Need a new LMS

We use GeoMaestro (now owned by SumTotal).  We don't use it in that fashion, but it is designed to do exactly those sorts of things.  What sort of user-base numbers are you looking at?

That is part of the issue with any LMS we may use.  We don't have a concrete answer to that question. Many customers get up to 500 seats but possibly only 50 are used.  As we speak I have over 250,000 seats available and probably 5,000 seats taken.  So, I would not want to pay by the available seats but by the # of taken seats which I have no control over how many people will really take a course.  

GeoMaestro bills by active user account, not seats.  We have approximately 4000 active users, give or take a couple hundred.  Our arrangement with them allows us to take a snapshot of total active users in August, and then we're billed on that number for the following year, even though it may go up or down by a few dozen here or there.

The upshot is that user records can be set inactive -- we can retain and report on their data, but so long as the account is not active before the snapshot it taken we don't have to pay for it.  It allows us to control costs somewhat.

If you are still looking...we like ours and although we don't use that functionality of it (the E Business side) I know it does that well from what I have heard. It is GreenLight by Silkroad.

My agency is also currently using the GeoMaestro LMS.  As Brian can attest, the GeoMaestro LMS can likely accomodate all of your needs.  We've found, however, that Geo is a "Cadillac" of LMS's - meaning that it can do a lot, but also comes with a hefty price tag. 

Unfortunately, our IGA contract will be ending in a few months and we are currently looking at other options. 

Jane, if your company has the money to spend, I would suggest taking a look at GeoMaestro.

Hi Jane,

I work with a company that has created a very easy to use LMS type system for CME presentation.  We currently put Articulate content into a Media area but it allows for: Registration and User Accounts, Frontmatter and Program Goals Presentation, Media, PostTesting, Program Survey, and Certificate Presentation, and Metrics of all of those.  It also allows for Multiple Accreditation Paths so that different CEUs can be awarded for different specialties viewing the content.  (i.e. Nures Credit for Nurses with Appropriate Certificates and CME for Physicians).

It can be customized to a company with colors and logos and be used on a custom domain.

You can see an example at: http://onsitetv.com/'

Please let me know if you need additional information.

George

We've used Inquisiq for several years. It's not an outstanding LMS (as advanced features go) by any stretch of the imagination. But for the number of users we have in the system (over 100K) it's pretty affordable at $9950 for unlimited users on perpetual license. This is "install it yourself" style on an IIS server with MSSQL. Easy to install if you have someone that knows DB and IIS. My first installation took me less than 15 minutes. It's ASP so it's pretty easy to customize.

The LMS does have limited event scheduling and handles course and curriculum construction. It's pretty much launch and track with some basic reporting functions (mix and match your own reports to CSV).

When we bought it the licensing was $7500. It was supposed to be a temporary hold-over until we selected a permanent LMS. After 7 years... the band-aide is still in place.

G'day Jane,

I work in the Healthcare industry and we use Moodle here. Articulate works brilliantly with it, there is a great community behind it, it is open source and best of all free which is important if you work in the public health system. In most cases it is a one step process to uploading your Articulate SCORM files which is very handy. You can also network to other Moodle installations so if another department or health service is running it, you can ask to tap into their courses and not have to create your own every time.

We use Moodle but to be honest, the SCORM reports are a jumbled mess.  I have yet to find a solution so I can have a useful, readable report.

 I looked into Articulate Online but they don't have the ability to have a course with mutiple SCO's.  It's more or less one SCO per candidate registration.  My courses have between 10 to 25 individual SCO's.  If they fixed that I would be in!  That and I need to integrate auto registration for people that buy online.....

Good luck!

Dave