Congratulations on your new LMS! How can you ensure that your LMS purchase has the best chance to deliver immediate and ongoing success? With LMS Implementation!
Whether you’ve selected your first LMS or are switching to a new online training platform, you can make one more decision to ensure you and your team receive the earliest maximum benefit from your new software purchase.
Enterprise-level learning management systems are complex pieces of software. While different platforms may share some features in common, there are many things to consider and some new skills to master to help maximize your LMS investment.
No matter what LMS you have chosen, there are key steps to a successful implementation:
You can choose one of three paths to execute those steps – self-implementation, onboarding, and managed implementation services.
Every learning system vendor structures their LMS implementation offerings slightly differently, so this comparison chart is generalized to show the differences between the average level of vendor engagement. Your chosen vendor may offer more or less than indicated here.
As the name implies, you perform all LMS implementation tasks yourself or with your team. You may have access to learning system vendor resources such as a support website, templates to assist you in your pl but there is little to no coordinated assistance from your vendor.
This is most commonly the case with smaller, less robust, or less complex LMS platforms that operate fully on the software-as-a-service model. As you are largely on your own, and even if you have experience deploying an LMS, you simply don’t know what you don’t know, which can cause problems down the road.
For more experienced LMS users, you may not maximize the power of your new system, or you risk replicating old configurations from a previous platform and not receiving the net benefit of your new system. After all, you are changing LMS to have your platform work harder and smarter for you.
Many vendors offer a low-cost and sometimes mandatory onboarding plan for your LMS purchase. Onboarding in and of itself is not implementation; it provides you with a streamlined process for making your LMS implementation plan. You may receive consultative support and helpful resources from your learning system vendor, but your success depends on your team's ability to get your LMS up and running. You are managing the project and responsible for all areas of execution, with minimal help from your vendor.
Generally speaking, vendor-supported onboarding involves scheduled phone calls to supply coaching, some instructive documentation, and access to a help system and support desk personnel resources after your consultative time is used up.
This approach works best for clients who do not have complex use cases, who don’t require complex permission setup, or who have simple reporting needs.
Managed LMS implementation provides you with a firm foundation for successfully launching your new learning system within your training program to align with your goals. A professionally managed implementation ensures that your LMS deployment happens as smoothly, quickly, and comprehensively as possible based on your unique use cases and requirements.
While each learning system vendor’s process may differ slightly, a thorough LMS implementation will include the following steps. You will:
Can't decide which LMS implementation service is best for you? We can walk you through all the details you’ll want to consider to make your choice.
Book your call now!By now, you should be getting a sense of what program will best fit your needs, available resources, and prior LMS experience.
Review the following lists and see how many of these points apply to you. That may help you determine the best path forward for your LMS investment.
Unsure which LMS implementation process will serve you best? Our team is available to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each with you.
Reach us to chat!Greenfield Solution offers the following options for LMS implementation services:
Each LMS implementation service tier is available for SmarterU LMS and supported third-party learning systems. We will help get your training program started on the right track.
Greenfield Solution LMS Onboarding is comprehensive, guiding your organization through the essentials and leaving you and your team the freedom to implement your LMS.
Our LMS Onboarding package includes three calls that will guide you through discovery, account structure, and building an actionable project milestone timeline.
The phone calls can be best described as coaching calls, where your team and your LMS onboarding specialist will walk through various exercises, activities, and thought-provoking questions to ensure your LMS implementation will meet the needs of all users at your organization.
In addition to your three calls, you will have full access to all our Success Desk® resources. The resources include our Success Desk website containing hundreds of tutorials, unlimited use of the SmarterU LMS Training Administrator Academy, SmarterU’s blog and YouTube channel, and the Greenfield Solution Learning Hub.
Our Success Desk team is available to answer any questions you have. Their meaningful response time under 30 minutes during extended business hours ensures resolution to your questions quickly so you can return to building your training program.
Our Managed LMS implementation services avoid roadblocks and risks by having our Implementation Managers guide your project, reducing the dangers of rollout frustration and misconfigurations, and ensuring your LMS launch is strong.
By starting with our fully guided implementation to launch your LMS, your administrators get the benefit of hands-on training, access to trusted, experienced Implementation Managers during the implementation process, and a robust understanding of the complexity and power of your new LMS.
That makes Managed LMS Implementation a win-win scenario for your online training program’s future growth. For the best experience and long-term results, we recommend Managed LMS Implementation.
At Greenfield Solution, our Implementation Managers are expert project leaders. They have years of experience managing LMS implementation projects, and they also have practical business experience. The combination of complementary skills helps your LMS is implemented in a manner that provides room to grow and ensures your stakeholders are engaged.
If software integrations are part of your project roadmap, your Implementation Manager will partner with your technical team. We will ensure your integrations are properly configured, and together, we will monitor for dependencies at launch.
Let’s summarize why investing in Managed LMS Implementation with an Implementation Manager leading the project makes sense:
Your dedicated Implementation Manager can be invaluable in guiding you through the overwhelm and keeping you out of analysis paralysis. All this creates long-term savings that far outweigh the additional costs of managed implementation services.
Did you know? Our lead Implementation Managers used to be clients for our LMS platform, so they have been exactly where you are in launching new and next LMSs. They work closely with the rest of our Client Success team to ensure they have all the resources to ensure your Managed LMS Implementation is successful.
Want to talk to someone about your LMS implementation needs? Our learning experts are ready to listen and help answer any questions.
Let us help you!Our Managed LMS Implementation provides a proactive, collaborative experience as we guide your organization through a 12-week implementation process. Sounds great, right?
There is one more decision for you to make: Standard Implementation or Green Lms Implementation.
While we refer to it as Standard Implementation, it’s anything but. Your Implementation Manager consults and guides you through a 12-week process, culminating in the successful launch of your LMS.
Our Standard Implementation service fully guides your entire LMS implementation project – with a dedicated Implementation Manager helping you through each decision, ensuring maximum efficiency and allowing for deep consideration at each step.
Now, our Green Lms Implementation follows a similar process as our Standard Implementation, where your Implementation Manager consults and guides you through the 12-week process. The primary difference is that we also implement your learning system for you – completing the hands-on work to set up your LMS.
Our Green Lms service includes all required tasks for configuration – allowing you to focus on making the best decisions for your organization’s training program – while saving you time and resources.
Below, we compare our two options of Managed LMS Implementation – Standard and Green Lms.
In short, purchase the best level of LMS implementation services you can afford. The added assistance of hands-on help, part of Green Lms Implementation, ensures a successful launch and gives your administrators and learners the best chance of long-term online learning success.
While every LMS implementation project is unique and can have special circumstances that change the project plan, most implementations will follow our 12-week process. Here is a brief outline of what we will tackle at each step.
Week 1: LMS project kick-off call
Your Greenfield Solution Implementation Manager will drive the project forward, strongly focusing on collaborating with you to reach your training goals. They are experienced learning system professionals, highly organized, timeline-driven, and detail-oriented. It is their job to ensure your successful project completion.
Your initial meeting will cover introductions, what information we need to configure your account, and an overview of the LMS implementation timeline and project plan – setting everything in motion.
Weeks 2-3: Defining account structure & LMS features
Your Implementation Manager will compile a wealth of information gathered from your kick-off meeting to create a project plan roadmap that defines your users, groups and permissions, learning plans, and LMS features you need, ensuring report outputs meet requirements and enrolling your training administrators in the SmarterU LMS Academy.
During week two, in collaboration with your project team, we define your training program's current and desired future state. Then, in week three, we finalize your account group structure and LMS settings.
Week 4: Configuring your LMS settings
Your Implementation Manager works through the many components of your account’s configuration, essentially taking the project roadmap you’ve built together and configuring your LMS according to the plan's details. This includes setting up your users, groups, roles, permissions, and features and may also involve starting on your course content, technical integrations, or historical data imports.
Week 5: Training content configuration & management
With the account configuration complete, your Implementation Manager will move on to your training courses, performance supports, knowledge base documents, and learning plans. Special attention is paid to the organization and layout of your content to ensure your learners have an intuitive path to engage with and complete training.
Weeks 6-7: Testing & pilot project deployment
Once your users, courses, knowledge base, and other features are available and the configuration is complete, your Implementation Manager will help complete your pilot testing with a few select learners before launching to your entire audience.
Your pilot program will allow adjustments or corrections before going live with your new system. The feedback from the pilot group will help improve workflows, navigation elements, and your learning system communication plan.
Week 8: User configuration finalization & review
After your pilot, we complete your user configuration, which includes all users that will be part of the initial implementation of your learning system. Depending on your requirements, your users may receive access to the LMS through integrations with other software, imports of historical records, or data entry.
Week 9: Course & LMS configuration finalization & review
Your LMS configuration enters our review and finalization, where your Implementation Manager will confirm that the previous phases and assignments are complete. Specifically, we review account structure, LMS features and settings, training course content, software integrations, and other special projects, ensuring all are complete to your satisfaction.
Week 10: LMS launch & learner roll-out
It’s time to introduce your learners to their new learning system and engage them! If your implementation project is in phases, this would be the first phase of your LMS implementation, with the remaining phases rolling out as per your previously agreed-upon schedule.
In addition to your LMS launch, your Implementation Manager will provide coaching and best practices to help you deploy your training to your entire team.
Week 11: Fine-tuning & assurance period
After launching, we offer a fine-tuning period to answer questions that arise after the LMS launch and to make any necessary adjustments. We also work to ensure any functionality targeted to happen after your launch is well-defined and carried forward after your LMS implementation.
The assurance period offers your organization peace of mind that you’re well looked after when your LMS implementation project closes.
Week 12: LMS implementation synopsis
At our final meeting to close the project, we review your initial LMS project roadmap to highlight any changes or feedback. You have an opportunity to address any questions or items that you may have for your Implementation Manager. We prepare you for the transition to our Success Desk Team, which becomes your point of contact, providing you with any future LMS support you require.
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Our “Green Lms” Managed LMS Implementation is good as guaranteed. If you’re looking for robust LMS implementation services from top-notch professionals, we’d love to hear from you.
Start the conversationIf Managed Implementation is out of reach for your budget, you can still benefit from some early guidance on the key configuration decisions and priorities to get started with your new LMS.
Greenfield Solution offers an onboarding plan that includes three one-hour calls to help you with critical decisions on your account configuration, steer you to the features that will best support your long-term goals, and provide you with a suggested project milestone timeline to keep you on track as you self-implement your new LMS.
$500 USD (estimated)
Managed Implementation allows every client to achieve their goals. Greenfield Solution’s Standard Implementation follows all the steps outlined above, and your Implementation Manager coordinates, trains, and monitors your team's progress to ensure a complete and smooth rollout of your learning program. Implementation services include weekly meetings for 12 weeks, assistance with LMS account configuration, and more.
$6,500–$10,000 USD (estimated)
Green Lms Implementation expands on our standard service, with one significant difference.
Your Green Lms Implementation Manager does more than advise and train your team on performing your implementation – they become the hands-on person who does most of the actual LMS implementation work.
Green Lms Implementation is ideal for clients with a small team or a tight deadline – but any client can benefit from having an experienced Implementation Manager as a fractional team member for the duration of your LMS implementation. Green Lms Implementation services include weekly meetings for 12 weeks, hands-on delivery of LMS account configuration, and more.
$10,000–$20,000 USD (estimated)
Greenfield Solution offers ongoing support for all our clients through our Success Desk, with industry-leading response times and high first-call resolution standards.
You will also be assigned an Account Manager, who will proactively reach out to ensure you continue getting the most from your LMS investment.
Fill out this form, and we’ll get back to you in 3 business hours to introduce you to your personally selected Learning Advisor with experience in your industry, who will book a meeting with you to discuss what an LMS implementation project may look like for your organization.
There is no obligation – we want to discover what your needs are for LMS Implementation services, so we can help ensure your employee training program success.
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