6 essential features of a bespoke learning management system

Learning Management Systems

A bespoke learning management system is a cost effective solution for any organisation looking for an alternative to Moodle or other off the shelf systems. Modern web development technologies make software development more affordable and with a bespoke development you can create a more streamlined system that exactly fits your needs; corporate or business users in particular always prefer simpler software that does less better.

What features you should consider if you're about to design and develop your own learning management system?

Works with SCORM. The Sharable Content Object Reference Model is a standard way of sharing data between e-learning content and a learning management system. A bespoke learning management system that supports SCORM will work with third party SCORM content - so you can run e-learning content from other suppliers and track learner progress.

Simplicity. Course materials and content are more important than the learning management system. A bespoke system - one that does just what you want - can be simpler and more streamlined that an off the shelf system. Create a simpler system and build only the features your users really need and you'll get a much better user experience. You'll also have lower ongoing support costs.

Mobile Support. A bespoke learning management system should work in a browser on mobile devices. Modern responsive web development means it's relatively easy to build in mobile support. The same should be true of any third party SCORM content you buy - but you need to check that. Some older SCORM content may not work well on a tablet/mobile phone.

Email Reminders. This is a good feature to have in any bespoke learning management system that's going to be used to deliver compliance type training. You can give employees a nudge when they've started a course but forgotten to finish. A slightly smarter system would let you turn reminders on or off for different groups of users - that kind of configurability might make sense if you're a training provider delivering online courses to different client organisations, each with slightly different requirements.

Downloadable Management Reports. These don't need to be complicated - a small set of reports will give you an overview of learner progress, course completes and wider user engagement with the system. And it's not difficult to create management reports in a bespoke software development - get your software developer to create them as downloadable .csv files and then do more sophisticated analysis in Excel.

Make it Multi-Tenancy. There's an argument for doing this even if you can't see the business case at the start of the development. A multi-tenancy system means you’ve got one system that can support multiple customers - each customer is in its own silo. You might start with just one tenant - your organisation - but you’ve now got a system that's flexible enough to be 'resold' to new organisations/new business units if the need ever arises. The development overhead of making a new system multi-tenancy right at the start is modest - it's much harder to build it in later.

A bespoke development should not be complicated. Start with a clear requirements capture phase - prioritise the things you really need. Think minimum viable product, you can always build in new features later when the requirement is better understood.


SkillsLogic develops affordable bespoke learning management systems for training organisations that want to deliver high quality e-learning.

Talk to us today and find out how we can help you reach more learners.


Contact Us

Contact Us

SkillsLogic Ltd,
Cooper Buildings,
Sheffield Technology Park,
Arundel Street,
Sheffield,
S1 2NS

+44 (0)114 383 0093
info@skillslogic.com


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