Learning: Re-Imagined Getting Learning to Your Learners with OLSA Gary Hartman Partner Alliances Manager gary_hartman@skillsoft.com

What LMS’s do our Customers Use? TPLMS About 70% of the Skillsoft clients use SkillPort, which is our LMS, to deliver training to their learners. That leaves 30% of our clients who use some other platform. Mostly a TPLMS (to us a “Third Party LMS”). A few clients are using a portal or some other platform as well. © SkillSoft Corporation 2003

Which TPLMS? Plateau Saba SumTotal © SkillSoft Corporation 2003 We have over 500 clients using an LMS other than SkillPort. The Top six are listed here, but realize that “Other” includes more than 250 Customers, using about 125 different learning platforms. It was very important to SkillSoft to create a learning delivery platform that could support our customers desire to deliver training from various platforms. Saba SumTotal © SkillSoft Corporation 2003

Current Customer Challenges Catalog Management Finding Desired Assets Player Technology Maintenance Limited Access to certain SkillSoft Assets from within the LMS Trouble-shooting issues with Content and Players Maintaining the LMS as the System of Record while still enabling all SkillSoft entitled assets Other Challenges?

Provide Support for other Platforms Leverage SkillPort functionality Simple integrations like seamless login from corporate intranets or portals Basic integrations like pulling reports of user course scores into an HRIS system Complex integrations where users can access content from multiple places and SkillPort provides backend LMS functionality Provide support for a variety of customer needs

Open Learning Services GOAL Increase delivery options, lower costs and simplify deployment of integrated content and services for our customers APROACH Deliver content and integrated learning services through open, Web standards based, content services platform LMS Portals Enterprise Apps Open Learning Services OLSA is an evolving standards-based architecture. We welcome input to help address some of the problems we are seeing! Content Content-Related Learning Services © SkillSoft Corporation 2003

Open Learning Services Architecture SkillSoft Open Learning Services Architecture SkillSoft Hosting Services SkillSoft Courses Videos Books Custom Courses SkillPort OLSA Learners LMS or ? Web Services API that simplifies access to SkillSoft content and content-related services hosted by SkillSoft Targeted applications Learning Management Systems (LMS) Talent Management Platforms Portals Other web-applications A framework for delivering learning when and where it’s needed--to your LMS, enterprise portal or intranet © SkillSoft Corporation 2003

Delivering Content to Learners SkillSoft Hosting Services SkillSoft Courses Videos Books CustomCourses SkillPort OLSA Learners LMS or ? SkillSoft Technology Infrastructure Software as a Service (SaaS) delivering learning to over 10 million learners worldwide 99.97% Average Uptime for 2008 Custom Hosting Services Easy-to-manage, searchable repository for ALL your learning content Deployment Options SkillPort: reliable, secure, scalable, proven TPLMS: Use OLSA to deliver learning from another LMS For IT: Reduced resource burden SkillSoft has a dedicated team of IT professionals overseeing the hosting operation, 24x7. Servers are located at a Tier 1 service provider with state-of-the-art equipment and high bandwidth connectivity. Security. Data is secured through a multi-vendor, multilayer system that affords the highest degree of protection against intrusion. Security of the hardware is ensured by multiple systems: 24x7 security guards, closed-circuit television monitoring, electronic key systems, fire detection and suppression systems, redundant climate control and more. Reliability. A highly redundant network infrastructure ensures that SkillSoft provides the highest levels of availability. Comprehensive monitoring ensures that SkillSoft’s Hosting Service is alerted at the earliest opportunity when service is affected. Scalability. SkillSoft services customers with hundreds of thousands of active users, and works with customers to ensure the best performance for any size audience. Benefits of SkillSoft SaaS to Learning The ability to create effective learning programs, quickly and easily, is greatly enhanced in the following ways: Discovery. Because all of the content is searchable using Search-and-Learn, it’s easy for users to find the most relevant resources for a given topic. Blended Learning. The creation of blended programs is easier, because all of the assets are in one place. Integration. Using OLSA, learning can be delivered into other LMSs or corporate portals, with a minimal amount of technical Ease of Deployment. SkillSoft has created automated tools to rapidly deploy content to the hosted environment in a secure manner, or the customer may also make use of SkillSoft experts to format content for deployment. Content can be deployed quickly in the customer’s environment, through our platform or using OLSA to deliver content into another LMS or portal.

What’s wrong with the old model? Traditional Learning Landscape Simple Content loaded into an LMS But… Content trends have added stress to the existing model Accelerating content inventory growth Increasing variety of content types More dynamic, frequently changing content Interdependent relationships among content objects and content–related services example: mentoring services There are no standards for integrating today’s richer content into a TPLMS

OLSA for Hosting Content Implementation SkillSoft manages installation and maintenance of courses on OLSA Content Server Customer loads AICC files for all assets Users launch content from within the LMS TPLMS OLSA SERVER © SkillSoft Corporation 2003

Learning Administrator OLSA Administrator Learning Administrator Perform Various Functions Open Learning Services TPLMS Content Content-Related Learning Services © SkillSoft Corporation 2003

Download Asset Metadata Perform Management Functions OLSA Administrator Download Asset Metadata AICC, SCORM or CSV Download Catalog Hierarchies Run Reports Perform Management Functions

Download Asset Metadata ...call your AE

AICC Metadata

Course Catalog Hierarchy A structured list of all entitled course assets and where they sit within the SkillSoft defined catalog How might it be used? Rebuild the hierarchy within a LMS Post to an Excel File for Review

Catalog Hierarchy – HTML Format

Catalog Hierarchy – CSV Format – Detail

Run Reports – Asset Launch Report Useful if in “Track to TPLMS” mode

Tracking Passive Objects Job Aids, SkillBriefs, KnowledgeCenters, Learning Programs and Dialogue Sessions

OLSA Web Services API Standards-based Web Services, SCORM, AICC Core services Asset Integration Catalog Synchronization Search across all content and services On-demand Communication Tools to get started Growing developer community Online Knowledge Base Code samples, documentation, etc. Application Engineer Support Goals Simplify LMS integration Reduce resources and time Remove barriers to innovation © SkillSoft Corporation 2003

What can you do with OLSA? Automate course loading Automatically keep course entitlements up-to-date (OLSA Asset Integration) Organize SkillSoft assets according to the SkillSoft defined curricula structure (OLSA Catalog Synch) Integrate SkillSoft Search Capabilities Present a single view of ALL available resources within the LMS Supports direct launch of topics, SkillBriefs, Job Aids, books, and videos (Leadership Development Channel) (OLSA Search)

What can you do with OLSA? Provide direct access to additional assets from within the LMS Books, SkillBriefs, Job Aids, Mentoring Services, etc. (OLSA Search) Manipulate more SkillSoft assets within the LMS Catalog Can add Books, Mentored Assets, etc. to a user’s Learning Plan (OLSA Search, then Asset Integration) Support SkillSoft Advanced Content Structures KnowledgeCenters, Learning Programs, Offline Play of Courses (OLSA On-demand Communication) Support access to SkillSoft content from outside the LMS while still maintaining system of record for data (OLSA On-demand Communication)

SuccessFactors – OLSA One-Click Learning Asset Access SuccessFactors and SkillPort secure, Single Sign-On capabilities give instant access to the SkillPort Home Page. One-Click Learning Asset Access provides a seamless login to SkillPort from a tab in the Career Development Planning module. It’s a Single Sign-On implementation, so users will not need to log in separately to SkillPort. (CLICK) The user can simply click the “SkillPort” tab to seamlessly log in to SkillPort. And note that if you’ve renamed or re-branded your SkillPort site, you can easily change the name of this tab.

SuccessFactors – OLSA Interactive Knowledge Exploration Secure “deep linking” from SuccessFactors to SkillSoft and Books24x7® content lets employees quickly preview manifests, launch assets, and add them to their development plan. SuccessFactors also offers the ability for clients to easily add links to appropriate learning content while the user, or their manager, is setting development goals. After the goals are defined, the user can browse or search for learning activities that will help them reach their goals. (CLICK) These learning activities can be courses, job aids, SkillBriefs or Books assets that are available to the user in SkillPort. In this screen you can see that the user can either (CLICK) launch the content from SkillPort, or (CLICK) quickly launch directly to the content.

SumTotal Federated Search Search also uses OLSA Search To find additional learning assets Here’s an example of Federated Search in TotalLMS. First, note that courses have been loaded into the LMS using Asset Integration. When a learner searches for content within TotalLMS by entering a keyword in the search box, TotalLMS searches across all content assigned to the learner within the LMS, and, at the same time, a searches the OLSA Server to find other learning assets available to this learner. From the search results screen, the learner has direct access to Job Aids, SkillBriefs, Books24x7 assets, and Leadership Development videos. Search finds courses assigned to learner Courses are loaded into SumTotal Using Asset Integration

OLSA Addresses Key Pain Points Initial bulk load, periodic updating of LMS catalog Launch & track any type of content: static, dynamic, or advanced Backwards compatible to AICC and SCORM standards Course Structure and Communication data model neutral Allow for additional independent services Address cross-domain problem. LMS does not need to be visible on public Internet. Leverages Content-As-A-Service trend Suitable security & authentication Provide for better Customer Support

Momentum in the Industry

Key Points to remember! Each client should have their own OLSA Content Server All content is hosted by SkillSoft Course Libraries are automatically updated Players automatically updated Results for courses launched from TPLMS can be directed to LMS or OLSA Server Results for Advanced Learning Structures must return to OLSA Server

OLSA Refresher ...call your AE

Discussion Points during Planning Course Launching - AICC, SCORM, Web Services, Search Tracking - What is the system of record? Reporting - In some circumstances, reporting from both OLSA & TPLMS may be required (KCs) Development proficiency - OLSA = Web Services (.Net or Java) © SkillSoft Corporation 2003

Plan, Execute and Deliver Contact your SkillSoft Account Team Discuss what you want to do Contact your LMS Vendor Ask them how they can help Development Project ? Find internal or external resource Create a Project Team You, SkillSoft, LMS Vendor Plan / Execute / Deliver

Thank you Questions & Discussion