Learning Management System Workflow

An Overview for Instructional Designers

After you send out your completed eLearning course you may be called upon to help troubleshoot if your course didn’t function properly during testing. It’s helpful to know the overall LMS workflow process so you can help the LMS Administrator figure out issues.

Here is a typical LMS workflow and some pointers.

LMS Workflow

	Course Development Software (Instructional Designer Task) After your course is complete, you’ll be asked to save so it will run properly on an LMS. Before saving your file for export, contact your client or LMS Administrator to help you determine which version of SCORM or XAPI the system will use. They might come back with (1) SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Mode) 2004 or 1.4, (2) XAPI, (3) HTML5 and Flash (which you should not be using any longer). These settings allow data from the course to flow back into the LMS and helps track completion status, course time, quiz results, etc. Often there are settings in the course development software that determines when a course is considered complete. For example, is the course is complete when the user gets to the last slide, or are there Pass/Fail requirements based on the quiz results? The LMS requires this information to determine if the user has successfully completed the course but YOU must change the settings in the course development software.
	Elearning Course Export (Instructional Designer Task) When exporting your course, you have a choice between a zipped or unzipped file. Most LMS applications can import and unzip files, but sometimes the LMS Admin may need the files unzipped if the unzip process stalls or is unsuccessful.
	LMS Import (LMS Admin Task) Course zipped files are imported into the LMS. Most LMS applications import directly into the system, while others LMS's may use an FTP process to load the file from a cloud storage service. It's good practice to create a standard file structure with clear revision notations so that the LMS Admin imports the correct file.
	Central File Repository (LMS Admin Task) Once imported the file is just sitting in the Central Repository it's not yet a course. That comes in at the next step. Some systems require that these repository files have a short description so that the files are searchable and identifiable and even if it's not required it's a good practice to have a standard naming convention for all courses whether they are online or instructor-led.
	Course Description (Instructional Designer/LMS Admin Tasks) This is where the eLearning file becomes a course. The I.D. should provide the course description, which is then added to a new course in the LMS. The Admin then connects to the eLearning file to the course. Good to Know Item: Because the steps 4 and 5 are separate, the LMS application may allow files to be “switched-out” meaning you can substitute one file for another one. This comes in very handy if the course must be revised after it has been assigned to users. The course can be connected to the new file executable without changing the following steps of 6, 7 or 8. Additionally, one single course may have a "one to many relationship" to the files in the repository. For example, a course may contain an eLearning segment, a .pdf document, and a video. Even though these are separate files, all three files are connected to a single course. At this stage, courses are assigned to catalogs, which helps define the type of course and helps users find courses. A Fire Safety course may be assigned to the EH&S catalog, while a HIPAA course is assigned to the Compliance catalog. Courses can have a one to many relationships with different catalogs if they cover more than one catalog area.
	Curriculum Management (Cross Functional Task) Just like college, curriculums are a group or collection of courses that follow a plan. In the LMS a learning plan might be a collection of courses for Compliance, or Sales knowledge. Consider scaffolding the courses so that the learner covers material that is increasingly more complex as they move through the curriculum. Some companies require knowledge certification for specific roles making curriculums a fast way and easy way to assign many courses to one user. Also decided at this stage is the timeline, i.e. how long does the learner have to complete the course? The LMS Admin will need from the stakeholders a range of date. When is the curriculum supposed to be launched i.e. at data of hire, when a role is assigned, after six months of employment?
	Assignment Management (Cross Functional Task) Who gets what training is usually a cross-functional decision. Each department or job function may have certain required courses or curriculums. LMS assignment rules can help automatically assign training. These rules can be based on time (ex: all employees with a start date less than 5 days from today) or (employee role = "sales" are assigned the sales curriculum) An assignment matrix is usually created so each department can see which courses are assigned by time event or role. Assignment management can also include instructor-led courses and can include advanced features such as maximum enrollments, self-enrollment/un-enrollment, email reminders, and sign-in sheets. Notifications need to be considered and set-up at this point. Does the employee get an email when the learning plan is assigned, then weekly when items are overdue?
	End-User Learner Access Most LMS applications have a homepage that displays the assigned courses. Since there are such a wide variety of browsers, browser settings, and enterprise security settings, it’s important that your course is tested in all the potential environments before Step 7. Often user homepages can be customized to reflect the look and feel of the organization's brand.
	Reporting (LMS Admin Task) At some point, someone will want to know the completion status of the courses in the LMS. Most LMS systems have reporting systems, but they can rarely anticipate all the reporting needs of the organization. In that case, data is often exported into a spreadsheet for further analysis. Reporting is also a useful way to validate during testing that the course is functioning correctly.