Migrating Your Learning Management System

Are you thinking of how to support LMS migration to another platform? This process can be daunting without the right steps. To help you with the same, this blog will outline some steps and best practices to consider when migrating your learning management system.

Why migrate your LMS?

Organizations can decide to migrate their LMS due to a variety of reasons. Here are the 4 most common reasons for the migration of LMS to a new system:

Outdated System

The foremost reason to migrate from an existing LMS is that it is outdated and does not serve the organization's learning objectives. An outdated LMS can mean the use of outdated technologies. Besides, the existing system may not support new learning approaches (for example, microlearning) or content formats.

Inefficient Functionality

As organizations grow to the next level, their learning and training needs change. The existing LMS may not support new learning objectives - or simply lack the functionalities needed to support new employees. Learners are most likely to be dissatisfied with the LMS functionality, thus demotivating them from attending online courses.

Lack of User Adoption

Lack of user adoption probably means that the existing LMS is not user-friendly or easy to use. This also means that organizations must regularly train their employees on how to use the LMS features. Another reason for the lack of user adoption is that the LMS is difficult to navigate or has limited functionalities.

Incompatibility with New Technology

Incompatibility with new technologies can be another reason why organizations decide to migrate their LMS from a legacy system to a modern scalable platform. For instance, the existing LMS may not support the latest eLearning tools - and may not seamlessly integrate with third-party systems like those associated with human resources.

Preparing for LMS Migration

Before going ahead with your LMS migration, here are 4 pre-migration steps that you need to take care of:

Involve Stakeholders in the Decision-Making Process

An LMS migration can impact multiple stakeholders, including instructors, administrators, and learners. If the LMS migration also involves technological change, then the IT team is also a stakeholder. Involve all these stakeholders in migration-related decisions. They can also provide their suggestions and what they expect from the new LMS.

Identify the Reason for Migration

The next step is to identify why you are migrating the LMS to a new system. When discussing with your stakeholders or LMS vendors, point out the gaps or limitations of your existing LMS.

Define Migration Goals and Objectives

Apart from knowing the reasons, you should also clearly define your migration goals and objectives. This means defining what you want to achieve with the new LMS. For example, do you need an LMS that can manage learning content efficiently - or one that improves team communication or collaboration?

Define a Migration Timeline

The final pre-migration step is to define your LMS migration timeline. This would largely depend on the scope of migration, the size & experience of the migration team, and the selected LMS tool. Determine the number of user accounts that you want to migrate and integrate with the new LMS. Additionally, perform an inventory analysis of your current learning courses that you wish to migrate to the new system.

Next, let's see how to migrate LMS with 6 easy steps.

Steps to Migrate Your LMS

Most organizations may find LMS migration complex and challenging. Here are 6 easy steps in which you can migrate your LMS to a new system:

Develop a Migration Plan

The first step for effective LMS migration is to develop a concrete action plan that outlines all the tasks to be completed during the migration. This typically includes the following:

• Implementation timeline and budget
• Data mapping
• Integration with existing systems
• Creating new courses and migrating existing courses.

Test the New LMS System

The next step is to test the new LMS platform before going live. This includes checking its functionalities, including course creation and modification, assigning user roles, and content delivery. Additionally, check for any incompatibility or usability issues. Testing the LMS means testing every component or feature of your new LMS platform.

Data should be transferred from the old to the new LMS.

This is the most critical task in your LMS migration process. This involves moving your learning content from the old to the new LMS. Before migration, clean up your existing data so that it is compatible with the new system. Additionally, do not try to migrate all your data at the same time. Also, take a data backup of your existing LMS so that you can retrieve the data if the data transfer goes wrong.

Train Users on the New LMS

Once implemented, existing users have to familiarize themselves with the new LMS platform. Prepare the necessary training material and documents that can help them learn. This can include easy-to-learn tutorials and reference guides for creating new courses.

Implement the New LMS System

Once you have completed the testing and migrated the LMS content, it's time to implement the new LMS platform. If possible, launch a pilot project of the LMS in a particular department (for example, sales) or use a small team of users. Pilot projects help you identify and troubleshoot any issues before going live with the new LMS across your organization.

Evaluate the Migration Process

The final step is to evaluate or monitor the LMS migration process. Review the new LMS to check if it has all the migrated content & data. Monitor its performance by measuring its usage statistics and technical aspects. Collect valuable feedback from your LMS users to know how it performs compared to the previous LMS platform.

Best Practices for Successful LMS Migration

Here are 5 best practices that you can follow for a successful LMS migration in your organization:

Communicate with Stakeholders

Effective communication is the cornerstone of any successful LMS migration. Communicate with all stakeholders your plans to migrate your LMS platform - and how that will facilitate better learning outcomes.

Consider Customization Options

A customizable LMS platform is the best option for meeting the learning objectives designed for the organization. Look for an LMS platform that is easy to customize to specific business needs.

Prioritize User Experience

User experience is the only metric that can measure the success of your new LMS platform. Prioritize your user experience and how the new LMS platform can elevate user experience and improve their knowledge and learning capabilities.

Develop a Training Plan

An LMS is inefficient unless it is used by the majority of learners in your organization. Hence, create a detailed training plan for all your LMS stakeholders, including administration, content creators, and learners.

Perform a Thorough Data Backup

LMS migration often runs into problems that could also impact the quality of data, including learning content, user permissions, and other resources. Before migrating the data to the new system, take a complete data backup. The backup data is useful for restoring the existing data in the event of a failed migration.

Challenges and Solutions

Organizations often face multiple challenges when implementing LMS migration. Here are a few challenges and how to address them:

Technical Difficulties During Migration

Technical problems are among the common challenges during LMS migration. For instance, the new LMS platform may not be compatible with your existing file formats or resources. Data migration could also face problems due to incompatible systems. To address this problem, partner with an experienced LMS solution provider who is skilled in resolving technical problems during migration.

Resistance to Change from Users

While some users may welcome the migration, other users may resist this change simply because of the "fear" of change. To overcome this change resistance, LMS stakeholders must communicate with users and address their concerns. Organize a series of training webinars to provide demos of the new LMS.

Conclusion

An LMS platform is designed to meet the varied learning requirements of any organization. Businesses can choose to migrate to a new LMS for a variety of reasons. To that end, they can follow the aforementioned steps to prepare and execute LMS migration.

At Gyrus, we have designed an LMS platform designed for dynamic learning. Our team can help you with LMS migration. Contact us today to schedule a free product demo.