If your business is looking for an LMS (Learning Management System), chances are you’re a little overwhelmed by the extensive options available to you. However, a quick Google search of “LMS” will give you about 85,500,000 results! In addition, each LMS will have key features specific to them. A great LMS is an invaluable business tool for any organisation. For example, it will help you deliver training materials, develop your teams, track compliance. As a result, your staff engagement increased, making your business a preferred place of work.

Before comparing any specific LMS solutions, you should list specific learning goals for your organisation. Understanding your business goals will help you choose the best LMS for your business. For example, your company may not need government compliance training. However, you may want to make your training content available to purchase by a customer. Your learning goals might include things like:

• Safety certification updates
• Regulatory compliance
• Internal learning opportunities
• Process improvement

Whatever your specific needs, there are 6 key features each LMS should have.

1 – Creation Tool

Surprisingly, the basic definition of an LMS doesn’t include a creation tool that allows you to create your training content. There are some options that require you to bring your own content. This means you’ll need to build content in a separate system and import them into your Learning Management System. Finding an LMS that includes a creation tool will help streamline your process.

2- Document and Resource Management

An important component of a successful LMS is the ability to manage a library of Documents and Resources. You can have a central location for your documents and resources. This will integrate with your training modules and courses. It allows you to build extensive training programs containing supporting documentation, policies, and resources.

3 – Electronic forms

Having the ability to integrating electronic forms into your LMS allows for a streamlined and automated onboarding process. Electronic forms can start an automatic workflow – allocating modules, courses, and compliance tracking based on conditions within your business workflow.

4 – Reporting – including CPD tracking and Avetmiss Reporting

It’s nice to train your employees. However, you’ll have no baseline for measuring performance and improvement if you aren’t tracking skills development and certifications. Or at the very least, course completion. An LMS needs to have automated reporting that ensures managers and supervisors can monitor and track compliance with training requirements.  

Where your organisations require CPD (Continuing Professional Development) tracking or Avetmiss (Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard) Reporting, your chosen LMS needs to have this as part of its reporting capabilities.

5 – Automated Communications

An LMS needs to eliminate bottlenecks in your business – and every business experiences issues with their communications throughout the organisation. Thus, you need to streamline the communication process by having them automated. Once training competencies and other training material, resources, and documents are set up, the system then needs to take over the role of communication. As a result, this ensures that best practices and high levels of consistency are locked in place to stop important processes from falling through the cracks.

6 – Be accessible on any device

In today’s work environments, we tend to no longer buy bulk hardware across the entire workforce. Instead, multiple versions of computers, laptops, tablets, and phones are incorporated into the business. For example, this means training needs to be deliverable across all devices via one platform. Thus, having a system that has a responsive user interface delivered using the latest HTML5 standards means all personnel can now access their training no matter what devices they have at their disposal. Similarly, not having this flexibility to deliver training in this way could mean large parts of your workforce fall behind.

Building your education and training programs takes planning and care. As a result, your chosen LMS will help your educational methods to remain relevant and appealing as consumer expectations change.

In conclusion, to learn more about how dita Solutions can assist you in implementing a Learning Management System with these key LMS features in your business, start your free trial of dita Learning today.