What does an LMS do?
A learning management system brings four jobs together in one place:
- Catalogue: All of the organisation’s trainings (made in-house, bought from outside, SCORM packages, videos) sit in one list.
- Assignment: A training is assigned to a person, a unit or the whole organisation, with a due date and reminders. New joiners are included automatically by rule.
- Tracking: Who started, who finished, who is late, what they scored in the quiz: all visible on the manager’s screen.
- Documentation: A certificate is issued on completion; the record an audit asks for (who, when, which training, what score) can be exported.
An LMS does not create content; it plays and manages it. The tool that prepares the content is separate (see how to prepare training content).
Five points to check when choosing an LMS
1. Standards support
Does it load SCORM 1.2 and 2004 packages, does it support xAPI and cmi5? If not, you cannot use any training you bought elsewhere or made with another tool, and you stay tied to the LMS. More: what is SCORM.
2. Where is the data, and is it compliant with data-protection law?
Staff names, e-mail addresses, training history and quiz results are personal data. It should be written down in which country the data is held, who can access it and how a deletion request is handled. For public bodies and businesses subject to KVKK (the Turkish personal data protection law) audits, this comes before price.
3. Does it work on a phone?
Staff in the field, on the production line or in service may not have a computer. A system that opens in the browser without an app and can be finished on a phone directly affects the completion rate.
4. Multi-organisation / multi-unit structure
If you are a holding group, a municipality, a franchise or an academy that sells training, every organisation should have its own catalogue, its own manager and its own sign-in address. A system that mixes everyone in one pool makes management harder.
5. Integration and export
Will the staff list come from the HR system, will corporate sign-in (single sign-on) be connected, can reports be exported to Excel or another system? These are the most expensive parts to add later.
Common mistakes
- Confusing a catalogue subscription with an LMS: buying a ready training library does not mean you can manage your own content.
- Starting without setting the criterion: is “watched” enough, or “passed the quiz”? Until this is decided, a report is meaningless.
- Not setting a renewal rule: trainings that must be repeated every year (such as occupational safety) are forgotten if tracked by hand.
The LMS at Seriftech
The Training Platform is a learning management system that loads SCORM 1.2/2004 and xAPI packages, works on a phone, supports multiple organisations and is built for KVKK compliance. Trainings made with the Training Studio go straight into the catalogue; packages made with other tools can be uploaded too.
