Elearning - September/October 2008 - (Page 17)

Speed COMMON LMS IMPLEMENTATION FAILURES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM BY ALICE SHEPHERD When independent software consultant Paul Mitnick needed a learning management system (LMS) for one of his clients, he set out to research the industry. What he found shocked him. LMS’s were surprisingly complex and not often successful. But Mitnick — who had a long track record of effective software implementation as a senior executive with several software firms, as a CIO/CTO of a multi-billion-dollar organization and as a consultant — was determined to achieve success for his client. WHY THE FAILURES? “The No. 1 reason for failure in LMS implementations is a miscommunication of objectives between the client and the vendor,” observes Mitnick. “It is only too common to have a client totally dissatisfied, while the vendor thinks it did a great job. In short, they were aiming at different targets.” Miscommunication stems from two causes. One — which accounts for at least 80 percent of implementation failures — is that the client has not defined its objectives. “Know exactly what you want to achieve before you shop around,” Mitnick recommends. “Select a system based on your actual business requirements, not on the features available from different vendors. It’s common sense, but usually overlooked.” Companies that don’t take the critical first step of determining their objectives start off in the wrong direction by re-searching vendors and evaluating systems. “Evaluate and understand your old system first,” Mitnick says. “Only then can you determine your goal and look for vendors that can meet it.” A related failure is comparing vendors to vendors rather than comparing each vendor’s offerings to the organization’s needs. “Many vendors offer slick features, but how much value can you place on a feature for which you have no use? Know what you need first, and then compare each vendor’s offerings to your goals,” Mitnick recommends. The fourth type of failure occurs in the process of replacing an old LMS with a new one. “Training organizations make absolutely certain that everything they dislike about the old system is gone,” says Mitnick. “However, they forget to make sure what they like about the old system still exists in the new one.” The result is that old problems are replaced by a set of new ones. Failure No. 5 is what Mitnick calls “scope creep.” Companies purchase a system that can do everything they might possibly ever want to do. Tasks they don’t plan to perform in the foreseeable future become key decision criteria, while breadand-butter features are forgotten. “Stay focused on simple goals,” Mitnick advises. Successful implementations also require certain skills. For example, report-writing capability is a popular feature, but few education departments hire people with the skills of extracting the data and creating the reports. They then look to IT, which is asking for trouble because many IT departments view the LMS as a thirdtier, non-business-critical application. “Build the skills you need to take full advantage of the system,” Mitnick advises. Lack of management buy-in is the final common failure, but it relates back to the first. If the education or HR department has not clearly defined its needs and what it hopes to gain from the LMS, management support is difficult to secure. Elearning! September/October 2008 17 Up to

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Elearning - September/October 2008

Elearning - September/October 2008 Contents Editor’s Note News IBM Goes Green Green Resources Deals Trendlines Learning Leader Up to Speed Cover Story: Going Green The Green Mindset? Cutting Down Turnover Tips: EET Case Study: Pacific Pulmonary Services Case Study: British Telecom Case Study: Allianz SE Case Study: LXR Case Study: St. Elizabeth Tips: Green Initiatives New Products LMS Tools Pop Quiz Last Word

Elearning - September/October 2008

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