Q: What are some areas of consideration when purchasing an LMS product?

A: Below are several points of consideration.

1. LCMS vs. LMS

   The terms "Learning Content Management System" (LCMS) and "Learning Management System" (LMS) have caused confusion due to overlapping functionality among some vendors. LCMS functionality is quite varied and so as a product category it is nearly impossible to define. Often, LCMSs are used during the authoring/development cycle of learning content to manage and maintain all of the digital assets used in creating deployable content. Some LCMSs include authoring capabilities, but not all. Most LCMSs are not intended to be used as the delivery/launch system during deployment. For such systems, there is no applicable conformance test of the system, but content produced by the system can and should be tested for conformance.

2. Hosted vs. Non-hosted System
   • What is the cost for hosting course, config mgt and help desk support?
   • Can you provide these services?
   • What is the average turn-around time for your help-desk support?
   • How many personnel do you have performing help desk support?
3. Scalability
   • How many users can your LMS support?
   • How many users can be on-line concurrently?
4. Technical Support
   • What evidence do you have to demonstrate quality of service?
5. Enterprise interoperability
   • Does this system interface with other enterprise systems (Human Resources, Financial, etc.)?
   • Does the system offer connectivity to your particular database vendor?
6. Organizational Stability
   • How long has the LMS/LCMS been on the market?
   • What is the financial health of the manufacturer?
7. 508 Compliance

   Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508 (29 U.S.C. 794d), agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.

8. SCORM Conformance

   Conforming LMSs should run any SCORM conforming content. This is not utterly guaranteed due to the complexity of the underlying specifications, but it will be the case most of the time. Note that the web and browser technologies themselves occasionally yield errors. This means that a final acceptance of content from a contract developer should include a Q.A. step involving a human reviewer of representative content, and a commitment from the vendor to fix bugs/problems if they are found later for some reasonable period of time.

   To verify system conformance, the following alternatives are available:

   Conformance. An error-free repeatable test log output for the learning management system, produced by ADL SCORM (current version) Test Suite, providing evidence that the LMS (current version) Conformance Label has been achieved, will verify SCORM-conformance.

   Certification. A certificate from an approved ADL Certification Testing Center, providing evidence that the learning management system has achieved the LMS SCORM Conformance Label, shall verify SCORM-conformance.

9. Information Assurance

   If the system must be installed on a network that requires information assurance certification, has the LMS/LCMS obtained this assurance already?

10. Specific Use Case Areas

    1. Course and curriculum creation/development
    2. Creating, managing, and using learning objects (SCOs, Assets, etc.)
    3. Establish workflow
    4. Registration and scheduling functionality
    5. Course management and progress tracking
    6. Assessment functionality
    7. Competency management
    8. Reporting
    9. Asynchronous/synchronous learning
    10. System administration
    11. User notifications/signaling