Forum Discussion
New in Labs: Connected Packages
Connected packages is still in development and will receive updates as part of Labs. Functionality will change over time. Some options could be modified, while others may be removed based on feedback and feature stability. There is no guarantee that Labs experiments will become production features.
The Connected packages feature solves the ages-old headache of keeping your training up to date in your LMS. Now, instead of having to download a fresh package from Rise 360, then uploading it to your LMS every time you make a change, you can deliver updates to your content across LMS environments with just a few clicks.
Connected packages fulfills the dream of publishing once, then dynamically updating your content without re-uploading to your LMS!
Note: Currently, connected packages can only be exported from Rise 360 as SCORM 1.2 and 2004 files.
How to Use Connected Packages
Unlike with standard packages, connected packages let you quickly update your training and notify your learners of changes.
Publishing a Connected Package
Creating a connected package for training content is as simple as creating a standard LMS package.
- Open the content you want to publish from your Rise 360 dashboard. Then click Publish in the upper-right corner of the screen and select LMS.
- Choose an LMS standard. For connected packages, you must select SCORM 2004 or SCORM 1.2 (any edition).
- Select Connected package.
- Toggle the Notify learners option to display a banner to learners when you update the training.
- After selecting any tracking, reporting, and advanced options, click Download.
- Upload the package to your LMS as usual.
Updating a Connected Package
After you’ve published your connected package to your LMS, all future updates happen right in Rise 360.
- When you make changes to your content, an indicator displays on the Publish menu.
- Click either the View Updates button or you can select Connected package from the Publish menu to jump to step 4.
- Select Connected package. If you’ve published your content to Reach 360 or shared with Quick Share, you’ll be able to select those as well.
- Click Update now. Rise handles the rest!
If you toggle or have previously activated the Notify learners option, your learners will see an update banner the next time they refresh or log in to the training.
Note: You can also download a copy of the last-deployed LMS package by clicking Download again.
Notifying Learners of Changes and Resetting Learner Progress
If you update your content and want to notify learners but didn't select the option when you initially published your package, you can enable it when you publish changes.
- In your updated content, click Publish in the upper-right corner of the screen and select LMS.
- Toggle the Notify learners option.
- Click Update now.
With this option enabled, a banner displays for active learners whenever you update the training. Learners who've already completed the training don't receive any notification.
Sometimes, after making updates, you also need to reset learner progress so that active learners don't end up in a blank state when they resume the training. This functionality can now easily be enabled at any time when using connected packages.
- In your updated content, click Publish in the upper-right corner of the screen and select LMS.
- Toggle the Reset progress after updates option.
- Click Update now.
This operates the same as the Reset Learner Progress option in standard packages and does not reset the progress or cancel quiz scores for learners who've already completed the training.
Connected Packages FAQs
When I deploy training to my LMS via Connected Packages, is Articulate the host for my content?
Training deployed to LMS via Connected Packages is hosted on Articulate's systems and is subject to the same security and data policies as other data hosted on the platform, as outlined in our Terms of Service. For additional resources on Articulate's security and data protection, visit our Trust Center.
What content is best suited to connected packages? Is there content I shouldn’t use with connected packages?
Connected packages is best used to deploy content that’s updated frequently or that you plan to iterate on once it’s live.
Since the feature doesn't provide automatic version tracking, we don’t recommend using connected packages with content that requires strict audit trails or enhanced compliance procedures.
Are connected package updates in Rise considered new versions by my LMS?
No, only the files you manually upload to your LMS are considered new versions of the content. Updates you make in Rise are sent to whatever version of the file is currently uploaded to your LMS.
In which regional data center does my content reside?
While regional hosting isn't a consideration at this stage of development, Connected Packages should be available in your regional hosting location when launched for general availability.
What happens when I delete training in Rise that's been deployed using connected packages? Will training work in my LMS if I turn off the Labs feature?
Content deleted from your Rise dashboard will still function in your LMS until you permanently delete the source training. You’ll be able to restore it from the trash and continue to update via Connected Packages without manually uploading a new package to your LMS. When permanently deleted, the connected package is also deleted.
If you disable the Labs feature, all connected packages are deactivated and deleted, but the source content remains untouched.
Permanently deleting associated Rise content or disabling Labs, will cause the training in your LMS to stop functioning. To restore, manually upload a standard package as a new version of the same training.
Can I use the same troubleshooting steps with Connected Packages as I do with Standard Packages?
Yes, while your content is hosted by Articulate, the same troubleshooting steps, such as resetting learner progress and hiding the LMS interface, can still be applied as detailed in the Rise 360 user guide.
Do Connected Packages send information to Articulate from my LMS?
While the Connected Packages feature is in Labs, we use a third-party data subprocessor, Datadog, to track certain information in order to identify and debug issues as they arise. In particular: Course ID, Learner ID (based on the Subscription ID plus an LMS Learner ID, if one is returned by the LMS), and your subscription ID. This information is not captured for every Connected Package.
Additionally, Allow usage data collection is enabled by default for all content exported to an LMS. This option provides Articulate with the course ID launched and non-identifiable learner usage data, as shown in our data collection details. It can be disabled on a per-package basis.
If I collaborate with other creators, can they update training deployed to my LMS?
Only content owners and collaborator managers with the feature enabled can send training updates via Connected Packages.
Can I download packages after initially publishing via connected packages?
Yes. There’s a Download button at the top of the LMS publish screen. Keep in mind that you have access only to the last-deployed version of the package.
Will connected packages be available for other LMS export standards? Is it coming to Storyline 360?
We would love to hear your feedback on what export format you’d like to see next for Connected Packages! And while Storyline support isn’t planned at this time, if it’s something you’d like to see, please let us know.
Share Your Feedback
For this initial Labs release, we want to hear how connected packages perform across real LMS environments and whether the experience feels as intuitive. Your feedback will directly influence development, so consider sharing your thoughts on the following topics:
- Uses: Does the "publish once, update anytime" workflow sync with how you manage training content?
- Bugs. Is anything not working as expected? Do the updates behave as you’d expect with your specific LMS setup?
- Improvements. How could this feature be better? What changes, if any, would you like to see?
- Insights. How does this new publish-to-update workflow fit into your day-to-day?
You can enable and disable this feature from the Labs page in account settings. Share your thoughts in this Labs forum or use the feedback form directly within the feature.
219 Replies
I've recently started using connected packages (beta) on a project I'm working on. We are a SaaS company with frequent changes in our software, and therefore our course content (screen shots, descriptions, not actual course structure). The ability to publish the course to the LMS via a connected package without having to replace the SCORM file is huge for us (so that in-progress learners won't lose their bookmark!) and maintenance-critical. I was having a problem with a survey block recording this week, and found a bug that if a survey block is used, it will not record results in the LMS and was told to go back to the old-fashioned way and just replace SCORM files rather than using connected packages, and connected packages are in beta and are experimental, and it is not recommended to use them in training delivered to users. Disappointing. Anyway, I will turn off connected packages, but what is the best practice if this goes live and we can turn this on eventually and use the feature? I will have a SCORM file uploaded to the LMS, turn on the connected package feature (unless it goes away) when it is ready, and hope for the best? Also, can I receive some clarification on what beta means to Articulate? In software it means pre-release, but Support warned me that the feature may just go away and should not be used live. Thanks for your help.
I uploaded a course using connected package and after some weeks the course content disappeared on my LMS. Not sure what went wrong but on rise 360 only shown that I have never exported a course on connected package and I had to export the connected package option again.
Is it something common other usersHello LimaMaria,
Thanks for flagging this. What you described isn’t the expected behavior for a Connected Package.
A Connected Package should remain connected to the source course in Rise 360. One thing that can affect that connection is disabling the Connected Packages experiment in Labs, which deactivates connected packages.
Do you know if the Labs feature may have been disabled at any point, or if the original Rise course was duplicated or moved? If not, I’d like to have our Support team take a closer look at what happened within a support case.Hi LucianaPiazza
I dont believe I disabled it at any point or duplicated it.
What I did is that I shared the course with a teammate making him a manager under the collaborators so he could also edit the connected package.
Let me know if that is something not reccomended or if I should still talk with support case
This is a critical feature! thanks!
Is reset progress necessary in connected packages?
I uploaded a connected package to my LMS and after an update I made, all "Continue" buttons at the end of my lessons disapeared from the training, and I had to do "reset progress" via the LMS, so they appear again.Hello OfriSheferGilat,
Great question! Resetting learner progress isn’t necessary for every Connected Package update.
It becomes important when an update changes the structure of the course, such as adding or removing lessons or quizzes, since an active learner’s saved progress may no longer line up with the updated structure.
Since your Continue buttons disappeared after the update, I’d be curious to know whether you made any structural changes to the course at the same time. Also, which LMS are you using? That context would be helpful as we continue testing Connected Packages.
Thanks for sharing this update. We're really excited about the idea behind Connected Packages, and I can see it being incredibly useful for managing course updates.
I do have a question about how learner progress is handled when a course is updated.
For example, if I have an eight-lesson course and a learner completes six lessons before leaving the course, then I make a small change to Lesson 3 and republish it, what happens when they return to complete the final two lessons?
- Will the course still register as complete?
- Will Lesson 3 be treated as incomplete because it was updated after they viewed it?
- Would they need to revisit Lesson 3 for their progress to reach 100% again?
The reason I ask is that we've had a few cases where learners appear to have completed a course, but completion hasn't been passed back to our LMS. I'm wondering whether updates made while someone is partway through a course could be playing a part.
Some of our courses are fairly long, and learners often dip in and out over days or weeks, so I'm keen to understand the impact of publishing updates without disrupting progress for those already working through a course.
I'd be really interested to hear how Connected Packages handle this scenario.
Thank you!
Hi KatieNoble,
Thanks for laying out that scenario so clearly!
If you’re making a small content change within an existing lesson without changing the course structure, the learner’s existing progress should remain intact. In your example, updating content within Lesson 3 wouldn’t normally cause that completed lesson to become incomplete or require the learner to revisit it.
Structural changes, such as adding or removing lessons or quizzes, are where Reset Learner Progress may be needed for active learners.
Since you’ve also seen cases where learners complete the course but completion isn’t passed back to your LMS, I’d recommend testing that behavior separately as well. If you continue seeing it, our Support team would be happy to help determine whether the issue is related to Connected Packages, the LMS, or the course’s completion settings.If you don't make structural lesson changes it should be OK.
It would be good to benchmark what your existing SCORM completion issue rates in the LMS is for these large/long duration in-progress courses, to be able to separate apples from apples when adding Connected Courses into the mix.
For your scenario:
- Version 1, 8 lesson course, in-progress learner is at lesson 7 resume point (lessons 1-6 complete, 6/8 = 75%).
- Version 2 is published without structural changes to the course/lesson count, but minor content within lesson 3 is new (75% lesson completion remains in version 2).
- Learner completes version 2 lesson 7 and 8 (75% => 100%) to register course completion reported to LMS at 100%.
Rise360 completion article for reference below:https://www.articulatesupport.com/article/Rise-360-When-a-Course-Communicates-Completion-to-an-LMS
I am not able to get full screen video through video block or Storyline 360 block with this. I am using Workday as my LMS. I assume it might have something to do with that but not sure. Basically, the full screen button does nothing when you press it.
Hi EpicEdward,
Thanks for testing this in Workday!
The fullscreen issues you’re seeing with Storyline and video blocks in Connected Packages are both known limitations that we’re actively tracking.
In the meantime, if fullscreen is essential for your learners, the current workaround is to publish your content as a standard SCORM package.
This feature is AMAZING. We have waited so long for this and it is going to save us so much time!!
I know since it's still being tested, we have no guarantee - but if something were to change or be removed, any idea what it might be? We have been using the connected package feature sparingly, but I would love to use it more. However, I want to make sure we don't rely on it too much and then have it disappear.... Any idea of current complaints with it? Anything giving negative results that might need to change?
Hi JamieDerry-a295,
Love hearing how useful Connected Packages has already been for your workflow!
Since Connected Packages is still a Labs experiment, I don’t want to speculate about which parts may change or make promises about its future availability. Labs features can continue to evolve based on testing, feedback, and feature stability.
That said, the feedback you’re sharing is exactly what helps the team understand how people are using it and what they need before relying on it more broadly. If there are particular workflows you’re hesitant to move over because of that uncertainty, we’d love to hear about those too.A staff member confirmed the feature will be adopted permanently, using a course exit button was a known bug staff replied to, the ETA was possibly late October but pending official roadmap announcement.
Sorry if this has already been asked, but are there plans to expand to xAPI, and if so, do you have a timeline? This would be awesome for my organization, but we use xAPI course packages.
Hello Leetea,
You’re right that Connected Packages currently support SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 only.
We don’t have a timeline to share for xAPI support, but this is exactly the kind of feedback our team is looking for while Connected Packages are in Labs. I’ll make sure your need for xAPI is captured.
If you’re open to sharing, I’d also be interested to know which LMS or LRS you’re using and how xAPI fits into your organization’s current publishing workflow.
Can someone please summarize the risks with this? It seems like the Articulate server's are a big dependency of the course(s) working, and this may only be a good option for translated material if you do the multi-language publishing of the course using Articulate's own AI translation capabilities?
Hi ChelseaBoccardo,
That’s a good consideration. With Connected Packages, the training itself is hosted on Articulate’s systems, so learners do need access to Articulate-hosted content when launching the course from your LMS.
Because updates happen directly from Rise rather than by uploading a new package to the LMS each time, we don’t recommend Connected Packages for courses that require strict audit trails, enhanced compliance procedures, or LMS version-history tracking.
This isn’t limited to translated content or courses using Articulate’s translation features, though. Connected Packages can be useful for any Rise course that you update regularly and where being able to push those updates without repeatedly replacing the LMS package fits your workflow.
If you have specific requirements around availability, auditing, or version control, I’d be happy to dig into those with you.Thanks, LucianaPiazza. I should clarify, it seems that if I currently have courses made in Rise in my LMS that we completed multi-language SCORM packaging/wrapping outside of Rise, we would need to redevelop the course using Articulate AI Translation > Course Stack to benefit from Connected Packages in the same way learners currently experience our course.
Their business model demands Rise be available for authoring and content delivery, so them ceasing to operate is an existing risk for your authoring and content delivery that you will need to risk manage.
The likely risk I anticipate is internal authoring process management of a team, so similar business process to manage this as already.
The big win is an option to keep version control and testing responsibility within the Rise 360 authoring team, removing updates burden from a separate LMS admin role/team.
The best use cases they've outlined, where audit trail of content is not required automatically through the system. Although you can meet that need by archiving published versions within your document repository version control. Again, this is already the case I do for various non-LMS formats as part of contingency workflows where it's a snapshot related to snapshots from other systems used in the larger training and assessment product. That ensures offline digital, offline paper, online localisation, offline digital translated, offline paper translated, all have a version bill of materials.
For information delivery awareness courses where formal assessment is not tied to the course outcome, you can now have a live Rise 360 document delivered via your LMS catalogue, own and maintain it, only one-time bothering with the LMS course creation, testing and comms processes your org or 3rd party provider may have.
Have your cake and eat it to, as many times as you want, quietly making it better each time :)
This is fantastic! I spent the morning testing this with my team and it works incredibly well!! We did not encounter any bugs or issues during testing.
The elimination of reuploading files over and over again is a huge time saver and helps for pushing critical updates for broken links/misspellings etc.
Using this feature also appears to fix the issue we would have with Rise files where when we reuploaded a new file, we would always have to turn on "reset learner progress" to avoid learners receiving an error screen, which was really unideal.
The option to display the banner to the learner is the cherry on top. It's so helpful and allows our learners to see just how often we are putting time and effort into content updates!We really hope this is kept and then also explored for Storyline. To have this capability would save so much time. Our Storyline files are massive and take awhile to load into our LXP.
Hi AnnikaDellert! This is great feedback, and I’m glad to hear Connected Packages is already making updates easier for your team!
I’m curious about your experience with updating Storyline courses. What part of updating those larger Storyline files takes the most time today? And how often are you re-uploading them to your LXP?
Thanks again for testing this and sharing your experience!
Hi there.
We are running SuccessFactors LMS that lives offline on our intranet. Is this feature possible with an LMS setup like ours? The LMS cannot be accessed unless you are on our server or a VPN that the company hosts.Hello IsaacSpedding-b
Connected Packages work with any LMS that supports SCORM. The key consideration is network access since the content is hosted on Articulate’s servers and requires outbound internet access when a learner launches the course.
Even on a VPN, your IT team may need to allowlist packages.articulateusercontent.com in your firewall or DNS filtering. You can also review our full list of Articulate 360 network endpoints.
If your environment is fully air-gapped with no outbound access, Connected Packages won’t work. In that case, a standard SCORM package would be the better option.
If outbound access is available, I’d recommend testing with a non-production course first. Let us know if you run into any issues!
