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Summary: You’ve assessed, determined resources, and now you have the buy-in of your executive team. The next step in building your Corporate University is to create the infrastructure for operations. Let’s take a look at what items to consider.

Your first consideration for the University infrastructure is staff. You’ve estimated your staff needs and now have an idea of how that will unfold based on the funding. There must be an organizational staff structure in place that creates smooth, efficient, and quick operation. To create this structure, look at the University’s design, delivery, management, and administrative areas.

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Summary: Our next step in building a Corporate University is to determine resources. You must take into account the costs, staff needs, delivery systems, locations, and marketing before going to your executive team for funding.

You’ve taken the time to assess learning needs and possible delivery methods across the board, removing the “nice to know” and taking a hard look at the “need to know”. Now you must consider the resources you’ll need to make it all happen, not only from a cost perspective but also to paint a picture of how big the enterprise is going to be.

When it comes to staff, a Corporate University is a difficult proposition. It’s hard to know how many instructors you’ll need or how many people you’ll need to manage those groups. But it’s (more…)

When you’ve completed your user acceptance testing, it’s time to implement a highly effective training and marketing program for the LMS. Remember that it’s great to have the LMS up and running, but a lack of users and enthusiasm could spell disaster for the LMS and the training initiative. So how can you ensure that training and marketing entice the organization to jump on the LMS bandwagon?

Many times, your audience may be reluctant to log in and begin using the LMS simply because of a lack of knowledge. Obviously the technologically savvy users may jump right in and try to figure out how to use it, but others may not be so quick. The key to this issue is to provide useful training. As with any training program, the operative term in LMS training is “useful”. Try to avoid training on the “nice to haves” or functions that don’t really apply to certain segments of the population. For example, end users really don’t need to know that much about reporting.
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A portion of your audience should test any large-scale technical system before it is rolled out to the general population, whether it is an LMS or even a core of online courses. In regard to the LMS, user acceptance testing (UAT) should really occur on two planes: end users and “back end” users, such as the learning and development organization. Let’s look at how you can ensure that UAT occurs on both planes – and also some best practices for both.

One of the first sources for UAT information is your vendor. Set up a meeting with the vendor representative to find out how they would recommend testing the system. By the time you are ready for testing, your vendor should know your audiences, both internal and external, almost as well as you do. The vendor may be able to provide sample scripts, testing areas, and project plans. In addition, your vendor should be able to create a “copy” of your LMS to be used for testing, instead of using the live database. When you’ve obtained information and assistance from your vendor, take the time to develop and customize the UAT process even further. Remember that your time spent on the front end will probably save both time and money in the long run. (more…)

You can look at the build out of your learning management system as the point where “construction” begins. This phase usually occurs directly in line with the vendor and your agreed-upon project plan and timelines. But try to avoid leaving the entire build out in the hands of the vendor. In other words, you should stay on top of each phase and every development during the build out just in case any issues arise. Ask for consistent progress reports from the vendor’s representative and your project manager, if you have one. Stay in constant communications with the vendor’s team to ensure that nothing is missed. In addition to this, it may be a good idea to schedule project meetings on a regular basis just to “check in”.

Internally, the build out is also a good time to maintain your communications channel with the internal IT department. With this channel open, you can report any issues, have your IT department look at them, and determine if anything is going to hold up the progress of the installation. Another best practice is to ask the vendor if they will allow small “tests” of functions that have been built out, just to ensure that those functions are meeting your specifications. Along with your IT department, you should be able to manage the construction of the LMS without any issues. (more…)

You can probably take a deep breath after your selection of LMS vendors has been made. But don’t get too comfortable before the implementation begins. During the time period between the selection and the signing of contracts, start moving forward on conducting some final due diligence in relation to the LMS, its functionality, its specifications, and the vendor. First, let’s discuss contracts.

Most organizations have a legal counsel that reviews contract documents before they are signed. But you most certainly want to review the contracts yourself, especially if the legal counsel was not involved in vendor selection. This may go without saying, but sometimes the temptation exists to let legal do all of the heavy lifting when it comes to contracts. In addition to the legal review, consider having a contract specialist from IT or another area review the documents.
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The process of finding an LMS vendor can be just as taxing as the whole LMS implementation process in general. In today’s market, there are many providers who are looking to add you to their satisfied client list, so your due diligence and patience in the selection process are absolute requirements. One of the first items on your vendor selection list should be to conduct thorough research, so let’s look at how to start.

First, go to your industry network, such as colleagues in the training and development business or your local ASTD or ISPI chapters. Find out who is using an LMS and whether they are truly satisfied with their vendors. You’ll find that a conversation definitely occurs with clients who are extremely happy or fairly disappointed, so be aware of the “horns and halos” effect. Look for patterns in LMS vendors in relation to your networks’ industries, business needs, organizational size, and training needs. When you have a sizable list of vendors, begin your research on your own first. (more…)

No matter how large or small your organization is, the department that will probably use the learning management system more than anyone else is your own training and development organization. For the most part, administration, data entry, data usage, and “back office” functions will be run via the training department. Because of this, it is vitally important that you lead your staff through a thorough needs analysis.

Consider how your staff is currently organized. There may not be many staff members, but each one has a function. Or, you may have various staff in various departments throughout the training organization. Break the staff down into functional areas that relate to the LMS, such as administration, design, delivery, development, reporting, and technology. Use these breakdowns as the starting point for your learning organization analysis.

First, look at the administrative function of the LMS. Who is going to be responsible for initial and regular data entry? For example, courses may need to be set up as a one-time event, with classes being added regularly. Will an LMS administrator conduct the one-time set up, and then move class access to instructors? Or will the administrator maintain control of this function? Plus, will there be a data management “checkpoint” person throughout the LMS life cycle? (more…)

Before you even begin the selection and implementation process for your LMS, you should first turn your attention to the analysis and assessment of various aspects of your organization, its structure, and its learning needs. We will treat this analysis and assessment as steps one through four of the ten-step LMS implementation process. Plus, you’ll also need to assess your own learning and development organization’s needs in regard to the system, but we will discuss that as a separate step in your process.

To start with, you’ll want to analyze and assess the audience in general. This may seem easy, but some organizations have a diverse population in terms of technical experience, corporate or organizational learning experience, and even willingness to use online or hosted systems in regard to their personal development. In order to assess your audience, you may want to consider a survey that asks the organization’s members about their technical experience, their willingness to register for courses online, their ability to take courses online, and also their perceptions of learning management system tasks, activities, and functions. (more…)

A corporate university must have some sort of unified delivery system for scheduling, online courses, classroom course schedules and descriptions, tracking, and instructor and facilities scheduling. It would be difficult to plan so heavily for the roll out of the corporate university only to find out that there is no way to deliver. So the next best practice is to purchase or build a Learning Management System (LMS).

Choosing an LMS is an important step for any Learning and Development organization. In fact, some organizations may already have a functioning LMS when they make the transition from training department to corporate university. But if you do not have an LMS, the setup phase of your corporate university is the time to buy, build, or “freeware” a system. You definitely don’t want to have to backtrack in order to catch up on scheduling, curriculum paths, and course tracking after the university is up and running. (more…)