Have you heard the phrase, “Content is king”? It does a good job summing up the corporate world we work in today. Everyday, businesses consume and distribute huge amounts of content and data. Tragically, some business owners neglect to keep track of employee training records simply because they are working with outdated reporting tools. These sub-par tools cannot keep up with the influx of information businesses are constantly receiving.
Can Any LMS Effectively Track Data?
Has your business implemented a social learning management system (LMS)? If so, you are probably thinking that your company is doing well in the area of reporting. This may not be the case. Sure, some eLearning platforms come with sufficient data reporting tools, but some don’t. The question is does your company’s LMS offer growth-promoting reporting tools?
3 Signs an LMS Lacks the Right Reporting Tools
If content is king, data reporting tools must be queen. To determine whether or not a particular LMS has the reporting tools needed to properly support your burgeoning business, ask yourself the following questions:
- “Is my company’s LMS customizable?” – Deciding how to organize data should be one of the first steps of starting or reengaging a business. Thankfully, there is no right or wrong way for a business to prepare data; the important thing is that it’s prepared according to a company’s industry and preferences. Equally important is that the data is stored in a customizable LMS. An easy-to-customize social learning management system often comes equipped with excellent data reporting tools that can compile records from a variety of categories and organize them by department. One-size-fits-all LMSs are usually weak in the area of reporting.
- “Is the LMS my business uses automatic?” – It takes a considerable amount of effort to customize reports. After the hard work has been done, no one wants to have to manually run reports. LMSs that have automatic features keep you from having to recreate reports by ensuring that reports run on the right days, at the right times. Not just that, LMSs with automatic features also deliver reports to specific audiences. If your company’s learning management system isn’t doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to report distribution, you can bet its data reporting tools are lacking.
- “Is my business’s LMS easy to search?” – Data is a succinct form of content. However, this doesn’t keep reports from piling up when you are working with a vast amount of information. There are few things more inconvenient than storing bushels of reports in a cloud-based eLearning platform with inflexible search options. Easy-to-search LMSs allow you to quickly find and refer to the reports you need, at the very moment you need them. The article Eight Characteristics to Look for in an LMS goes so far as to say, “…the most important factor (in an LMS) is being able to find the exact information you're looking for, quickly and efficiently.” This is only possible with a system that has the right reporting tools. If your eLearning platform doesn’t let you search reports by date, person, department, and course, its data reporting tools aren’t good enough.
If you are not controlling company data, it will eventually take on an unruly life of its own. Without a doubt, unorganized data will consume your much-needed energy and time. Fight this by making sure your social learning management system of choice offers reporting tools that are up to the task of supporting a growing company.
Is your company’s LMS customizable? Is it automatic? Is it easy to search? If you can’t answer each question with a hearty “yes,” the system’s reporting tools are probably outdated. Look into some other eLearning platforms that offer the reporting tools your business requires for health and growth.
