Hormuzd (Homz) Umrigar E-mail: homz@homzumrigar.

com

Evaluating Learning Management Systems (LMS) in just seven

steps
By: H Umrigar

Over the years I have come to find that following these seven steps helps organizations and
institutions alike in making the right choice when investing in a LMS. After all it is one of the key
components of your e-Learning infrastructure. The steps I recommend are:

 Establish a learning strategy

 Document requirements
 Research LMS companies
 Prepare a RFP
 Review the proposals
 Schedule meetings and demo’s
 Make your selection

1. Establish a learning strategy: this should be laid out keeping in mind the business goals, processes, job roles,
culture, people and how they learn. You should treat this data as the basis to define how training will support them and
help them grow. One more thing to keep in mind while establishing your learning strategy should be that it should not
only focus on immediate short term objectives but also keep in mind the long term goals to give it a longer life span.
You don’t want to get into a similar process 18 months down the line when your business has significantly expanded
and your learning strategy did not factor that in.

2. Document requirements: avoid the “wiz bang” factor and focus on the requirements in the order of your priorities.
Its not rocket science write down everything you want in simple language and then order it as per your priorities.

3. Research LMS companies: use the above mentioned documentation to lay down the criteria and requirements to
quickly identify a manageable list from the 70+ vendors to a shorter crisper one that focuses on only those that meet
your core requirement and budgets.

4. Prepare the RFP: using your documented requirements chalk out case diagrams and learning scenarios to clearly
state your LMS requirement. This allows the vendors to provide a proposal specific to your needs.

5. Review the proposal: set up a review team to review the proposals based on your requirements and RFP to gather
both scoring and subjective feedback. This should narrow your list down to the top 3 vendors.

6. Schedule meetings and demos: The case diagrams and learning scenarios drafted earlier should come in handy at
this stage as it allows the vendors to showcase whether or not their product meets your criteria. This is what we call
“You have written you can do it, now show me” factor. This helps the review team in making the right
recommendations. The meeting should be with a view to understand specific details from the vendor in terms of
service, maintenance, training and costs.

7. Make the selection: once the review team has seen the demo’s and made their recommendations based on the
criteria check-listed and scoring matrix you may take an informed decision that should last you for the next 3 to 5
years. This will help you grow your training needs, give you a competitive advantage and realize higher and higher ROI
from your investments.

In the end no matter what approach you follow you should end up selecting an LMS that meets
your needs.

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