of team members involved.
Create an Implementation Guide to Overcome This
Although an implementation guide might seem like just one more thing to put on your already lengthy to-do list but it can save you a ton of time and avoid implementation headaches. Your guide should only include the essential information that moving forward, in a brief and straightforward manner. We recommend incorporating:
- Implementing the LMS with the intention of saving money on internal training, training 1,000 customers on your new product features, or providing compliance training to 5,000 employees
- Participating team members and their responsibilities
- Links to useful resources and contact information for your LMS provider
- A set of guidelines governing everything from course naming conventions to content, including how frequently new courses will be added and who will oversee them
It’s a simple notion that ultimately saves you time.
Second Challenge: You Have No Idea How Long It Will Take!
Misjudging how long it will take to develop and launch your online training is a significant barrier. There are numerous other factors to take into account that could cause your LMS implementation to take longer than expected. Even though corporate LMS systems are meant to be quick to set up, many of MapleLMS’s customers successfully launched it within a few days.
Make a Schedule to Help You Overcome This
Setting up an LMS takes time for many businesses, so you need to plan a realistic schedule. This should list every goal that must be met along with the deadline for completion. The following important dates need to be mentioned:
- The Live date
- Date of content delivery
- A test date
- Dates for IT approval, etc.
It’s wise to take into account additional potential problems that could throw off your schedule like course materials not arriving on time. This happens in some of the LMSs and the strategies you’ve put in place to get past it. In this case, MapleLMS stands out as it already has more than 10K+ BizLibrary courses!
Third Challenge: You Couldn’t Decide on User Roles!
Managers versus instructors, administrators versus managers Who will be added to your organization, and what will their function be within the LMS? Because user roles assign each user the proper amount of access rights and privileges based on their needs, they should be carefully considered.
When it comes to managing your training, not having this figured out can result in a very confusing and messy situation.
Decide Quickly Who Should Do What to Overcome This
Prior to launch, assign roles and responsibilities clearly to prevent confusion among team members and save time.
Talk about the tasks that each member of your team will be responsible for outside of your LMS. Knowing who is in charge of what can greatly improve the efficiency of LMS implementation, from adding users to running reports to assigning courses to upload content.
You can begin assigning roles in your LMS once this has been decided. For instance, you can use MapleLMS as an instructor, manager, learner, or administrator. Every member of the team has varying levels of privileges, so you can assign them a role in your LMS based on their responsibilities.
Fourth Challenge: You Don’t Know How to Add Users to Your LMS!
User onboarding is arguably the most crucial step in putting an LMS into practice. However, establishing the best way to add them to your organization can lead to an internal debate. To ensure a smooth transition for both you and your users, it must be decided upon early on.
Overcome This by Assigning Roles to Users
There are several methods for adding users; your organization must determine which is the easiest and most practical to implement. Fortunately, with LMSs like MapleLMS, you can create users and then assign them different roles depending on their responsibilities. Following are the steps for assigning the roles to the newly created users within MapleLMS:
- Learner and Instructor: You can easily assign both of these roles after user creation but only within the course. First, go to the desired course, then Participants, and Enroll users. Simply search the name and set either the learner or instructor role there to the selected user.
- Admin (or administrator): You can set the role of admin from the Site Admin on the MapleLMS dashboard, then go to the Users, and Assign System Roles. Next search for the name of the user, you need to give the role of an admin, select that user name, and add.
- Manager: This role can be given upon the user creation step itself. Just go to the Advanced section, then Role to assign, and choose Company Manager there.
Note: “Upcoming Blog will elaborate on these steps for role assigning within MapleLMS in more detail. Stay tuned!”
Conclusion
While every company will encounter unique difficulties when putting an LMS into place, the aforementioned tips should assist you in overcoming some of the most typical ones. But if you’re unsure, ask the LMS experts yourself, they’ll be pleased to assist you!