I have recently been tasked with looking into the purchase of an LMS system for our business (Approx 560 employees).
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Ideally I would like something that can tie in with MS Outlook for scheduling, invites etc.
Please let me know
Michelle Palin
3 Responses
LMS+Outlook
I don’t know of anything that has this feature built in, off the shelf, but it seems to me that any LMS will have some kind of database behind it. Outlook can import and export data in a variety of database formats, so it shouldn’t be too hard to tweak a system to make it do what you want.
That’s probably not much help: I’d be interested to see if others have thoughts.
Bob Foley
Do you want a LMS?
The general advice is only to purchase a LMS if you are absolutely sure you need one. Your comments suggest that you may be able to use Outlook to fulfill a large part of the requirement.
Check out TZ or Brandon Hall for more background – the latter is about to publish his latest report on such.
Consider an ASP model
Michelle
As you may have found by now there are many LMS and I believe the best starting point for you is to determine what you need the system to do.
Many LMS venors will try to dazzle you with features you won’t use.
From my experience for the size of company you are if you want to purchase you may like to consider systems like Pinnacle or WBT Manager
Another option would be for you to conisder using a LMS on an ASP basis, effectively renting the system and only paying for for what you need rather than buying a system where you may not need to use all the functions.
MMT offer such a facility based on the Docent LMS, email me if you would like to know more.
Finally the DFES have a publication on the various LMS available written by Christopher Dean.