Tips for Buying or Building your Training Platform

Suppose you have been asked to give your opinion on whether your institution or organization should purchase or build a learning management system (LMS). How would you anchor your argument for against either software? There are some specific factors involved in determining the case for whether to buy or use homegrown resources, because e-learning software must meet demanding requirements for performance, flexibility, and connectivity to be effective and efficient.

Custom-built software has the appeal of being designed to fit your particular training needs. One issue you should address early is whether or not it will save you any effort and time, rather than purchasing existing software. Also, you would have to determine the employees in the organization who need to have access to the training software. An additional point to note is that the data management, data processing, and data reporting functions and features should be planned on from the onset of the project to then be implemented and tried out during product testing. Remember also to focus on data quality as you develop the training software. So, if you are planning to incorporate e-learning tools, be sure that data tracking and management is accurate and efficient.

If you opt to buy, make sure that available features (custom-built or otherwise) are developed in advance. Don’t assume that the system has built-in features that will suit your all needs. In fact, it is a tricky to assume that all the data you need will be collected by the system unless you investigate its options in-depth. Think about the following questions prior to building or buying the e-learning software:

Seek to answer the following questions: What user interface features are desired? What level of trouble shooting and debugging is needed during production and development? What levels of access will different users have? How will usability testing be approached? What database outputs are needed for training and records?

Given that each of the above questions will generate different responses for each organization or company, a team should be brought together to work on coming up with the best plan possible. This means that project management will be important here. Usability and testing should also occur throughout the process and should be piloted with a small group of learners and instructors on a smaller scale before the learning management system is launched throughout the entire organization.

It likely for a customized training platform to be more costly to build or maintain. Sometimes the programmers who designed the system are no longer with the company and technical support becomes limited. When such setbacks occur, some companies decide to go for existing training platforms that provide standard training, regular software updates, and technical support. One thing to note however is that this extra support oftentimes comes at an additional cost.

The disadvantage of off-the-shelf training software is that is may not always meet specific training and instructional needs. The technical support can be costly and may not always be readily available. The support that includes licensing requirements and software upgrades should be part of the discussion even before procurement takes place. Where possible, considering off-the-shelf training software that is flexible and customizable should be considered. Many software vendors provide this option, so be sure to check out their terms and conditions.

So, regardless of the option you or the company decides to go with, remember that you will likely incur additional costs in maintenance, updates, and user training. In the final event what it boils down to is the return on investment for the company. Even more important is the value added to the organization through the training and skill and knowledge advancement of the trainees (employees), instructors and learning management system team.