Course Management Software for Training Providers & ILT
Course management software is a system designed for in-house and commercial training providers looking for a solution to streamline ILT, vILT, and blended learning processes without the admin mess.
The complete dashboard for skills providers
If you’re a training provider or learning organization, chances are you may have heard about the need to implement a course management system to help coordinate your various skills development programs.
But what exactly is this software, and how does it serve the needs of training administration teams and training companies alike?
In this guide, we’ll cover some key facts about course management software, beneficial features for instructor-led training (ILT) initiatives, and the best practices in choosing a platform to manage your training courses.
Let’s get to it!
What’s covered in this guide
Here are some elements to help you decode the specificity and characteristics of course management software in our ultimate guide below.
What is a Course Management System?
A course management system (CMS) is centralized dashboard that’s used by training managers and training coordinators to help automate and maintain the administrative processes of a training and skills development courses.
At its core, course management platforms helps training teams plan, automate, and schedule instructor-led training sessions, on site (ILT) or live online (vILT). In addition, the course management system has additional capabilities that that can are help supplement the training operation including like process reporting, learning analytics, cost management.
It’s best to think of course management system as your central dashboard for managing every aspect of employee training that uses instructor-led training. With such a system, training providers and L&D teams can assign instructors, track progress, manage resources, and keep everything running smoothly without juggling a bunch of separate tools!
Who Uses Course Management Software?
Learning & Development (L&D)
Learning & Development (L&D) departments usually serve as the internal training division of a company and are typically an extension of the human resources department.
Trainers and instructors in these departments are responsible for ensuring employees at all levels in the corporation are current with the responsibilities of their roles in the organization.
In some enterprise learning settings, L&D may develop a corporate learning academy where new and seasoned professionals can develop new skill sets and earn certifications relative to their industry.
Training Company
A Training Company is a third-party L&D provider that is contracted by an organization or other business to provide skills development.
Training businesses are responsible for part or all of an organization’s training development programs depending on the type of training service requested.
For example, an organization may request a training business to provide full service training for all employees throughout the course of a contract. This can cover all ILT-based training from onboarding to upskilling on new courses.
If the training needed is only partial or one-time, organizations may seek to use a managed learning services provider to develop their learning strategy, provide regulatory training, or ensure compliance standards are met.
Extended Enterprise
Extended Enterprise training programs are ILT-based courses that are offered to an organization’s wider network of partners and customers.
Common examples of extended enterprise training include customer training programs on the organization’s product or service as well as franchise training programs to grow the parent organization’s brand.
Regardless of who is executing the training program for your organization, it’s certain that with lots of moving parts in your company, they’ll need to utilize course management software that caters to the complexity of managing learning resources, schedules, and instructor availability to ensure it is a success.
What are the Benefits of Course Management Software?
Course management systems are more than just an administrative tool — it’s the control center for ILT management and training operations for L&D professionals!
When training courses are able to be delivered fast and efficiently, both the training team and learners benefit!
Here’s how:
1. Centralized Training Information
With a CMS, all course schedules, materials, attendance records, and resource requirements live in the system.
Training managers don’t have to juggle multiple spreadsheets, shared drives, or even their CRM — everything from instructor profiles and qualifications to available resources for sessions are instantly accessible and easy to update.
This is absolutely critical for enterprise-scale training development programs where managers need to access key information in seconds so they can schedule in-person training in a few clicks!
2. Seamless Website & Platform Integration
A modern CMS can integrate with existing software platforms in your learning ecosystem.
Your course management system will be able to integrate key data points and information from your CRM, learning management system (LMS), Excel spreadsheets, and your HRIS, just to name a few!
Quick connectivity allows the CMS to integrate faster into your training operations framework allowing you to fill out key information like training session descriptions, session dates, facilitator profiles, and registration forms.
3. Smart Scheduling of Instructors, Training Venues, and Equipment
For instructor-led training or virtual instructor-led training to be successful, all sessions on site or held virtually online will require the right trainer, the right space, and the right tools to come together.
With a CMS, managers can quickly coordinate these necessities in a matter of clicks without the need to continuously compare spreadsheets, instructor availability calendars, and task lists.
Whether it’s booking a training room for guided training, reserving breakout spaces, or assigning laptops and AV equipment for a technical skills class, a CMS ensures you schedule it right the first time so you can avoid scheduling and resourcing conflicts!
4. Streamlined Workflows & Automation
ILT program management often involves repetitive administrative tasks like sending prep materials, logging attendance, issuing certificates, and scheduling follow-up sessions.
A CMS can automate much of this work, thus allowing training coordinators to focus on more critical aspects of your training operations such as improving training course quality, ILT & vILT session improvements, strategizing on new training methods, and if you’re a training business, focus on marketing and selling new training courses to clients!
5. Consistent Communication Channels
Strong communication between training admin members and the trainers is essential for skills development.
The best course management systems simplify back-office communication without the need of relying on outside communication channels like email.
As a result, both training coordinators and instructors have full transparency on last-minute updates and changes!
Key Features of a Course Management System for Instructor-Led Training (ILT)
For training providers and corporate training departments, a Course Management System (CMS) is the backbone of organizing effective in-person and virtual instructor-led training.
Here’s a quick overview of how the features of a CMS improve ILT management for your team:
1. Course Scheduling & Resource Allocation
A CMS streamlines the scheduling and planning of instructor-led training sessions — from confirming dates and assigning instructors to reserving training rooms or virtual spaces.
Example: The CMS uses a template for recurring training to automatically book the same meeting room for all five sessions for a financial management training course held throughout the year.
2. Enrollment & Participant Management
Learners can register, join waitlists, or get manager approval all in one place. Meanwhile, training managers on the back-end can get properly allocate the ratio of instructors to learners and the resources needed.
Example: Training managers reserve more computers and materials to schedule an additional 30 sessions for a leadership and development seminar.
3. Communication Tools
Automated reminders notify training managers, coordinators, and instructors of course changes and updates, for full transparency.
Example: The trainers for three virtual training seminars get an email the day before with an updated Zoom link and a new training materials.
4. Reporting & Analytics
Automated reporting on training progression and resource allocation make it easy to measure and improve training management issues and the learning experience altogether attendance.
Example: After a compliance training course, the team reviews the backend report and noticed from participant data that 78% learners traveled more than 20 miles to attend.
As a result they consider using virtual instructor-led training (vILT) sessions as an alternative.
5. Evaluation & Continuous Improvement
Surveys and feedback tools show what’s working and what needs improvement.
Example: Feedback reveals learners want more hands-on activities, so the next session adds breakout exercises.
Who is a Course Management System Made For?
Training businesses and internal training departments need a course management system to manage the administrative demands of instructor-led training sessions.
Managing multiple training courses within several skills development programs is time-consuming, requiring significant attention to detail on session dates, durations, resources, and assignments that are unfeasible when done in high-volume.
Training Companies & Businesses
Most training providers think they may not need to utilize a CMS as a part of their training operations. However, running a success training business needs the right tools and processes to grow training course sales.
Training businesses should look into an CMS if they’re:
- manually handling training admin tasks like scheduling sessions
- have difficulty finding available trainers to lead instruction
- accidentally double-booking trainers for venues or forgetting that one course is VILT as opposed to ILT
- spending too much administration time on course planning and management
- finding it difficult to scale training course planning and delivery to hundreds of learners
- lacking visibility on your training program or performance of your service
- lacking a centralized CRM for managing training customer details
- have too many communication channels between trainers and your training team
- get frequent missed opportunities to up-sell or promote future training courses
- have difficulty integrating multiple systems for blended learning capability
Training Departments
Training or L&D departments are advocates for continual development of their organization’s professional workforce. But when it comes to managing large-scale learning strategies it can seem nearly impossible with so many factors at play.
Training organizations and L&D teams should look into a CMS if they’re:
- juggling multiple training tools and other software systems that don’t integrate
- relying on manual processes for scheduling, tracking, and reporting on training sessions
- finding it difficult to prove the value of ILT-based courses to management
- lacking historical and real-time visibility into learner progress and course development
- limited when it comes to automating regular in-person training sessions for select training programs
- having trouble scaling and providing training programs across different departments and even geographical locations
Regardless if you’re a training department or commercial training provider, it’s important to note that how you manage skills development programs using instructor-led training will depend on multiple factors.
For example, not all training providers will provide just-in-time learning for one organization’s learners just as not all internal training departments will develop training programs that require compliance or regulatory clearance. It’s important to ensure that your course scheduling platform caters to the right type skills training.
Learn More: Types of Instructor-Led Training Scheduling Platforms
How Training Courses are Normally Managed
Most training providers and training departments manage courses using a loose but “connected” system of different software platforms, each with its own unique functions to ensure that the course is successful.
For example, the scheduling of sessions and instructor assignments would normally be managed on a spreadsheet, along with a corresponding calendar.
On an additional platform, resourcing and program planning may take place on a project management platform while tracking the training budget can take place on a CRM.
While nothing may seem wrong with this method, using this combination of platforms makes the course management process much more difficult, as relying on spreadsheets equates to more admin work, which in turn creates a disconnected learning ecosystem for the team.
A course management system integrates the necessary course management functions needed to ensure that a training team can plan, deliver, and improve blended learning as well as in-person (ILT) & live online (vILT) courses quickly and efficiently.
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Differences Between Course Management Software and other Training Software
Within the learning technologies ecosystem, training course management software has to be differentiated from two related software:
Course Management Systems vs Learning Management Systems:
A common software solution to learning, most training providers and L&D teams utilize a learning management system (LMS) to develop and provide online learning material for learners.
LMS platforms can have several functions however, their primary use is to deliver eLearning material, track learner course completion, and most importantly, provide self-paced and easily accessible training to the learner. LMS platforms can also
Course management systems, in comparison, serve the logistical side of the training program and operation as a whole. As opposed to uploading instructional videos or assignments, the course management system focuses on ensuring that both in-person (ILT) and live online (vILT) training sessions are scheduled and have all the resources they need to be a success.
Course Management Systems vs Talent Management Systems:
A talent management system is a more general tool to help human resources professionals strategically manage the training and development lifecycle of employees from recruitment to onboarding to continued professional learning.
Talent management platforms have some capacity in provide training material to learners (employees); however, their capability is limited to tracking the learner’s acquiring of skills and professional trajectory within the organization and potentially after.
Compared to a course management system, the functionalities of a talent management system differ as the talent system focuses on simply tracking the learner’s progression through an organization as opposed to laying out the strategy and required training sessions needed for growth.
Both of these comparisons aren’t to to say that talent management systems and learning management systems have no place in your training delivery environment.
They certainly provide a role in giving your back-office administration better visibility on certain areas of employee development but should only play a supplemental role in delivering your training programs and courses, if anything.
Whether you choose one form or another, always remember: Not all forms of training software are the same!
To get a more thorough understanding, check out our guide to training software types to help you quickly decide which platform your learning team will benefit from the most.
eBook: Top 20 Training Management System Features: The Complete Checklist
A comprehensive list of all training management features that every training organization needs to effectively manage ILT and vILT.
Why is a Course Management System Critical for Corporate Training?
So we’ve seen what course management software does, but now the question remains:
Can my learning strategy benefit from implementing a course management system?
Despite a surge in popularity of online training, when it comes to skills development in the workplace, instructor-led training (ILT) remains as the prefered method of delivery.
The reason is simple: ILT delivers learner results and business results.
According to Brandon Hall 66% of companies use face-to-face training for skills training. For enterprise-level companies, that number reaches 76%.
ILT is irreplaceable when it comes to training for technical skills, managerial & leadership training, and cross-skilling programs due to hands-on nature of such programs.
Despite the benefits of instructor-led training for learners and businesses alike, ILT has had a reputation for poor cost-effectiveness in comparison to its asynchronous online training counterparts.
The primary reason due to the inefficient back-office processes involved with coordinating in-person training sessions with instructor availability and managing the learning resources needed.
The growing demand for skills development and the aim to achieve business goals has pressured L&D teams into perfecting their instructor-led training opertions.
Training operations become perfected when:
- Instructor-led training perfects skills development.
- Skill development improves business products and services.
- Businesses succeed in achieving organizational goals.
But how can training teams, from L&D departments to commercial training providers, manage and deliver ILT courses at scale without the overload that course management brings?
The solution is simpler than you think!
The #1 Training Course Management System for Instructor-led Training!
When it comes to ILT course management, nobody does it better than Training Orchestra!
By removing the administrative burden for corporate training teams we provide a streamlined course scheduling system designed to ensure that your ILT, VILT, or blended learning programs are a success!
With over 600 L&D departments and training providers using our training course management software, Training Orchestra continually exceeds expectations of training administrative teams worldwide.
There’s more to Training Orchestra than this guide can offer.
So what are you waiting for?
Course Management System FAQs
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