My company spent a good part of last year researching and selecting a new learning management system (LMS) with an integrated content authoring tool, to replace the extinct dinosaur we had been using to deliver e-learning courses. Our IT group hired a consultant to help us through the process and make sure all the bases were covered with technology, usability, SCORM conformance, and integration with current systems. So imagine my surprise today to learn that, less than a year later, the IT group is not satisfied, the LMS vendor is resistant to some of the requested interface and reporting customizations required to fit our business models, and the incremental costs have accumulated to rival those of another, more robust LMS that we had passed on because of, well, price. Weren’t these the things our “expert” consultant was supposed to identify and protect against? The IT group is ready to throw in the towel and start over, and I’ve been asked to yet again investigate third-party authoring tools for developing our online courses. I like the system we have. It has its limitations, to be sure, but my staff is trained on how to use it, and we’ve had excellent results. I don’t want to start over with a new tool and a new learning curve less than a year later. At this rate, our development efforts will never be profitable.

If there’s good news, it’s that I’ve already done the research once, and not too much has changed. If we have to go third-party, I’m prepared with a clear recommendation for which tool to choose and the arguments to back it up. It actually will give us more robust features and flexibility than we have now, better testing capabilities, better standards compliance, and more output options, but at the cost of a significantly steeper learning curve. What to do? Fortunately I’m an optimist, so I’ll make the best of whichever direction we end up taking. I’m not opposed to change if it’s for the better.

If you are reading this and you aren’t involved in e-learning, it’s probably all greek to you. I normally don’t blog about technical work-related things, but I’m frustrated to think that we have to go through this entire process again so soon.