TOPIC:46 TEN STEPS TO SUCCESSFULLY SELECTING A LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A learning management system (LMS) is a software application or Web-based technology used to plan, implement, and assess a specific learning process. It is also known as training management systems and integrated learning solutions. It has now developed as full-scale enterprise software. These have gained popularity because they can serve as the backbone of a company's learning and e-learning strategy as it launches e-learning courses, resource management, tracking and even more. LMS functionality has spearheaded its growth in the marketplace and with more than one hundred LMSs selecting it is a huge and challenging decision. LMSs are large, complex software programs that are changing rapidly and can cost a million dollars, therefore following steps should be taken into consideration for its effective and successful selection. 1. Determining Your LMS Business Requirements Recognising the business need for LMS is the most important decision and should be made with utmost care as it helps to develop the information needed to write a coherent Request for Proposals (RFP). A right decision can maintain control of the process later. Following questions must be answered: What is the business need for the LMS? To know some business challenges that LMS can fix, may be to deploy learning enterprise-wide, automating training administration processes, deploying learning resources and training programs more quickly. How to measure success? Develop metrics as it will help to determine the return on investment. Potential Return on Investment Target audience Determine which users or business group(s) would make for an ideal pilot. Project stakeholders and their requirements. Functional and non functional requirements. Technical requirements. Phases of LMS implementation Selection team

2. Researching LMS Vendors Review functional and non-functional requirements and determine what high- level functionality required like "Competency Management" Organizing your research Creating a simple LMS Product Screening Matrix. It will even determine the match between the needs and vendors product. Narrowing the field Review the results and remove unsuitable vendors from consideration now. The vendors that have the most criteria checked off are those who should be bring in for demonstrations.

3. Conducting LMS Vendor Demonstrations Schedule and bring the vendors in organization for product demonstrations. Everyone involved in the selection process should attend the product demonstrations along with an IT partner. Set expectations with the selection team and schedule product demonstrations. State functional and non-functional requirements for clear understanding of needs. Finally conduct demonstration and look for (Interoperability, ERP, strategic partnership, investment, etc.)

4. Narrowing Down Potential Vendors for Consideration The best vendors should be taken in the consideration set. While considering them the following points should be considered: Vendors who meet the maximum of the functional and non functional requirements. Though no vendor can fulfil all the need but those who can fulfil maximum of them.
TECHNICAL FIT: May be the vendors in the consideration set do not technically fit but the vendors generally try to customise LMS to fit the environment but if this doesnt work then in such a case selection should be done again.

ERP VENDOR: The ERP vendor should always be under consideration. If he doesnt meet the needs then he may either withdraw from the RFP process. It is very important to build a positive relationship with the vendor foe effective working.

5. Conducting an LMS Needs Assessment It sets the broad parameters for the LMS project, even outlines the functional and technical requirements for LMS and the implementation barriers one may face. Assessment should be done before the RFP process Such need assessments helps in validating business requirements, estimating costs, determining internal vs. external hosting and even in increasing stakeholder involvement and commitment.

6. Developing and Distributing the RFP It has to be carefully developed to insure that all the information is received from the prospective vendors. It focuses on the content of the RFP. Even if your organization already has a formal RFP process, the information here ensures that to get quality responses. RFP should definitely include the background information, proposal conditions, functional and nonfunctional requirements, technology, value proposition, and investment.

7. Evaluating Proposals and Short-Listing Vendors After the evaluation team is established, the project sponsor and other executive ultimately approve or veto their short-listed selection. After its evaluation, the expected time and budget regarding the same are decided. The evaluation criteria and weighting for each criterion are created as well. Once the evaluation team determines its process and schedule, executive evaluators need to be informed. Also the executive evaluators review and revise the weightings given to the evaluation criteria identified. After distributing vendor proposals and score sheets to the selection team, an online copy of the score sheet for automatic scoring is also provided. This ensures that the vendor is truly evaluated on their solution and not the cost of the solution. After reviewing the proposals based on the agreed-upon schedule, the team members submit their score sheets prior to a team meeting for the purpose of sharing evaluations and creating a short list. The scores are compiled to determine a ranking of vendors. The Project Leader brings the teams recommendations to executive evaluators for approval and vendors are notified to either inform whether they are selected or not.

 Finally, there may be more than one vendor for consideration. Having a final vendor presentation provides you with the opportunity to - ask the vendor the questions they did not respond to in their proposal or provide the vendor with a case study to respond to in the presentation. Final compilation is done.

8. Conducting Final Vendor Presentations and Selecting a Vendor After short listing vendors, the final presentations are conducted. The format of each vendor presentation should be customized to ensure that your issues are appropriately addressed, also it enables you to get a better feel of the vendors culture and you can get to know whether you can work with him or not. After vendor reference checks are conducted, the final selection is made on the basis of technical fit, quality of proposals, investment required, ability of vendors to meet implementation, quality of vendor resources and strategic alliances as well as the chemistry.

9. Negotiating the LMS Licensing and Service Level Agreements It takes three weeks to two months to effectively negotiate an LMS contract because is a significant software investment that almost always requires some level of customization and there will be intricacies that need to be ironed out in the contract. Typically an LMS contract contains 25 to 35 pages. While negotiating a contract things like; functionality required, hosting agreements, additional professional services ,handling of press release and industry announcements and legal agreements ;should be incorporated.

10. Negotiating the LMS Contract and Getting Ready for Implementation The implementation phase of LMS is as important as selecting LMS. For successful implementation develop an apt project team, map business processes and develop marketing strategies.

CONCLUSION An LMS is a comprehensive system that streamlines an organizations needs for both its clients and its employee. A successful Selection of learning management system is very important as it helps to plan, implement, and assess a specific learning process. Taking the system on a real life test driving with use cases is the best way to experience the system and discover that if the system is going to work in the end and even how painful and costly the process is going to be to get there. It is important to estimate the pros and cons of all aspects of LMS project so to know the critical success factor for the project. Selection is even important as: it involves a huge investment, it can serve as the backbone of a company's learning and e-learning strategy as it launches elearning courses, it helps in resource management, it can keep a track on progress, Monitor the effectiveness of the organization's education and training. Thus all the above steps if executed properly can surely help on organization in extending its success by selecting and implementing an EFFECTIVE LMS.

TOPIC:18 ENABLING GLOBAL COLLABORATION WITH INTEL BASED INFRASTRUCTURE

OVERVIEW The collaboration tool supported by Intel IT falls into two categories, firstly those improving employees productivity and secondly for supporting formal team collaboration. All these collaboration provides many benefits to Intel like enhanced employee productivity, travel avoidance , increased agility, greater job satisfaction, support for business growth in emerging market ,brain storm new ideas etc. HISTORY If we look into the history of Intel it can be known that earlier collaboration was inefficient due to lack of devices and applications but now with the emerging tools collaboration is actually helping Intel to grow its business in emerging markets. Collaboration is very useful in enabling teams to have fast and low cost access to expertise, for free flow of information, for around the clock concept. In short collaboration is reducing the cost of doing business by extending Intels team. Thus Intel IT evaluates and deploys tools that improve collaboration while helping to manage costs. SOLUTION For supporting both personal and team collaboration Intel uses different collaboration tools. Personal productivity collaboration tools helps Intel to improve employees personal productivity (applications like UM, IM, soft phones). On the other hand team collaboration tools add a layer on personal collaboration to enable efficiency for groups (tools like audio bridges, team data repositories etc.) Collaboration applications often have infrastructure requirements thus choosing the right infrastructure is must. Security is also another consideration thus Intel has been moving from legacy phone system to voice over internet protocol (VoIP) model using Intel protocol private branch exchanges (IP PBXs). Intel recognizes that its employees use a spectrum of devices to perform their work thus it requires seamless collaboration and data flow from one device to another. For this Intel deploy mobile business PCs equipped with high speed processors. It was found that the

ability to perform local computing on the client offers the best user experience and flexibility to run different types of applications for real time collaboration. Success of PC boost collaboration is one such example. Intel has seen that employees have greater collaboration needs and freedom to choose devices best suited for them especially in an environment of acceleration business cycles. With extensive security review Intel provide employees with owned handheld devices (Jan 2010). By the end of 2010 the result was overwhelmingly positive. In 2010 Intel have upgraded their WLAN as a result there was increase in performance at lower cost by reducing number of access points. They also upgraded WAN infrastructure in order to handle their growing need of business capabilities. Intels collaboration services are a major component of collaboration infrastructure. Up to date service architecture enables them to meet demand and accommodate future growth. Intel is trying to virtualized as many applications as possible but real time applications pose as a challenge as they are time critical and thus sensitive to handle. Collaboration tools like IM, UM, personal bridge lines, soft phones, and webcams enhance personal productivity of the employees working in Intel. IM that is instant messaging and informal online meetings helps employees to chat; they can locate any person wit necessary information while sitting on their chairs and contact them. Its usage provides the evidence that how well employees have embraced this technology. Unified messaging helps to manage cost. UM enhances the productivity of employees as they can access all the required data from a single software application on their computer. UM creates a more streamlined environment for IT. Intels UM uses new processors and XML. Soft phone enables employees to make call from their laptop to the destination network including Intels private network. Soft phones sometimes eliminate the need for PCs and phones. Webcams helps employees to hold virtual meetings. Webcams add a personal connection to informal meetings and thus increasing the ability to chat. Several technologies are also used to enhance team productivity such as Videoconferencing, audio conferencing, shared information repositories and collaborative websites. Videoconferencing benefits Intel by reducing cost, avoids travelling, enhancing team spirit and trust and for global collaboration. Intel has an array of videoconferencing rooms where

employees can schedule a conference directly from their email application. Intel has over 70 such rooms keeping in mind specific need for collaboration. Due to sensitive nature of Intels business Intel employees have enthusiastically adopted this new capability within the framework of the security guidelines such as using personal bridge lines for internal meetings only. Audio conferencing helps to enhance their services. Intel has developed Shared information repositories and collaborative web sites where team members can store share the necessary information between themselves. Intel provides separate services for internal and external teams as a point of security. Webcams helps the team to attend remote meetings and to present information to colleagues and external business partners. Intel has implemented an enterprise wide social computing platform that combines professional networking tools with social media and securely integrates with existing enterprise. Intels goal is to transform collaboration across their enterprise by enhancing productivity of employees. Future plans Intel still believes in focussing on collaboration. Their long term vision is unified communication and collaboration, which is an evolving framework to unify all forms of human collaborations and communications. With UCC Intel is expecting to deliver more collaboration solutions. INFRASTRUCTURE MODIFICATIONS USED ARE : Devise independent mobility Intels allows employees to choose the devise that best fit their needs and work style Remote pc management- by this service technicians PC can essentially collaborate with the malfunctioning PC. PERSONAL COLLABORATION ENHANCEMENT Intel is planning to use virtual personal conference rooms , these rooms will resemble physical meeting rooms and information can also be shared, Federated IM to enable employee to send IM to everyone, Soft phones, tool integration, content awareness

TEAM COLLABORATION ENHANCEMENT Intel is planning to use videoconferencing expansion, electronic white boards, enterprise video portal, and presence awareness. OTHER COLLABORATION SERVICES Services which Intel is planning to integrate are digital signs, employee learning entertaining team, secure collaboration solutions.

CONCLUSION In an environment of accelerating business cycles and geographically dispersed teams collaboration is necessary. Collaboration offers many benefits. The collaboration tool supported by Intel IT falls into two categories, firstly those improving employees productivity and secondly for supporting formal team collaboration. All these collaboration provides many benefits to Intel like enhanced employee productivity, travel avoidance , increased agility, greater job satisfaction, support for business growth in emerging market ,brain storm new ideas etc. . In short collaboration is reducing the cost of doing business by extending Intels team. Thus Intel IT evaluates and deploys tools that improve collaboration while helping to manage costs. An Intel-based infrastructure, including PCs, WLAN, and enterprise servers, supports are currency and future collaboration needs. Intel has upgraded their WLAN as a result there was increase in performance at lower cost by reducing number of access points. They also upgraded WAN infrastructure in order to handle their growing need of business capabilities. The combination of advanced collaboration tools and this computing infrastructure enables Intel employee to securely share data, brainstorm new ideas and work collaborate with internal and external teams. Intel still believes in focussing on collaboration. Their long term vision is unified communication and collaboration, which is an evolving framework to unify all forms of human collaborations and communications. With UCC Intel is expecting to deliver more collaboration solutions.