1. Take an Educated Approach to Developing a Learning Management System Strategy
Build an LMS strategy on corporate objectives and Learning & Development goals by considering the four pillars: content, people, process, and technology.
McLean & Company is a research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges via executable research, tools and advice that have a clear and measurable impact on your business. © McLean & Company. McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group
SAMPLE
Learn about becoming a member

2. Our understanding of the problem
Human resources professionals, training and development specialists, and organizational development specialists responsible for learning mechanism design and delivery.
IT and application managers that are tasked with supporting the business through the creation of a learning management system (LMS) strategy.
Make the business case for assessing the appropriateness of an LMS solution.
Audit the inventory of learning and estimate the current learning costs.
Create a business model to identify project barriers and enablers, as well as HR and IT objectives.
Evaluate solution alternatives in regards to people, process, technology, and content.
Organizations looking to develop an LMS strategy to achieve organizational goals associated with learning and development.
Create a common LMS understanding between HR, IT, and business stakeholders.
Offer guidance on how to translate learning and development needs into LMS technology requirements.
SAMPLE

3. Executive summary SAMPLE 1. Right-size your LMS solution.
HR professionals and Application Managers are tasked with leveraging a learning management solution to foster a learning culture at their organization. In today’s rapidly changing business environment, the need for more effective and flexible learning and development has become more significant. In the 2016 McLean & Company Trends Survey, organizations ranked leadership/management and employee development as their top priorities.
1. Right-size your LMS solution.
Avoid underinvesting or overbuying from the start. LMSs come in all shapes and sizes: don’t buy functions you don’t need.
2. Identify your LMS use case from the start to focus your strategy and filter your needs.
3. A disjointed and departmentalized approach to learning will inevitably fail. Ensure you have a holistic LMS strategy through the necessary convergence of people, process, technology, and content.
Organizations often have difficulty with increasing internal course participation, measuring training effectiveness, and increasing training accessibility. Processes are often manual, resulting in wasted time, resources, and a lack of traceability and visibility between departments.
A strong learning and development strategy that leverages a learning management solution will increase L&D efficiencies, develop in-house talent, thus providing a competitive advantage to organizations in today’s talent war.
Take a step back and create a business model that considers the learning needs of HR, IT, and the broader business. Strive for a holistic strategy and avoid compartmentalized efforts.
Understand your use case. Identify your organization’s goals and L&D objectives to choose the LMS use case that is most aligned with your learning needs.
Identify your solution alternatives across people, processes, technology, and content. Create a comprehensive roadmap, prioritizing initiatives and identifying dependencies.
Devise a plan for implementation. Effectively communicate changes to and put mechanisms in place to ensure effective LMS governance.
SAMPLE

4. Guided Implementation
McLean & Company offers various levels of support to best suit your needs
Guided Implementation
“Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”
DIY Toolkit
“Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”
Workshop
“We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”
Consulting
“Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”
Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options
SAMPLE

5. Follow McLean & Company’s approach to develop your LMS strategy
Create the Project Vision
Structure the Project
Conduct a Current State Assessment
Evaluate Solution Alternatives
Design the LMS Roadmap
Build an LMS Implementation Plan
Identify goals and objectives for LMS project.
Complete LMS business model.
Align corporate, L&D, and LMS objectives.
Outputs
Define project scope.
Define roles & responsibilities.
Identify risks, and create mitigation strategies.
Outputs
Engage different stakeholders in soliciting requirements based on business needs.
Outputs
Create content strategy.
Sketch ideal process.
Map desired application ecosystem.
Outputs
LMS Technology Strategy
Identify and prioritize roadmap initiatives.
Identify enabling projects.
Outputs
LMS Initiatives Roadmap
Create governance and communications plans.
Sell LMS strategy to the business.
Outputs
LMS Implementation Plan
LMS Strategy Vision
LMS Strategic Alignment
LMS
High-Level Requirements
Consolidate content, people, process, and technology requirements.
Outputs
Strategic Direction
Prepare LMS strategy presentation to gain stakeholder commitment.
Outputs
Stakeholder Presentation
SAMPLE

6. Sample Slides
SAMPLE

7. Understand the three different LMS use cases
Where your LMS efforts will be focused varies from organization to organization. Your strategy efforts will be largely dictated by your specific learning goals and objectives. 1 2 3
Compliance
Performance Support
Knowledge Management
Description: Compliance training is critical when there are mandatory certifications or training curriculums that need to be completed in order for employees to perform their jobs.
Description: Performance support is job specific and provides training to enhance competencies and develop skills.
Description: Knowledge management is a means of sharing, distributing, and curating shared knowledge or new information to the broader organization.
Definition
LMS Compliance Benefits:
Helps simplify the audit process
Facilitates the delivery of consistent content
Reduces the risk of compliance fines
Decreases administrative efforts to track and manage compliance training
LMS Performance Benefits:
Engages employees
Promotes a continuous learning environment
Builds critical skills that will impact the bottom line
LMS Knowledge Management Benefits:
Creates a central location for information management
Shares information in a timely manner
Creates a sense of community within the organization
Benefits
Health and safety training
Regulatory certifications
Technical learning programs
Professional qualifications
Management and leadership development
New policies and procedures
Annual company meetings
New product information
Examples
SAMPLE

8. Externally Commissioned Generic outsourced libraries
Understand the different ways you can create content and the different sources to curate content from
Right-size your content strategy to your LMS strategy to achieve a cost-effective solution.
The Learning Content Pyramid
In-House Content Creation
Externally Commissioned
Created Internally
User-generated
content
Curated content sets
Generic outsourced libraries
Freely available
Source: Donald H. Taylor, “The learning content pyramid”
Volume & Cost
Contextual Relevance
Ownership of content creation does not necessarily need to lie in HR or at the management level within departments. Leveraging knowledgeable talent within the organization is a cost-effective and creative alternative that will yield quality content while engaging your top employees in learning.
Third-Party Content Curation
Third-party content doesn’t always have to be less for more. There is plenty of affordable alternatives that will achieve economies of scale in your content strategy. Explore your options.
SAMPLE

9. McLean & Company Helps HR Professionals To:
Empower management to apply HR best practices
Develop effective talent acquisition & retention strategies
Build a high performance culture
Maintain a progressive set of HR policies & procedures
Demonstrate the business impact of HR
Stay abreast of HR trends & technologies 
Sign up to have access to our extensive selection of practical solutions for your HR challenges
Learn About Becoming a Member
" Now, more than ever, HR leaders need to help their organizations maximize the value of their people. McLean & Company offers the tools, diagnostics and programs to drive measurable results."
– Jennifer Rozon, Vice President, McLean & Company
Toll Free:
hr.mcleanco.com
SAMPLE