When leaders set out to find a new learning management system (LMS), they often start by comparing platforms. But that’s the wrong first step.
The most successful LMS projects start with requirements gathering. Often organizations, will ask basic questions like:
- What content will we need to have for our legacy and current content?
- How should registration and login work?
- What reporting is critical for success?
- What integrations (CRM, HRIS, finance, etc.) do we need?
- What type of support do we expect?
This is NOT enough!!! If you only ask basic questions, you will NOT be happy with the LMS you land on.
I use a requirements document with all of my clients with over 100 lines of requirement questions across buckets like: content, registration, e-commerce, reporting, integration, support, video, mobile, and more. We then categorize vendor features with codes as we evaluate our top vendors.
- YSP – Yes, part of the Standard package
- YWC – Yes, with some Required customization
- FR – Future release
- No – Not available, not in the foreseeable future
Additionally, we include stakeholders from ALL areas of the organization.
This avoids a costly pitfall: choosing a system that looks good in a demo, but fails to meet actual business needs across the organization.
Recently Kim Scott, my brilliant colleague and I were on a panel talking to L and D professionals about LMSs, and as she shared, “Oftentimes, I’ve seen LMSs purchased on a whim… and then they realized, hey, it doesn’t meet our needs, and when I asked them, well, what’s your needs? They never did the requirements document in the first place.”
It happens ALL the time!
Want our editable requirements gathering template to get you started? Download it here.
Hear more from our recorded session at IDLance.