Creating a Strategy for Change Before and During a LMS Implementation

(1)

WWW.eLearningGuild.com

202

Creating a Strategy

for Change Before

and During a LMS

Implementation

Sheila Grangeiro

Media Specialist, University of Miami

Sandra Sallum

Director, Professional Development,

University of Miami

(2)

November 5-8, 2007

San Jose, CA

Page 1

Session 202 –Creating a Strategy for Change Before and During a LMS Implementation –Sandra Sallum & Sheila Grangeiro, University of Miami

Creating a Strategy for Change Before and During an LMS Implementation

By Sandra A. Sallum &

Sheila Grangeiro

2

Session Goals

• Know where you are going • Develop strategies to lower

resistance to change

• Identify stakeholders and their role in the change process

3

• Approximately 12,000 full-time faculty and staff

• 15,600 Graduate and undergraduate students

• Three main campuses and several satellite operations throughout the South Florida area

(3)

November 5-8, 2007

San Jose, CA

Page 2

4

Change as a consistent

companion

• Change will be part of any process • Prepare for it

• See change as an opportunity

– Communication is your best tool – Identify audiences early

– Have an education as well as a communication plan for different audiences

– Keep audiences informed and active in the process – Look for opportunities to educate others on best

practices

5

Creating a Change Management Plan

• Know where you are going

– Without a vision, there’s no change management • Be clear on your ultimate goal

– Break down your vision and strategy into phases • Have a change management plan for each phase by

audience

• Always communicate why change is necessary (Whenever possible, use research to support change)

– Stress opportunity and rewards • WIIFM

– Settle any fears about job security – Listen and incorporate feedback

6

Working Together to Effect

Organizational Change

• “Partners-in-Change”

• Make your stakeholders part of your team • The “leadership team”

– Lead the process, always be the one in front – Start the process/set direction/provide resources

• Communicate the vision and keep the process moving forward!!!!

(4)

November 5-8, 2007

San Jose, CA

Page 3

7

How Did We Do It?

• 2004: Request for department to take over a system for training record keeping and online access 24/7

– Opportunity to change Professional Development at UM by:

• Implementing a long-range learning strategy • Using researched best practices to change the way

training was designed and delivered

• Decentralizing training and allowing for Designers and Trainers to own their own pieces

8

Vision & Goal

• Use research-based best practices to develop learning-centric professional development experiences that can be measured and transferred to the job

• Tie professional development with performance evaluations that would be supported by a system of rewards and recognitions that recognized those working on their own professional development and skill gaps

• Allow for the learner and their manager to have control of their learning

9

Long Term Goal for the System

• Provide enterprise-wide learner centric environment

• Assist and track compliance training, career enhancement, development plans and competency development

• Report on competency and skill gaps to promote Succession planning

• Provide knowledge and collaboration center 365/24/7

• Track coaching component (follow-up and ILT) and evaluation of learning

(5)

November 5-8, 2007

San Jose, CA

Page 4

10

Change Management Strategy

• Identify a champion for change • Re-align existing resources

• Increase course offerings and traffic through the system

• Set standards and model innovative behavior • Get lateral buy-in as well as buy-in from

leadership

• Partner with designers and SMEs

11

Create Excitement and Show Proof

• Keep the champion informed

• Communicate increasing traffic and online offerings available

• Collect data on system usage, participants’ feedback and managers’ comments • Brand the system early

• Promote standards and best practices

12

First Steps

• Establish an infrastructure for the learning strategy

– Ensure you have a change management plan

• Identify stakeholders and get them involved early

– Educate practitioners on best practices for learning and professional development

• Professional Development Council

• Implement blended learning and expose organization to online learning

– 2004 – 0 WBL – 2007 – 306 WBL

(6)

November 5-8, 2007

San Jose, CA

Page 5

13

Work with Stakeholders

• Work at their level, but set the pace

– Create standards; raise the bar and expectations – Provide guidelines and training on:

• Adult learning principles and tools • New technologies and Instructional Design • Moving stakeholders from lecture based presentations

to training

• Ensuring that training offered by stakeholders is based on adult learning principles

• Using WBL to impart knowledge and focus ILT time to practice skills and appropriate behavior

– Lead the way

14

Important Actions

• Align available resources • Use available tools

• In the beginning, go for quantity

• Use what platform you have and show why you need something better

– Collect user feedback and data

– Show benefits to organization and to the bottom line

• Use data to create list of system and business requirements

15

Example of Data: Course Completions

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 1/2006 2/2006 3/2006 4/2006 5/2006 6/2006 7/2006 8/2006 9/2006 10/200611/200612/2006 CBL Courses ILP Courses by month num be r of c o m p le ti ons

(7)

November 5-8, 2007

San Jose, CA

Page 6

16

When Selecting an LMS

• Select a system based on the business requirements validated by stakeholders • System should:

– promote your learning strategy – have room for growth (functionality) – be scalable

• Never make a decision based on content

• You can always buy it from somewhere else

• Make sure the company is viable and can be a good business partner

– You will be in it together for the long haul

17

Selection of an LMS

• Have stakeholders preview final two systems

• Partner with vendor to showcase functionality that will be important to stakeholders

– Collect feedback for stakeholders to make final decision

– Ensure that you can live with either option – Report back on overall consensus

• Use stakeholders as ambassadors for change

18

Remember!

• It is not about a system, it is about the vision and learning strategy

• Secure top-down commitment • Create change “vision/values” • Plan for long term success! • Organize self-directed work teams • Develop your change allies • Be patient!

– Take the time to identify and celebrate little victories

(8)

Functionality LMS 1 LMS 2 LMS 3

User friendly interface Search capability for courses Customizable online help

Registration Capability within the LMS. Ability for self and group/batch enrollments for Managers.

Approval workflow, including the user request, the email notifications and the manager approval.

Learner, Manager and Administrator notification capabilities via MS Outlook Learner ability to view/print transcript Ability to self-report training

Learning Plan Capability. Learner's ability to create or view assigned learning plan.

Manager's ability to assign the learning plan to direct reports.

Registration process of instructor led classes to include notification of change of class date/time or instructor after registration has occurred.

Waiting list functionality Course calendar

Ability to take notes in the WBL area Ability to add location directions for ILT courses

Enrollment confirmation to be added to user's MS Outlook calendar

Ability to sort elements in curriculum by priority rathern than alphabetically

LMS RESEARCH

(9)

Justification for new LMS

Old Systems New LMS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY • Access CBLs • Enrollment in classes • No show list to follow-up with mandatory training (only addresses any employee who registered for a training) • Create forums/discussion groups for networking and sharing best practices • Create communities

around the competencies to share information and best practices from various industries related to competencies

• Link competencies to job descriptions

• Develop and monitor progress on ILLP as well as tie directly to courses, CBLs, and other

community information on competencies in ILLP • Allow access to research

databases through PDTO resource libraries • Send automatic email

reminders of classes to participants and their supervisors

• Post course enrollment on outlook calendar

• Supervisor approval of courses

• Assessment built into LMS rather than separate database

• Include skills gaps and gives opportunity to add course and experience to ILLP

COMPLIANCE

• Access CBLs • Self - enrollment

in classes

• Monitor all users regardless of registration to course for completion of

(10)

Old Systems New LMS • No show list to follow-up with mandatory training (only addresses any employee who registered for a training) • Print reports of who completed what course (CBL or Live) mandatory training requirements • Monitor expiration of professional licences • Automatic reminders for

renewal of compliance training for users and copied to supervisors

CAREER MAPPING/ SUCCESSION PLANNING

• Supervisor schedules courses for staff and can run reports of their progress toward completion of courses • Map courses to positions

to increase learning and experiences

• Supervisor can fast track employee by assigning them to courses that will assist them in readiness for promotion

• Provide a database of employees who have completed a

pre-determined set of courses designated for promotion readiness

COACHING AND MENTORING

• Use of discussion

boards/forums for coaches to share information and resources

TRAINING EVALUATIONS • Level 3 and 4 evaluations

(11)

Old Systems

New LMS

to participants and their supervisors post training to monitor performance change EASE OF USE • For administrators, software must be downloaded to individual computers to access the system • Reporting

function is very slow and performance is inconsistent

• Single sign on from UM so user does not need another username and password. This creates a single entry portal for employees • Waiting list functionality

will acts as a organization wide needs assessment for offering training

• Speed searching and reporting data is significantly faster than Netlearning • No plug-ins or downloading of software on individual administrator computers Formatted Table

(12)

Sample information used for proposal of new system

Page 1 of 2

Appendix A: FY 2008 Needed Features and Use:

Functionality:

• Customized learning communities for each area (i.e. Faculty, each school, each hospital,

etc.)

• Aligning individual learning plans to job descriptions for tracking and career

management

• Supervisor able to pull reports on their employee professional development activities;

also approve or reject employee training choices

• Supervisor can fast track employees by assigning them to courses that will assist them in

readiness for promotion

• Supervisor enroll employee in training activities

• Track compliance with mandatory training at the department and division level

• Branding of transcripts and screens for University of Miami

• Ability for employees to see newly created and featured courses on launching the LMS

• Automatically add and track mandatory training to each new employee’s individual

learning plan

• Create a calendar for viewing available courses

• Automatically post enrolled courses in employee’s outlook calendar and send notice to

employee and supervisor of enrollment

• Allow access to research databases through PDTO resource libraries

• Assessment of course value built into the LMS to be launched at strategic times (i.e.

quarterly) to evaluate impact on job performance

• Waiting list functionality will act as a needs assessment for UM training needs

• Monitor expiration of professional licenses to ensure early notification to employees and

supervisors (i.e. CPR)

• Automatic reminders of renewal of compliance training for participants and supervisors

Accessibility/Security:

• No software will be installed on the administrator computers – completely web based,

therefore, web based usage enables administrator to login from any computer to perform

their role

• Single Sign-on to avoid multiple login and passwords

• Significantly faster speed searching and reporting of data

• Ability to restrict access of administrators to core system files (currently unable to do in

NetLearning)

• Server redundancy – if one server crashes network routes to a back-up server – no

downtime

Support

• A hosted system will provide higher security, redundancy, back-ups and handle technical

calls

• On administrator side – pages load in seconds (currently with NetLearning – up to 8

minutes to load a screen)

(13)

Sample information used for proposal of new system

Page 2 of 2

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 1/2006 2/2006 3/2006 4/2006 5/2006 6/2006 7/2006 8/2006 CBL Courses Live Courses by month num be r of c o m p le ti on s

Appendix B

Exhibit 1.1 Number of participant course completions for January – August 2006

Exhibit 1.2 Number of System Administrators for FY 04-06

*Note FY 2006 is June – July 2006

Exhibit 1.3 Number of Logins in Current System

Number of LMS Administrators 0 10 20 30 40 50 FY 04 FY 05 FY 06 A ct iv e A dm in is tr a to rs Number of Logins to LMS 35000 36000 37000 38000 39000 40000 41000 42000 43000 44000 45000 2005 2006

(14)

University of Miami 2007

Page 1 of 4

LMS Implementation checklist

Negotiation and Contract Phase

1. Document all communication with vendor from initial contact. 2. Define key terminology.

3. Make sure you know what you are and are not getting. 4. Know what your costs are going to be up front.

5. If you are migrating from another system, make sure to scope out what the vendor will be doing to test and to migrate your data.

6. Agree on the type and frequency of training your staff will get from the vendor on the new system.

7. Review vendor’s technical and service support requirements and contract.

Migration and Implementation Phase

1. Use transcripts sample from old system as a baseline.

2. Get access to the vendor’s sandbox and test the functionality of the system.

3. Use pilot groups to test different functionality in the system before launch date.

4. Organize communication committees made up of stakeholders to manage and communicate change.

Post Implementation

(15)

University of Miami 2007

Page 2 of 4

Negotiation and Contract Phase

Document all communication with vendor from initial contact.

- Summarize and date discussions.

- Refer back to initial list of requirements often and ensure that the functionality that the vendor agreed on giving you is spelled out in the contract.

Define key terminology. - A difference in terminology may get you later on in the game.

Your IT and the vendor may not agree on what consists of single sign on. Even though they know what it is, the how may be quite different.

If you are going to pay per seat license, make sure you clearly define how the vendor will

determine who is an active user in the system. If you work on any compromises, make sure they are spelled out in the contract.

Make sure you know what you are and are not getting.

- Vendor may say the system has a specific functionality but that functionality is not included in the core packet. This usually means that you have to pay for that functionality, unless agreed upon beforehand and spelled out in the contract.

- Preview all functionalities you are hoping to get as part of a core solution, especially the most common tasks. Review how ILT course registration and launching of WBLs work.

- If you are not getting the LCMS portion of the system, agree in writing which SCORM tools you will be using, how they will behave in the system and whether you have to validate them

beforehand. If yes, how much will validation cost?

- Request a preview of one of your online modules in the system before negotiation. Know what your costs are going

to be up front.

- Ensure that what you have discussed with the vendor and agreed upon is scoped out as part of the contract and is clearly stated.

- Contract verbiage should spell out expectation and deliverables timelines.

If possible, negotiate a phased payment plan in which you pay an agreed percentage according to pre-established and agreed milestones and deliverable dates.

(16)

University of Miami 2007

Page 3 of 4

If you are migrating from another system, make sure to scope out what the vendor will be doing to test and to migrate your data.

- Document expectations and agreements.

- If possible, provide a scrubbed set of your data for testing. This should enable the vendor to give you a better estimate and minimize surprises for you during contracting.

- Agree on transcript format and get clarification on different processes used by the vendor or system requirements that may conflict with what you are currently using.

- If there’s a difference in process, ensure that you get agreement from your IT department on which process will be used and the work involved in getting it done, both for your organization and the vendor’s.

- Get clarification on how the system will inactivate users automatically through the data feed. Make sure this process is included in the scope of the project.

- Agree on the type and frequency of training your staff will get from the vendor on the new system.

- Review vendor’s technical and service support requirements and contract. Negotiate to have a person dedicated in their help desk that you can call directly when there are issues regarding the system.

If available, get access to the vendor’s sandbox and test the functionality of the system.

- If the vendor has this functionality available, make sure you have access to it during your evaluation period. You may find that what looks easy when the vendor is demonstrating the system is actually a complex process.

Migration and Implementation Phase

Use transcripts sample from old system as a baseline.

- If you are migrating records from a previous system into the new LMS, make sure to select a pool of learners (a minimum of 20) and to get complete transcripts for them from the old system. - Choose transcripts that have long histories and have WBL and ILT records. Use transcripts as samples and compare them to the information migrated into the new LMS by the vendor.

Forward any discrepancies or errors to the vendor. If available, get access to the

vendor’s sandbox and test the

- Use this functionality to prepare job aids and tutorials during this phase before the go live date. It is important to have many different types of help available to your users. Change management

(17)

University of Miami 2007

Page 4 of 4

functionality of the system. is about communication and this includes easing out the fear of having to deal with a new system.

If possible, plan for granting access to the system to pilot groups before the actual launch.

- Document issues and submit them to the vendor right away. Most vendors allocate a time period (usually 30 days) after the launch date to work on issues before the client signs off on the contract. Do not sign off on the system until it is working according to contract specifications. You may get push back on this, but it is crucial to stick to your guns.

- Have a plan to use this time wisely. Make sure that you have a variety of groups using and testing different functionalities in the system. You may have to pay additional fees for these fixes if you wait until the system is fully implemented.

Organize communication committees made up of stakeholders to manage and communicate change.

- Organize at least three committees: (1) communication and marketing committee, (2) Information Technology committee, (3) training committee.

Post Implementation

Create and implement a help desk support plan.

- Triage calls and tech support issues through 3 different levels. Identify which members in your department or organization will handle different levels of calls.

- Create documents for FAQs and scripted answers for your staff (you may need to collect data for the first 3-4 months, before you are able to put this documents together).

- Create a tech support email account that will be used when system or login issues are identified by users.

- Hold LMS education sessions that complement different types of tutorials and media created to help users navigate and use the system.