LMS Advice / Recommendation

Hi Matthew,

In your case, an LMS such as OpenOLAT (http://www.openolat.org) may be just what the doctor ordered.

All of the requirements you specified above are covered (quite extensively I might add).

The only cons are : A) Hard to install if you have no previous experience setting up a Tomcat Application Server (although the manual is quite extensive), B) If you host it outside your company LAN, you will need full root access on your webserver (i.e. not suited for shared hosting) and C) No SCORM 2004 compliance (it is however 1.2 compliant, and IMHO the most fully featured in the biz).

If you have the patience to get to grips with it, you'll probably start looking at Moodle in an ever more negative manner.

Just my 2c,
Alex

Hey Matthew, 

A few years ago I was researching LMS systems for a company I was working for, and I came across this pretty cool website: Capterra. They have a compiled list of over 300+ LMSs that you can sort through and check out features and reviews.

I'd love to be able to offer you some more specific recommendations based on personal experiences, but my LMS experience has been somewhat restricted to using Moodle.

One more thing, once you've narrowed your choices down to a top 2-3 systems, I'd do some extensive Google/Linked In group research and find out what real users are saying and how their day-to-day experiences are going with the software. How many steps are involved in uploading SCORM files? How helpful/responsive is their technical support? You can probably even single out specific individuals who have used the software that you can connect with or Message through LinkedIn to get more details about their experience. May seem a bit extreme, but I think it would be well worth it in the end. Since installing and configuring a new LMS is a money- and time-intensive undertaking, you probably only want to do it once and want to be pleased with the results. =) 

Hopefully you'll report back with your final selection, as well as how you ended up making your choice! 

Hi Matthew,

A few years ago I was researching LMS systems for my former employer a UK Public Sector Organisation and came accross Kallidus LMS. The product fully met our needs, to the point that i became an expert and is now employed by Kallidus supporting the use of the LMS.  Check it out it may meet your needs: http://kallidus.com/ .

A full feature list can be found here: http://kallidus.com/Documents/Features%20Lists/Kallidus%209.pdf

 http://kallidus.com/Documents/Brochures/Kallidus%20Learning%20Management.pdf 

-Can host thousands of users

Yes Kallidus can have unlimitted number of users. Nissan Europe is a Kallidus client with approximately 100 thousand users accross Europe. Specsavers is another client with a similar amount of users accross Europe and Australia. The LMS supports Time Zones.
-Can group like users (companies, job titles, etc)

Yes you can put users into groups and can have as many groups as you like? Users can belong to more than one group depending on needs. You can also create domains with specific administrators for just these domains or groups.
-Can use SCORM (we use articulate to build a good portion of our courses)

Yes most of the Kallidus clients use Articulate Studio 9 & Storyline Content onthe LMS. It tracks perfectly with no issues.
-Has quizzes, tests, and other interactive activities

Kallidus does not have a built in authoring tool however it supports content designed in third party rapid tools like Articulate, Lectora, iSpring and Rapidity. 
-Is customizable, offers HTML editor for pages/activities

Yes Kallidus has Google Style Customisable HTML Gadgets all managed simply from the front end by any user with the right admin access? No need for complex programming skills or HTML knowledge. Custom themes can be created for each group of users/domain so you have a different look and feel depending on your domain/group. It also supports most main languanges including left to right languages like Hebrew and Arabic.
-Can do batch uploads of users

Yes users can be imported in batch via a spreadsheet or csv file with a few clicks of a button. All this is done from the front -end no need for access to the database.
-Solid administration settings

Yes fully managed admin with very good reporting capabilities.

Reports can be schedulled to recepients in either pdf or excel format depending on preference.

I have been taking a look at Learn Dash.......

Perhaps you can work with that?

Hi Matthew,

You may want to look at some of the big names such as SuccessFactors, Saba, Cornerstone, SumTotal and others. There is also ComplianceWire from UL EduNeering (more for validated environments)

Hope this helps.

Haroon

Thanks for the ideas, guys.  I'll look into these.

Hi Matthew,

Where to start?

The features that you have listed are available in most LMS. I've worked on several LMS procurement projects (independently) and I've always worked with the client to develop a features/benefits list and then move to to develop a specification document. You can then use this to compare the various LMS that are available on the market.

Good places for lists

I suggest that you look at total cost of ownership. There are some excellent cloud solutions but check your costs as your user numbers increase. Jane Hart and Craig Weiss both maintain a list of LMS products and vendors that will give you an excellent starting point. I'd be conscious of a top 10 listing as each client has a different set of requirements - you can use this as a guide but you need to ensure that you have met your own requirements.

I've worked with many LMS products and each offered some different to the client. They were all good products but wouldn't have been suitable for each of them.

Get a demo

You can obtain a demo version of most LMS allowing you to test and measure the effectiveness of the LMS - it is a good idea to see how the LMS will work against your requirements.

I suggest a more strategic and planned approach will allow you to evaluate each of the products against your requirements. Think about a feature list including basic/intermediate/advanced this helps to break down the feature lists.

I hope that this helps,

Scott

Which LMS suppliers support behind the firewall installations?

My advice is that you try some cool 14 demo offered by Docebo and Litmos just uploading a few courses and users and see how you like the administrative panel and the user-side experience; OR arrange demos with Totara stuff or other Vendors (Kallidus, Capterra, etc.).

Remember the thousand users prerequisite... stability is a must, and not all LMS can handle this with no issue... (moodle and moodle derived LMS are ok, Docebo is OK, Litmos sould be ok too... )

You'll find other amazing LMS around (Absorb, etc.)... test them as much as you can. e-learning from a tech point of view is 2 key things: the LMS and the authoring Tool...

there is one more LMS, worth to mention - JoomlaLMS

www.joomlalms.com

it contains all required features (1000+ learners, user groups, bunch uploads, SCORM compatible etc)

www.demo.joomlalms.com