A step-by-step guide for successful LMS implementation

At Valamis, we collaborate with a diverse range of organizations to implement tailored LMS (Learning Management Systems) that serve the unique needs of companies of all sizes, from 500 to 100,000+ employees. Working across multiple industries, languages, and cultures, we’ve first-hand experience with how to make a new LMS implementation both fast and efficient.

In this guide, we’ll outline a detailed, 9-step LMS implementation plan and highlight common pitfalls to avoid. You’ll gain insights on timelines, costs, and the best practices to ensure a smooth transition for your organization.

Why implement an LMS?

With endlessly new technology and a more mobile workforce, continuous learning is now essential. Gone are the days when employees could be trained once and left to manage a single role over a career. Businesses today need adaptable learning platforms to improve skills and collaboration. A well-implemented LMS is the simplest way to integrate continuous learning into daily operations, and we’re here to guide you through the steps.

This blog covers:

• 9-step LMS implementation process
• LMS project timelines and potential costs
• Common challenges and how to avoid them

What is LMS implementation?

The goal of a successful LMS is to bring all L&D efforts together on a single platform, enabling you to:

• Streamline training delivery
• Track learner progress and engagement
• Offer diverse content that suits different learning styles
• Analyze data to measure success and improve strategies

However, realizing these benefits requires a thoughtful, well-structured approach. Simply setting up an LMS doesn’t ensure results – you need a plan that aligns the LMS with your company’s goals while minimizing disruption.

Delivering a successful LMS implementation in 9 steps

Below is a 9 part LMS implementation checklist that provides a step-by-step guide for launching a new LMS effectively. From defining your goals to post-launch analysis and optimization, by following a clear LMS implementation strategy, you can deliver training content in the way that best suits your organization.

Step 1: Defining goals

The first step of any LMS implementation plan is defining clear objectives for the project and gathering information needed for future steps.

• What are you trying to achieve through your LMS implementation strategy?
• Who will be interacting with the LMS?
• How will they interact with the LMS (portals, community features, streams, etc.)?
• What learning outcomes do they require?
• How are you going to measure the impact of your LMS implementation plan?

To answer these questions, you need a comprehensive assessment of your existing operations and input from a range of stakeholders. Ultimately, you want to understand where current training methods are falling short and what you want to get out of a new system to start developing a plan that bridges this gap.

Step 2: Choosing an LMS

Next, you need to identify the best platform based on your organization’s needs and the goals of your LMS implementation plan.

• What are the key features you require to meet your objectives?
• Do potential solutions provide integrations with your existing IT infrastructure?
• What is the budget for the project?
• What customization features are available?

Research your options and compare key features, including functionality, ease of use, scalability, integration capabilities, cost, vendor support, and potential demos or trials. By taking advantage of demos and free trials, you can test solutions and better understand what future LMS implementation steps will look like.

Step 3: Implementation strategy

A lot of logistics and planning goes into LMS implementation. Some essential tasks that will define your strategy include:

1. Putting together the implementation team: Assemble a team that includes IT specialists, instructional designers, project managers, and other stakeholders to oversee the implementation.
2. Set a timeline: Create a detailed and realistic timeline outlining each phase of the implementation process. See the following LMS implementation steps to understand what to include.
3. Identify success metrics: Determine key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the LMS implementation strategy. This could include metrics directly related to L&D (course completion rates, assessment scores, etc.) or more general metrics to determine how learning outcomes affect overall operations (employee performance, retention rates, etc.).

Step 4: Content strategy

You can double or triple-check every aspect of your LMS implementation strategy and create a seamless transition to the new system. But without effective training content, it won’t have any impact.

Content strategy depends on the nature of your business and what you are trying to teach your employees. There are the standard onboarding, compliance, and role-specific training goals.

However, as we mentioned in the introduction, many businesses are now striving for continuous learning and finding ways to constantly improve the capabilities of their workforce. This requires staying up to date with industry trends, identifying candidates for reskilling or leadership training, and developing content to fit new requirements.

Your content strategy will likely involve a combination of migrating previous material and creating new resources aligned with training goals. During this step, you must engage with L&D staff and instructional designers to determine content needs, identify gaps, define course structures, and develop engaging and informative training material that will get results.

Step 5: Engagement strategy

During the LMS implementation process, you need a strategy for creating engagement among users and ensuring high adoption rates. This includes demonstrating the value the new LMS brings and how it can be tailored to different learning styles and needs. It also includes tips and tricks, such as gamification of the training process or introducing communal learning experiences.

Introduce your engagement strategies throughout the implementation process to get users excited about the transition. You want to develop enthusiasm for learning across the organization. This can include highlighting the benefits of proactive learning and the potential for transitioning to new roles or taking on more responsibilities.

Step 6: Training and support

A number of parties, including instructors and learners, need to be trained on how to use the new LMS. You can develop dedicated resources (guides, tutorials, FAQs, etc.) to help transition staff to the new platform and host live training sessions so that everyone gets familiarized with the LMS and understands how to maximize its features.

Finally, you will need to establish ongoing support structures for solving issues and assisting users with any questions they may have.

Step 7: Testing

Before users interact with the new LMS, you need to make sure everything works as planned. Make time for detailed testing to find and solve any issues in the system. Focus on access controls, data privacy, evaluation reporting, analytics, integrations, and both the admin and user experience. Nothing sinks a launch like buggy systems and frustrating interactions.

Step 8: Launch

Depending on the scale of your rollout, conducting an initial soft launch with a smaller group of users can be beneficial. In some respect, this acts as an extension of the testing phase, seeing how the platform works in practice and using a larger group of people to stress test its features.

Upon full rollout, you need to ensure all users have access to the LMS and relevant training material developed in Step 6. Remember to communicate effectively throughout the launch so users are informed on what to expect and know how to interact with their new L&D tools.

Carefully track metrics related to platform use to understand how the launch is going and incorporate feedback mechanisms so users can quickly flag issues and provide their opinions.

Step 9: Post-launch analysis and optimization

Even after following every one of these LMS implementation steps, it is unlikely everything will be perfect the first time. There is always room for improvement, and based on tracking platform use and user feedback, you can identify where it can be made.

Potential outcomes of post-launch analysis include adjusting your implementation, content, and engagement strategies as well as providing enhanced training and support for both learners and L&D staff.

LMS implementation timelines

To estimate your LMS implementation time and timeline, you need to consider the complexity of the entire project and the scale of your operations.

For example, a smaller organization with simpler L&D processes may complete its LMS implementation in just a few weeks. In contrast, larger businesses with significant customization and integration could take several months to consider.

To estimate LMS implementation timelines, work with project managers to break down the steps above into distinct tasks. Assign each task the necessary personnel and resources and estimate the time required. Consider external factors out of your control, such as vendor response times, and perform risk assessments to determine the likelihood of meeting deadlines.

What are the costs of LMS implementation?

Like most things in business, it always comes back to money. The cost of your LMS implementation can vary significantly based on the size of your organization, the complexity of your proposed LMS solution and the level of customization required to achieve your goals, the amount of training content you need to produce, and how much training and support your workforce will require.

• Scale and complexity: costs for smaller LMS implementation plans may be limited to licensing fees, basic setup, and staffing costs (i.e., hours spent working on the project). Larger enterprises needing extensive customization and integrations (HR software, etc.) will likely incur significantly higher costs.
• Content development: creating large volumes of new training materials takes time and money. You need to work with instructional designers and craft compelling content capable of delivering the learning outcomes you are looking for. Plus, you may need support for different forms of content, from video, classroom, workshops, and more to the inclusion of interactive elements and community features.
• Training and support: Getting staff up to speed and ensuring problems can be quickly solved requires dedicated LMS implementation teams that invest many hours to become experts in the platform.

Regardless of your specific LMS implementation plan, ensure the vendors you work with provide a full breakdown of the costs involved. This includes whether the price of LMS implementation includes setup, customization, and support or requires additional costs.

For example, Valamis LMS offers a comprehensive suite of tools, including advanced reporting and analytics, a secure in-built Learning Record Store (LRS) for data storage, a mobile learning app, and content authoring capabilities. Our implementation fees, integration needs, and content requirements are all included in the initial contract price, ensuring no surprises or change requests during the setup. We find that having this simplified approach from the outset accelerates the deployment process, allowing your LMS to be up and running faster without the need for additional contract negotiations.

Common challenges when implementing an LMS

Large organizational change is never easy, and there are many potential pitfalls to know of and avoid when developing your LMS implementation strategy. These can be broken down into challenges during implementation and post-launch:

Challenges during LMS implementation:

• Resistance to change: Employees and educators are often embedded in what they know, becoming suspicious of and resistant to change. Whether it is due to unfamiliarity or perceived complexity, overcoming this resistance requires clear communication about the benefits of the new system.
• Technical issues: Integrating new technology into your existing tech stack often produces unforeseen technical problems and complications. This could include data migration, system compatibility, or bugs. Troubleshoot any technical issues during testing and contact vendors for additional support if necessary.
• Customization and configuration: Tailoring the LMS to meet specific organizational needs can cause problems. Misalignment between the system’s capabilities and organizational requirements can also lead to delays and additional costs. Communicate your goals to the software vendor before purchasing and ensure their solution can be configured to meet your needs.
• Training and onboarding: Overlooking training for administrators, instructors, and learners can result in poor system utilization and lower adoption rates. Take the time to ensure comprehensive training is in place for a smooth transition.

Challenges after LMS implementation:

• User adoption and engagement: Even after implementation, users may struggle to fully adopt the new system. Continued support, ongoing training, and engagement strategies are crucial to ensuring effective use.
• System performance: Performance issues, such as slow loading times or frequent downtime, affect user experience and hinder learning. Regular maintenance and prompt resolution of technical problems are necessary to deliver effective learning experiences.
• Updates: As organizational needs evolve, the LMS requires updates and additional features. Managing these updates and ensuring they integrate smoothly with existing systems can be challenging.
• Measuring effectiveness: Evaluating the success of the LMS and its impact on learning outcomes requires effective tracking and reporting tools. Organizations must analyze usage data, gather user feedback, and make data-driven improvements to ensure they achieve their intended LMS implementation goals.

By anticipating the challenges of LMS implementation and proactively addressing them, you can enhance the likelihood of success and deliver long-term value to the organization.

Conclusion

Implementing an LMS is a transformative process, but with a thoughtful strategy, it can be a catalyst for company-wide growth. Following these nine steps will help you avoid common pitfalls and set your organization up for learning success.