Take an Educated Approach to Developing a
Learning Management System Strategy
Build an LMS strategy on corporate objectives and Learning & Development goals by
considering the four pillars: content, people, process, and technology.
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Our understanding of the problem
This Research is
Is Designed For:
This Research Will Help You:
 Human resources professionals, training and
 Make the business case for assessing the
development specialists, and organizational
development specialists responsible for
learning mechanism design and delivery.
 IT and application managers that are tasked
with supporting the business through the
creation of a learning management system
(LMS) strategy.
appropriateness of an LMS solution.
 Audit the inventory of learning and estimate
the current learning costs.
 Create a business model to identify project
barriers and enablers, as well as HR and IT
objectives.
 Evaluate solution alternatives in regards to
people, process, technology, and content.
This Research Will Also
Assist:
Assist:
This Research Will Help You:
Them:
 Organizations looking to develop an LMS
 Create a common LMS understanding
strategy to achieve organizational goals
associated with learning and development.
between HR, IT, and business stakeholders.
 Offer guidance on how to translate learning
and development needs into LMS technology
requirements.
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McLean & Company
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Executive summary
Situation
McLean & Company Insight
• HR professionals and Application Managers are tasked with leveraging a
1. Right-size your LMS solution.
Avoid underinvesting or overbuying from
the start. LMSs come in all shapes and
sizes: don’t buy functions you don’t need.
learning management solution to foster a learning culture at their
organization. In today’s rapidly changing business environment, the
need for more effective and flexible learning and development has
become more significant. In the 2016 McLean & Company Trends Survey,
organizations ranked leadership/management and employee
development as their top priorities.
2. Identify your LMS use case from the
start to focus your strategy and filter your
needs.
Complication
• Organizations often have difficulty with increasing internal course
participation, measuring training effectiveness, and increasing
training accessibility. Processes are often manual, resulting in wasted
time, resources, and a lack of traceability and visibility between
departments.
3. A disjointed and departmentalized
approach to learning will inevitably fail.
Ensure you have a holistic LMS strategy
through the necessary convergence of
people, process, technology, and content.
Resolution
• A strong learning and development strategy that leverages a learning management solution will increase L&D efficiencies,
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•
•
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develop in-house talent, thus providing a competitive advantage to organizations in today’s talent war.
Take a step back and create a business model that considers the learning needs of HR, IT, and the broader business. Strive
for a holistic strategy and avoid compartmentalized efforts.
Understand your use case. Identify your organization’s goals and L&D objectives to choose the LMS use case that is most
aligned with your learning needs.
Identify your solution alternatives across people, processes, technology, and content. Create a comprehensive roadmap,
prioritizing initiatives and identifying dependencies.
Devise a plan for implementation. Effectively communicate changes to and put mechanisms in place to ensure effective LMS
governance.
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McLean & Company
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McLean & Company offers various levels of support to best
suit your needs
DIY Toolkit
“Our team has already
made this critical
project a priority, and
we have the time and
capability, but some
guidance along the
way would be helpful.”
Guided
Implementation
Workshop
Consulting
“Our team knows that
we need to fix a
process, but we need
assistance to
determine where to
focus. Some check-ins
along the way would
help keep us on track.”
“We need to hit the
ground running and
get this project kicked
off immediately. Our
team has the ability to
take this over once we
get a framework and
strategy in place.”
“Our team does not
have the time or the
knowledge to take this
project on. We need
assistance through the
entirety of this project.”
Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options
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Follow McLean & Company’s approach to develop your LMS
strategy
Create the Project
Vision
•
•
•
Identify goals
and objectives
for LMS project.
Complete LMS
business model.
Align corporate,
L&D, and LMS
objectives.
Outputs
LMS
Strategy
Vision
Structure the
Project
•
•
•
Define project
scope.
Define roles &
responsibilities.
Identify risks,
and create
mitigation
strategies.
Outputs
LMS
Strategic
Alignment
Conduct a Current
State Assessment
•
Engage different
stakeholders in
soliciting
requirements
based on
business needs.
Outputs
LMS
High-Level
Requirements
•
Consolidate
content, people,
process, and
technology
requirements.
Outputs
Strategic
Direction
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Evaluate Solution
Alternatives
•
•
•
Create content
strategy.
Sketch ideal
process.
Map desired
application
ecosystem.
Outputs
LMS
Technology
Strategy
Design the LMS
Roadmap
•
•
Identify and
prioritize roadmap
initiatives.
Identify enabling
projects.
Outputs
LMS
Initiatives
Roadmap
Build an LMS
Implementation Plan
•
•
Create
governance and
communications
plans.
Sell LMS strategy
to the business.
Outputs
LMS
Implementation
Plan
•
Prepare LMS
strategy
presentation to
gain stakeholder
commitment.
Outputs
Stakeholder
Presentation
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Sample
Slides
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Understand the three different LMS use cases
Examples
Benefits
Definition
LMS Use Cases:
Where your LMS efforts will be focused varies from organization to organization. Your
strategy efforts will be largely dictated by your specific learning goals and objectives.
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Compliance
Performance Support
Knowledge Management
Description: Compliance training is
critical when there are mandatory
certifications or training curriculums that
need to be completed in order for
employees to perform their jobs.
Description: Performance support is job
specific and provides training to enhance
competencies and develop skills.
Description: Knowledge management
is a means of sharing, distributing, and
curating shared knowledge or new
information to the broader organization.
LMS Compliance Benefits:
• Helps simplify the audit process
• Facilitates the delivery of consistent
content
• Reduces the risk of compliance fines
• Decreases administrative efforts to
track and manage compliance training
LMS Performance Benefits:
• Engages employees
• Promotes a continuous learning
environment
• Builds critical skills that will impact the
bottom line
LMS Knowledge Management
Benefits:
• Creates a central location for
information management
• Shares information in a timely
manner
• Creates a sense of community within
the organization
• Health and safety training
• Regulatory certifications
• Technical learning programs
• Professional qualifications
• Management and leadership
development
• New policies and procedures
• Annual company meetings
• New product information
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McLean & Company
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Understand the different ways you can create content and the
different sources to curate content from
Right-size your content strategy to your LMS strategy to achieve a cost-effective solution.
The Learning Content Pyramid
Externally
Commissioned
Created Internally
In-House Content Creation
Ownership of content creation does not
necessarily need to lie in HR or at the
management level within departments.
Leveraging knowledgeable talent within the
organization is a cost-effective and creative
alternative that will yield quality content while
engaging your top employees in learning.
Third-Party Content Curation
User-generated Curated content
sets
content
Third-party content doesn’t always have to be
less for more. There is plenty of affordable
alternatives that will achieve economies of
scale in your content strategy. Explore your
options.
Generic outsourced libraries
Freely available
Source: Donald H. Taylor, “The learning content pyramid”
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McLean & Company Helps HR Professionals To:

Empower management to
apply HR best practices
Maintain a progressive set of
HR policies & procedures


Develop effective talent
acquisition & retention
strategies
Demonstrate the business
impact of HR


Build a high performance
culture
Stay abreast of HR trends &
technologies

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practical solutions for your HR challenges
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" Now, more than ever, HR leaders need to help their organizations maximize the
value of their people. McLean & Company offers the tools, diagnostics and
programs to drive measurable results."
•
– Jennifer Rozon, Vice President, McLean & Company
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