Human Resources

Things to Know When Migrating Existing Material to the SAP SuccessFactors LMS

For companies moving to the SAP SuccessFactors Learning LMS, it can be tricky to move all existing training materials and courses over from the old system to the new.

 

This is not necessarily known by system administrators and migration teams—and therefore this task is often overlooked when it comes to allocating time to move and test all the courses.

 

This negatively impacts implementation/migration timelines. The assumption that content compatibility within a legacy LMS guarantees a hassle-free move to the SAP SuccessFactors LMS is a poor one. Unfortunately, the way SCORM has been implemented over the years is not as universal as it should be. Compatibility issues can arise when testing e-learning courses after importing them into SAP SuccessFactors Learning.

 

This in mind, here are some areas to consider as potentially more time-consuming than expected when moving existing e-learning content to SAP SuccessFactors.

 

1 Testing

Testing migrated courses is vital for a successful migration to the SAP SuccessFactors LMS. Testing e-learning modules is incredibly time consuming, especially for training that relies on exams and requires negative testing. Negative testing ensures that failures are tested along with completions and requires additional time and/or resources.

 

Under most scenarios, the courses should be checked for launch, bookmarking (if applicable), and completion (with potential assessment). Keep in mind that some courses might not have exam/quiz solution keys readily available or have the ability to skip ahead within the course to get to completion, adding more time to the testing effort.

 

2 Troubleshooting

Content tends to accumulate over the years in any training organization. Some courses get updated annually, while others might sit in the LMS for a decade untouched. Troubleshooting content issues could take significant time, especially if the software tools or vendors used to create the content are no longer available. Content migration serves as a great opportunity to catalog your existing content library, identify content owners, and perform some maintenance, archiving retired or unused materials.

 

3 Hosting

Most SAP SuccessFactors LMS customers are opting for the content-as-a-service model of iContent as their content hosting solution. This is not the only option, but it is the easiest by far. Hosting content with another vendor or internally on corporate servers requires additional setup steps, which increases deployment times and adds maintenance costs.

 

4 Security

To minimize exposure, some customers chose to host their content behind a VPN layer. This requires the content hosting to be done internally, and steps to allow SCORM to work across domains have to be taken. Allow extra time for testing in these scenarios, as they tend to be more complicated.

 

5 iContent

Paying for the iContent premium service is worth a consideration for clients with more than 100 courses. iContent experts will help you upload, set up, and test all legacy content. It is possible to migrate the content with the standard iContent subscription as well, but it is important to make sure that appropriate resources are available to support the migration and that adequate time is allocated for content troubleshooting.

 

6 Data Governance

The training department should review governance policies for course creation to accommodate the new SAP SuccessFactors Learning system during the implementation. This typically involves updating documents as they relate to SCORM publishing options and references to the content player or SAP SuccessFactors Learning.

 

Conclusion

As you can see, you should treat the migration of existing training course material to the SAP SuccessFactors LMS as you would any other migration. While existing material doesn’t need to be checked for content when migrating, it should be checked to ensure it is accessible and works as expected.

 

The six items above represent some common areas where things may go more slowly than expected. By allowing for extra time in your migration plan, you can ensure a timely and smooth transition from your existing LMS to SAP SuccessFactors.

 

Editor’s note: This post has been adapted from a section of the book SAP SuccessFactors Learning: The Comprehensive Guide by Joelle Smith, Alan Yang, and Alex Churin.

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SAP SuccessFactors Learning: The Comprehensive Guide
SAP SuccessFactors Learning: The Comprehensive Guide

Today’s employees never stop learning—so implement SAP SuccessFactors Learning for everything from routine training to certification updates. Configure and use key SAP SuccessFactors Learning functionality for physical and virtual classrooms: curate online content, manage training curriculum and programs, and evaluate your workforce’s results. Apply experts’ best practices so your SAP SuccessFactors Learning implementation project makes the grade.

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