Are you in the market for a new LMS? Results from Brandon Hall Group’s annual LMS trends survey showed 47 percent of respondents were currently replacing their LMS in 2012, up from 33 percent of respondents in 2011.
Why is there this race to replace? Our survey also asked respondents to pick three things they liked least about their LMS and “Reporting Features” was the top pick . Respondents also chose reporting features as the most important requirement for selecting a new Learning Management System.
Why is reporting important? And what makes reports valuable?
A system’s reporting and security settings provide immense amounts of decision-making information for organizational leaders. If managed properly, reports can clearly define a company’s learning compliance level, gaps in skill development by function or region, or opportunities for talent mobility. When managed poorly, a lack of reporting functionality can lead to an area of real frustration for learning leaders, stakeholders, and end-users that are unable to view the information they need to make better business decisions.
Key practices for preparing a new LMS to better manage reporting and security needs include:
- Identifying all current reports and assessing their use.
- Validating the relevance of these reports and their continued value.
- Identifying reporting gaps (business needs not being met).
- Assessing new solution provider reporting capabilities and dashboards for their ability to address reporting gaps.
- Re-thinking security requirements versus security norms.
- Identifying opportunities for transparency and openness.
- Producing sample reports and verifying format, layout, location, schedule, and drill down requirements before final configurations.
- Regularly assessing reporting value.
Reports help evaluate learning programs. Timely and relevant reporting from a system can help administrators determine the business impact of specific learning initiatives.
Of course, managing reporting is important, but are there any industry-wide reporting standards? Brandon Hall Group has teamed up with the Center for Talent Reporting to deliver an educational webinar on Getting Measurement Right: New Standards for Reporting. For more information or to register for this informative session please click here.
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1 Brandon Hall Group, LMS Trends Survey, November 2012, N=347.
