We are thrilled to unveil an exciting update from our esteemed partner, LMS365, who have recently re-branded as Zensai.
LMS365 – now Zensai – are industry leaders in learning, engagement and performance and offer the only human success platform built for Microsoft 365.
Essential’s relationship with the company started 5 years ago, when we introduced LMS365, their learning management system for Microsoft 365 to our UK customer base.
The platform has gone from strength to strength and now includes support for driving employee development, engagement, and performance...all from within Microsoft 365.
Powered by AI and designed for optimal productivity in enterprises that have invested in Microsoft technologies, Zensai offers a unique proposition: learning, development and engagement in the flow of work.
The suite of Zensai solutions now includes:
Learn365. Develop skills according to roles and interests, track certification compliance and accelerate onboarding.
Engage365. Ensure people feel valued and engaged with a framework for regular employee check-in, coaching, and recognition.
Perform365. Give employees clarity on expectations and provide managers with tools to support and coach their teams to perform at their highest potential.
Each of these elements can be surfaced from within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, including Teams, SharePoint, Viva, Outlook and a mobile app. This offers many benefits, including:
A great end user experience – there’s no separate system to log into or learn
Peace of mind for the IT team– the platform leverages existing security measures
Convenience for L&D professionals – resources such as Teams video footage, applications for co-authoring learning content, support for virtual training, etc. is all ‘baked in’ and readily available.
The combined Zensai and Essential proposition is enabling enterprises throughout the UK to rapidly deploy learning and development programmes – both to employees and external partners.
Our esteemed customers span all sectors including the police, local government, healthcare, recruitment, energy, education and more.
Delivering these solutions from within Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint, Viva and Outlookis the key to success for the organisations we work with.
Charles Ross, senior account manager, Essential
See it for yourself!
Book your personalised demo today with Essential and discover how Zensai, in partnership with Essential, can help you unlock employee potential and performance.
Discover the power of learning and development delivered in Microsoft 365.
It was great to be back at Learning Technologies 2024. It was a full event space with what felt like thousands of attendees, all keen to see the latest innovations in the ever-expanding learning space.
The other great thing was that we got to see the show from ‘the other side of the fence’. Let me explain:
In previous years we’ve attended in the capacity of an exhibitor alongside our partner LMS365 (recently renamed to Zensai) but this time I took the opportunity to visit the show as a ‘regular Joe’ attendee.
Experiencing the event this way gave me the opportunity to discover first-hand the sales pitches and ‘futures messaging’ from myriad different vendors. In some cases the sales tactics and approaches were refreshing – others were a reminder of how not to do it!
Armed with my hypothetical learning need, I spoke with many friendly sales folk that were eager to showcase their platform, and sat through many seminars.
This is what I learned:
The Importance of Addressing User Challenges
Amidst the flashy features and promises of greatness, something seemed to be missing: a genuine conversation about my actual needs and how their tech could solve them.
It was like all the L&D tech vendors were singing their own praises without bothering to ask what tune I wanted to hear.
This reminded me that effective learning tech isn’t just about bells and whistles; it’s about understanding the real struggles that organisations face.
Whether it’s streamlining onboarding processes, fostering remote collaboration, or enhancing skills development, the focus should be on understanding and addressing the needs of those that use the system.
In other words, it’s not enough to have a fancy platform; the crucial aspect of a great L&D tech solution is customer-centricity. For example, offering a learning solution that maps squarely onto wider business needs and providing the support, guidance, and training to help customers get the most out of the platform.
AI in Learning: Everyone’s Talking About It (But Use it Where it Makes Sense)
Now, let’s talk about AI. Every vendor at the show was trumpeting their AI capability.
Using AI to streamline content creation and, for example, automatically generate quizzes is something our customers are actively using to save time. AI can be particularly good at providing plausible multiple-choice answers. We always advise checking that the ‘bot’ hasn’t gone off on a flight of fancy.
Using AI to deliver a better personalised learning experience, and, for example, target bite-sized learning, is also something AI is positioned to help with. Many concerns over privacy were raised in the various seminars I sat through, however:
“With AI processing all our data to tailor our learning experiences, who’s making sure our information stays secure?”
Other red flags included:
Cost: “Will AI functionality have a big impact on licence prices?”
Job displacement: “Will AI leave L&D professionals out in the cold?”
We predict there will always be a need for in-person content creation and assessing, as well as human-led training, mentoring, coaching.
Perhaps AI should be used better utilised to make in-person training happen more readily.
For instance, imagine receiving automatic notifications when your designated coach or team members are planning an in-person visit to the office. This feature could ensure that valuable face-to-face interactions are maximised
There are also other practical ways to target and ‘surface’ relevant training without the risks and potential added expense of using AI.
Learning is Still About Humans
As we reflect on lessons and insights gained from Learning Technologies 2024, it’s clear that we need to find a balance between innovation and empathy.
Technology should make our lives easier, not just dazzle us with fancy features, such as immersive learning that leverages VR.
We must prioritise understanding the unique challenges faced by organisations and individuals, offering solutions that are not just technologically advanced but also address the needs of humans.
Similarly, as AI continues to reshape the learning landscape, let’s keep the conversation open and honest: let’s harness the transformative potential of AI while mitigating its potential drawbacks.
So, here’s to a future where learning technology isn’t just about the tech—it’s about the people using it. Let’s keep the dialogue going, keep asking the tough questions, and keep pushing for tech that works for us, not against us.
Discover the power of learning and development delivered in Microsoft 365.
At Essential, we always believe in practicing what we preach and using the products we sell to our customers ‘in house’.
So last week I started working with our latest new products called Engage 365 and Perform365, which are employee engagement and performance management solutions.
As a department focused on achieving outcomes, particularly in closing support calls satisfactorily, it can be easy to become task oriented.
By that, I mean measuring performance against metrics such as response and resolution times, customer satisfaction ratings, and so on.
With Engage365 in particular I’m hoping to be a lot more proactive in terms of overseeing and enhancing my team’s performance and development by exploring wider areas such as:
Between 1-10 do you feel you have access to the training resources you need?
Are there any key challenges you’ve faced over the last quarter?
How is your overall wellbeing? (I’ve yet to formulate the best questions to ask here)…
It also gives employees the opportunity to tell you things that they would not knock on your door to tell you.
The great thing with Engage365 is that it all happens inside Microsoft Teams.
I’ve had experience of working with similar performance management platforms that required me to logon to a totally separate system.
In short, integrating performance management check-ins into Teams makes it more likely that I’ll get an immediate – and frank – response.
It should also be less disruptive to people’s working day.
I know it takes my brain longer with every year that goes by to ‘mentally switch’ between different tasks, let alone different platforms.
Which brings me onto the other benefit of Engage365: I’ll be able to manage the review process and look at all the responses using a nice Teams integrated dashboard.
Watch this space for an update on how I get on!…
To see the difference Weekly10 can make for your organisation, book a demo today.
As part of its advanced security services, Microsoft lets you set up a Simulated Phishing Attack that’s linked with online training.
This is a great service that’s part of the Microsoft 365 E5 or Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 and it basically allows you to ‘spoof’ an email phishing attempt to test how vigilant your end users are.
Anyone that ‘falls for’ your fake attack is automatically presented with an email that links to online cybersecurity training, the idea being to help stop it happening ‘for real’ next time.
Below is an example of an email sent to me when I intentionally failed the attack. Note it has been edited to include training hosted in our LMS for Microsoft 365, LMS365.
This ability to provide precise and timely training where it’s needed is an invaluable asset in protecting your organisation from potential cyber threats and breaches.
By default the online training is supplied from Microsoft Partner, Terranova security, and the tracking of this training is managed under the auspices of the IT team (or your designated Security and Compliance team).
But what if you already have Cybersecurity training in your LMS, and your learning and development team wants to be responsible for tracking progress?
This is how to manage targeted Cybersecurity training in your learning management system (LMS):
First signpost this article to your IT team and get them to familiarise themselves with this Microsoft service*.
Next, establish:
Who will be the target people/groups for the test ‘attack’?
What will the best LMS training course(s) be?
To signpost the Cybersecurity training in your LMS (instead of the default training), your IT team will need to edit the default email notification (see example email above) and add a custom LMS URL using these instructions.
Alternatively, if you wish to manage training end to end within your LMS, simply get your IT team to configure the service not to take any action and instead generate a list of who fails the attack.
See example report below.
You can then use this information as the basis for enrolling people into the relevant training in your LMS and tracking their progress from there.
Happy phishing!
*PS – If you don’t have the E5 or Microsoft Defender subscription there’s a 90 day free trial you can take advantage of.
Learning & Learning Management in the Flow of Work
For many hybrid workers, learning has become something you do by logging into a separate eLearning platform and working in isolation.
But, if like many other enterprises, you’ve made Microsoft Teams a core part of your hybrid working strategy, learning can be made a much more intuitive, engaging, and collaborative experience.
Introducing LMS365 (now known as Learn365) – the learning management system for Microsoft Teams that offers many benefits for learners, L&D professionals and line managers.
This video shows you how learning and learning management can look when delivered ‘inside’ Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft 365 excels in supporting secure internal collaboration, it also enables secure access to users (guests) that are outside of your organisation.
Let’s say you want to give business partners secure access to a SharePoint extranet, start subletting your office space, or offer partners specific training courses hosted in your company eLearning platform….
Whilst it’s technically possible to manage external access to internal applications and services using Entra ID, we think your IT team wouldn’t thank you – especially if there’s hundreds or even thousands of people that might need access.
This is where Extranet User Manager can help:
Extranet User Manager (EUM) allows organisations to delegate the overhead of managing user access and membership to the relevant business stakeholders but keep security management firmly under the control of your IT team.
For instance, using EUM, Business Partner Managers can handle the invitation and approvals process for, say, access to a partner project area in Microsoft Teams, while your IT team can be confident they have overseen the necessary security measures.
EUM also lets you design the optimal end user experience and workflows for invitations, subscription requests, and a branded front end to your shared services.
For example, you could:
Email an invitation to join a ‘users group’ or access a service to a list of people in a CRM
Allow users already authenticated in their own (defined) Microsoft tenant to access a service
Support one-time passcodes for users logging in with their own email address
Create a fully branded portal for the services you want to offer.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of using native Microsoft capability to provide shared services versus using EUM:
Native Microsoft 365/Entra ID
Extranet User Manager
Governance restricted to IT personnel. Only those with Azure Portal privileges can provision access, view external user activity & troubleshoot sign-in/access issues.
Governance can be delegated toservice owners & business managers. Empowers non-IT users to provide access easily and securely to selected services & resources.
Best for one-off sharing. Configured manually for each user, time-consuming and onerous.
Easily share with hundreds-thousands. Makes it easy to manage external access at scale, and with a diverse community.
No onboarding workflows. Onboarding workflows are not supported for external users.
Custom onboarding & registration. Supports self-registration, direct invite, and bespoke onboarding flows.
Shareable links needed for external sharing. External users can only access files via shared SharePoint links or OneDrive.
Intuitive file sharing and collaboration. Create a user-friendly portal for sharing files – ideal for user groups, committees, etc.
Limited custom branding abilities. Changing the look of your Microsoft sign-in page is limited and user experience may vary (e.g., if guests authenticate using a personal Microsoft account).
All pages fully customisable. Create a customised portal that reflects the brand of your company or service you are offering.
Ecommerce integrations not natively supported.
Easily integrate with payment gateways. Unlock new revenue streams by assigning fees to the services you wish to offer.
Email-based authentication.
Email and SMS-based login & authentication.
Conclusion
Microsoft 365 is a great platform on which to build services and resources for your enterprise.
If you now want to start sharing selected services and resources with an external community of partners or clients, EUM lets you build on your investmentand Entra ID security whilst:
Removing the overhead of day-to-day membership management and customisations from the IT team, and
Giving non-technical staff the tools and flexibility they need to service the communities they work with.
We’re thrilled to introduce Weekly10 (now known as Perform365 and Engage365) as the latest addition to our Essential solution ‘line-up.’
This isn’t just another piece of software; it’s a game-changer that complements our learning management software, and will redefine how you manage performance in your organisation.
In today’s remote and hybrid working setup, managers are finding it harder than ever to provide the support their workforce needs:
Does everyone know what their goals are?
Is my team happy working from home?
Are we providing enough training?
Do they feel appreciated and listened to?
How can we retain and develop our high-flyers?
Perform365 and Engage365 are here to empower both your line managers and your employees to get the visibility and support they need to flourish and succeed, and this is why we think you’ll like it:
It Integrates Seamlessly with Microsoft Teams
Nobody wants to waste time learning new technology. By using a performance management tool that’s integrated with Microsoft Teams, you’re already halfway to winning the battle of workforce engagement.
By delivering performance management as a Teams app, your employees won’t have to switch to another platform to respond to any performance management questions or indeed arrange a catch up meeting..
And, just like delivering learning content from within Microsoft Teams, you can seamlessly incorporate performance management into their daily working environment.
IT departments will also breathe a sigh of relief because Perform365 and Engage365 sit within the Microsoft 365 stack, leveraging your existing security settings and ensuring that your sensitive HR data remains protected.
It Makes Performance Management Quick & Relevant
To be frank, performance management activities can be a drag for employees and management alike. For example, those long surveys are a pain to complete, and sometimes they come round long after the horse has bolted (and perhaps so has your employee).
The Engage365 enables employees to regularly reflect on their progress, provide valuable feedback to managers, and align their goals in bite-sized, manageable intervals.
And, coming back to our previous point, responding is no hassle, and it doesn’t disrupt productivity to maintain regular engagement since it’s right within Teams.
This immediacy and relevance allow management and HR to stay in tune with individual and team dynamics, enabling them to take prompt remedial actions when needed.
Keeps ‘All Eyes on the Prize’
Engagement often wanes when employees can’t see how their work contributes to business success.
Working from home can also lead to a sense of drifting or working independently without clear guidance or alignment with the team’s goals.
With Perform365, your employees can update their Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) during their check-ins, gaining visibility into their progress and see what impact they’re making across the board.
This alignment keeps both employees and managers focused on what truly matters.
Helps Retain Top Talent and Identify Where Help is Needed
It’s a fact: employees that are valued, listened to, and developed are more likely to stay.
Perform365’s talent mapping tools let you pull in employee feedback, goal progression data, training history, certifications, and check-ins to help managers and HR plan out career and development paths.
It also allows managers to share their team’s updates with the wider business, ensuring that executives recognise and appreciate rising stars.
Moreover, it lets organisations identify where individuals need help or are falling short of their goals and develop a strategy for getting them on track.
Streamline Performance Conversations
Perform365 appraisal tools automate a lot of the heavy lifting involved in preparing for appraisals.
Employees can auto-populate their performance review ‘paperwork’ from their check-in history and OKR updates, eliminating 90% of meeting preparation time.
Similarly, managers can effortlessly gather information on personal challenges, successes, goals, feedback, and colleague recognition over a specified timeline with just a click.
Feeding this evidence into customised agenda templates ensures that both Teams and in-person appraisal meetings are as productive as possible.
AI-Powered Insights for Real Understanding
To truly understand how your people feel and perform, relying solely on engagement surveys and reviews is no longer sufficient.
Employee engagement surveys can capture fleeting emotions that don’t necessarily reflect long-term sentiments, while lengthy and infrequent surveys can be a hassle for employees to complete and a challenge for HR teams to process.
In addition to capturing regular snapshots that employees find easy to respond to, Perform365 and Engage365 offer AI-powered dashboards that provide real-time insights into your workforce, allowing line managers and HR to make data-driven decisions and better care for employees.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, the most effective performance management solution is only valuable when put into action. By embracing a performance management tool that’s baked into Microsoft Teams, you’re already halfway to winning the battle of workforce engagement.
Plus, we think you’ll find Perform365 and Engage365 offer an impressive array of performance management features tailored for both employees and management alike.
Get in touch arrange a solution tour.
To see the difference Perform365 and Engage365 can make for your organisation, book a demo today.
You can read more here, but it would appear that instead of the ‘generic’ results to a FoIA act request , the original data source used was shared openly, by accident.
The constant threat of human error leading to data breaches has heightened the importance of educating employees about their roles and obligations concerning GDPR and security protocols.
This is now more crucial than ever due to several reasons:
Heightened Vulnerability: Even a single, unintentional mistake can compromise sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) and lead to potentially disastrous consequences for the individuals concerned.
Legal and Reputational Impact: Data breaches can lead to legal consequences and reputational damage.
Evolving Threat Landscape: Cybercriminals are continually adjusting their strategies to obtain personal and sensitive information.
Remote Work Challenges: With the rise of remote work, the traditional security perimeter has expanded.
Are we missing the obvious ways to prevent data privacy beaches caused by human error?
If you look at the typical Data Protection Policy you’re likely to see an ‘Actions’ section which outlines the steps an organisation is taking to train its workforce in online privacy and security measures, but might we be missing out on the fundamental training that’s right in front of us?
What I’m getting at is the value of offering ‘common sense advice,‘ like:
Attachments: Be Mindful! – Take care when attaching files to emails. Amid numerous locations (both desktop and online), it’s easy to choose the wrong one. Check before pressing send.
Email Recipients: Think Twice! – Exercise caution when cc’ing or bcc’ing recipients. For example, Outlook’s auto-suggestions can lead to unintended outcomes.
Screen Sharing: Be Alert! – When sharing your screen during a video call, ensure you’re not displaying sensitive information. It’s easy to accidentally reveal more than intended, especially in platforms like Teams.
Sometimes, it’s the simplest things that can make the biggest difference. These practical reminders can help prevent data mishaps and bolster our overall security efforts.
How can organisations keep on top of their security and GDPR education remit?
An effective approach to ensuring your workforce is as ‘genned up’ and diligent as possible is to have a reliable mechanism for regularly and demonstrably educating your workforce:
By this I mean:
Automatically updating individuals on policy updates and their roles and responsibilities in upholding these policies.
Delivering bite-sized training with the kind of common sense tips outlined above.
Being able to issue reminders to individuals who haven’t engaged with these updates.
Enabling those responsible for compliance to track progress.
Having a system that enables your organisation to prove due diligence in keeping its workforce informed.
This is easily achieved with a Learning Management System (LMS) – especially one that puts training directly ‘in front’ of learners in their day-to-day work. It’s also one of the simplest yet most common use-case that our Microsoft-centric LMS (LMS365) is used for.
Even simple PDF policy documents can be published with a ‘’Read and Understood” check box – and if required, a quiz to check understanding.
In essence, recent data leaks underscore the critical need for ongoing education and awareness among employees.
An LMS can be used to capture confirmations that an individual has ‘read and understood’ a policy.
Example of a simple quiz that can be used to further check understanding.
Conclusion
By prioritising education on GDPR and security, and not overlooking good common sense advice, organisations can empower their workforce to act as a line of defence against data breaches and security lapses.
Whether or not such a system would have helped prevent the PSNI data debacle is up for debate. While you can guide individuals, ensuring their actions comply is another matter.
However, by using such a system, you can rest assured your organisation has played a proactive part in fostering a culture of responsibility and preparedness, and in doing so, hopefully reduced the risk of similar incidents.
Discover how an LMS can help you keep up to date with your policy and security updates.
Speak with one of our experts to see how we you can quickly, easily and demonstrably update your workforce on policies and procedures.
Classroom-based training has always been considered the best option ‘hands down’ for personal networking, motivation, and experiential learning.
The energy of the classroom environment, the in-person guidance of an expert instructor, and the opportunity to interact with peers create a unique and effective learning experience that online courses can’t replicate.
In fact, professions like construction, healthcare, and hospitality heavily rely on on-the-job training to teach essential skills, use equipment, and interact with customers or patients in real-life situations.
Online learning undeniably has its own advantages, however. It offers flexibility, convenience, and cost-effectiveness, and it’s an excellent option for reinforcement and ongoing education. As a result, most organisations aim to manage and track a blended learning approach that combines traditional classroom teaching with online courses and tests.
But how do you keep track of all the logistical and administrative tasks involved in managing in-person training alongside online learning?
This is where a Learning Management System (LMS) comes in. An LMS can automate several tasks, streamline reporting and analysis, and provide a seamless experience for learners and trainers alike.
This article looks at the ways in which an LMS can help you manage a blend of classroom based and online learning
How an LMS Can Help You Manage Classroom-Based Learning
Running a physical training course is a multi-step process that requires careful planning and execution.
Assessing Training Needs: First up, you need to assess the training needs of your learners and identify any knowledge or skill gaps that need to be addressed.
Designing the training course: Once you have a clear understanding of what needs to be covered, you can move on to designing the course content, supporting materials and structure.
Scheduling: Of course, you can’t run a training course without a date, time, and location. This means scheduling the training course and booking any necessary facilities such as presentation equipment, seating arrangements, and catering.
Promotion: You also need to promote your training options and make sure your learners know when and where they can attend.
Managing Registrations: Next up is managing enrolment and handling registrations. This can involve a lot of administration, including handling payments, waitlist management, and sending joining instructions with details on accommodation and transport.
Course Delivery: When it comes to delivering the course, you need to register attendance, distribute course notes, and collect completed tests and feedback forms.
Assessing Outcomes: Once it’s all over, it’s time to assess the outcomes of the training course and evaluate the learners’ performance. This involves a lot of data input and number-crunching to measure the impact of the training and ensure that it meets the desired outcomes.
Fortunately, an LMS can help automate many of these logistical and administrative tasks, making the whole process smoother and more efficient. With an LMS, you can streamline reporting and analysis, ensuring that you have all the data you need to evaluate the success of your training course. So why not take advantage of the many benefits an LMS can offer and make your training course an even greater success?
How LMS365 Helps Administrate Blended Learning
LMS365, the learning management system for Microsoft 365, can ease the management and tracking of in-person training in the following ways:
Defining Your Course: LMS365 lets you:
Create and describe a ‘classroom only’ course
Schedule one of more course dates and enrolment deadlines
Assign instructors
Specify costs
Host any online elements that will be used to support your course including existing PowerPoints, Word documents or PDFs
Create tests, quizzes and feedback forms and organise everything into the required sequence.
Booking Training Rooms: Integration with Microsoft 365 room booking capabilities means that training organisers can book their training rooms at the same time as scheduling their course. If applicable, simply clicking a Teams meeting option allows attendees to ‘dial in’ using Teams video conferencing.
Promoting Your Training Course: LMS365 offers a wide range of options for promoting your training to the right audience:
Correctly tagged and categorised, your course can be showcased on the relevant pages of your company intranet or a dedicated L&D portal in Microsoft SharePoint.
You can surface your course in the relevant Microsoft Teams or channels.
A course catalogue lets learners search and filter based on their training needs.
A training calendar view shows upcoming courses.
An automated onboarding sequence can include your course when someone new joins.
Courses can also be assigned by line managers or automatically promoted to delegates in accordance with their role.
Managing Enrolments: LMS365 allows you to manage enrolments with the ability to set a maximum number of attendees that can be accommodated and automatically manage a waiting list.Students can enrol on their preferred date or register their interest subject to line manager or training administrator approval. All approved enrolments are maintained centrally and if there are any messages to send, or you need to cancel your course, it’s easy to get in touch.
Automating Joining Instructions: Training organisers can automatically send any instructions for attendees such as hotel accommodation, location maps, dress code, health and safety instructions, and so on. Additionally, any preliminary work required can be sent for completion or review prior to the course date.
Keep Instructors Updated: Often the person delivering a course is not responsible for course management. They may even be external to your organisation. LMS365 allows those responsible for leading course delivery to be kept updated with course arrangements and registrations.
Attendance Tracking: LMS365 allows you to generate a unique QR codes for your training session. Simply display it ‘on-screen’ or stick a printout to the classroom door for learners to scan using their mobile device.
Alternatively, instructors can register attendance in LMS365 by checking off the names of learners who are present.
Hosted Coursework: The coursework and assessments accompanying any training course can be delivered via Microsoft Teams or LMS365 mobile app and surfaced at the relevant times for completion.
Collecting Assignments & Tests: LMS365 gives delegates the opportunity to submit coursework. It also automatically captures the results of any accompanying tests and quizzes. This eliminates the need to spend hours creating reports manually and dealing with paper trails.
Gathering Feedback: Capturing feedback from staff/learners in any organisation can be the most useful way to determine if the training being delivered is successful and/or worth the investment from the business. LMS365 includes tools for creating and conducting surveys and evaluations to gather feedback.
Classroom-based delegates can be emailed feedback requests following attendance registration (see above). To expedite completion, LMS365 lets you make feedback a mandatory part of the training course. This means the student will not receive their certificate, skill or completion status until the feedback is provided.
Again, chasing up and collating feedback is something that can be overwhelming to do manually.
Supervised Assessments: Sometimes learners might be required to complete a manual task ‘outside of the classroom’ that needs to be assessed by a supervisor. LMS365 allows assessments to be specified as required, with notifications going to the person completing the task, and to the assigned supervisor(s). Course completion is dependent on the course work being approved.
Data Analysis: With LMS365, all data collected can be measured to assess learner progress, ensure that training programs are effective and that improvements are sustained over time.
It can also provide insights into learner behaviour and performance, and ensure that professional development, as well as business and compliance goals are met.
For example, the latter might mean ensuring certain certifications are achieved and kept up to date to meet the demands of external, regulatory bodies.
Conclusion
While online and virtual training has become more common in recent years, in-person training remains a valuable part of professional development.
By using an LMS to manage in-person training course registrations, as well as gather and measure feedback and results, training course administrators can save time, reduce paperwork, and provide a more convenient and streamlined registration process for their learners.
Organisations also benefit from being able to report on and analyse all aspects of their training programs: face-to-face, online and hybrid, all within a single, integrated platform.
This oversight will also help you make conclusions about which form of learning is working best for your workforce and business as a whole.
Learning Management Solutions built on Microsoft 365
For more information or a demonstration of how LMS365 manages classroom-based training, get in touch.
Is your organisation using Microsoft Teams to support collaboration and remote working? By introducing a learning management system (LMS) that builds on this platform, you can turbo-charge your eLearning initiatives. Here’s how:
Key advantages that integrating your learning with Microsoft Teams can offer include
Instead of using an LMS that requires the user to ‘switch context’ to a separate portal when they want to access learning, by embedding learning into Microsoft Teams, you can address one of the key challenges of training: lack of engagement on the part of the learner.
By putting relevant learning into the relevant Team or channel, learning is seamlessly available ‘in context’ and can be consumed in smaller, more memorable chunks. It also means that learning becomes a daily habit and less of a ‘chore’.
See what learning in Microsoft Teams looks like to learners & L&D professionals
A collaborative approach to learning for staff, contractors and partners
Integration with Microsoft Teams provides wrap-around collaboration services such as chat and video calls, enabling users of the system to benefit from a collaborative approach to learning.
For example, learners can recommend training courses they found useful to co-workers, and ask for input from colleagues and instructors if they ‘get stuck’.
Convenient content creation
Those responsible for generating content can work with familiar tools such as PowerPoint, Word, Microsoft Forms and Sway. They can also take advantage of co-authoring of documents and presentations to create learning matter.
Easy management of role-based training memberships
Being able to tailor the learning experience for each individual or role within an organisation can significantly ease the onboarding process and accelerate learning progress. Managing these different roles and groups, however, can create a large administrative overhead.
An LMS designed for Microsoft 365 can minimise the administrative overheads involved with role-based learning with services that include:
Enrolment onto role-based learning pathways and/or separate learning catalogues according to existing group membership.
Automatically triggering an onboarding sequence when an individual is added to Microsoft Active Directory or a Team.
For more information on using Microsoft Groups to manage role based learning see this article
Secure delivery of training to external/partner organisations
Microsoft 365 guest accounts allow external users to securely access resources within your Microsoft Teams, SharePoint sites or Groups without licence penalty.
For example, you can invite a partner to participate in a Teams partner training channel, giving them access to relevant information and chat with other learners.
You can also take advantage of Microsoft Power Automate to automatically send new partners a welcome message and other notifications, for example, when new training is added.
If you’d like to discover more about LMS365, the LMS specifically designed for Microsoft 365, Microsoft SharePoint sites and Teams, get in touch and we will organise a demo.
Learning Management Solutions built on Microsoft 365
Allow our experts to help guide you to select the best LMS for your enterprise
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