One of the most common questions we hear is, “Are you an LMS (Learning Management System)?”
“LMS” and “LCMS” (Learning Content Management System) are often mistakenly used interchangeably, and differentiating between them can be tricky. It doesn’t help that some overlap exists between the two platforms, such as the fact that an LMS and LCMS are both capable of hosting and delivering digital content, and both are SCORM compatible.
At its core, an LMS is designed to measure and report course completions, functioning primarily as a learning platform. It does not take into account the needs of content authors or the struggles organizations face daily in producing, maintaining and optimizing content.
This is where the key differences of an LCMS come in.
A Learning Content Management System goes beyond the capabilities of a traditional Learning Management System. LCMS platforms enable organizations to manage, update, and deploy course content at a granular level. This flexibility allows training materials and media to be easily repackaged and reused, ensuring the right audience receives the right content in the right format at the right time. Additionally, LCMS software provides a centralized content and asset repository, supports single-source publishing, and collects detailed data that extends far beyond basic course completion metrics.
Although each system serves a specific purpose, it’s important to understand the key differences between an LMS vs. an LCMS, as well as their unique features and functionality.
LMS (Learning Management System)
An LMS is a platform that manages learners and events. It is primarily used for the assigned delivery and tracking of formal course completion and the administration of the training program and competencies, including online, virtual classroom and instructor-led. As a course management tool and eLearning platform, it is not typically used to create content. Published content simply lives inside an LMS, and any content updates or changes are managed outside of the system. Any content that resides in the system is locked in a published format, as it is not a content or asset repository.
Main Features:
- Role-based access for learners
- Assignment of formal learning activities and courses to predefined groups
- Compatible with SCORM, AICC, & xAPI
- Management of event catalogue and registration
- Reporting for regulatory and compliance training
- Tracking of course completions and learner progress
LCMS (Learning Content Management System)
An LCMS is a platform that supports the entire content creation and delivery lifecycle through authoring, publishing, delivering, and measuring content. It provides authors a centralized location to collaborate on projects so content can be synced and reused in a variety of outputs. Content becomes a single source of truth and assets can be assembled into courses, lessons, or more targeted microlearning or job aids, and reused in different ways to personalize content for various audiences and needs. Separating content from presentation unlocks content from a single format, so it can be synced and reused in a variety of outputs, eliminating duplication and rework. Tagging and metadata allow authors to tailor content to specific audiences with the ability to filter by role, region, product, etc. With a learning content management system, content can then be distributed in or out of an LMS.
LCMS Main Features:
- Centralized content repository
- Collaborative and simultaneous cloud-based authoring
- Flexible single-source content publishing (ILT, eLearning, HTML5, AICC, SCORM, mobile)
- Tagged content enablement with metadata to support personalization based on role, product, level, region, etc.
- Management of translation and localization support
- Reuseable assets, assessment creation and interactivities
Not a Matter of LCMS vs. LMS
Both systems have their strengths, so it shouldn’t be a question of “either or.” While learning management systems have a viable place in the learning industry, their purpose is to track and report the completion of educational courses and training programs. An LCMS is designed to allow the author to manage content through its entire lifecycle, from authoring to delivery and analysis. While each serves a different purpose, both platforms can work together to provide a complete end-to-end solution, potentially creating the best learning management system when combined.
Unlike external authoring tools, all types of content can be housed in an LCMS. Authoring can be done within an LCMS, or content can be integrated from proprietary tools, such as Storyline and Captivate. An LCMS can feed content to different platforms for different delivery methods, while still allowing for the management of content to be synced from in the LCMS itself. Content can be fed into one or more LMSs without having to download, upload or reload to keep files in sync. Content can also be embedded within other applications such as Salesforce or fed to a Learning Experience Platform, such as Degreed or EdCast.
Understanding the Learning Technology Ecosystem
What is a Learning Technology Ecosystem? As many companies move to remote working environments for the first time, the technology components of the learning ecosystem
What is an LCMS?
What is an LCMS? LCMS, LMS, CMS… What’s the difference? A next-gen LCMS can manage the entire content lifecycle A learning content management system (LCMS)
Why Do You Need an LCMS?
If your organization struggles to do any of the following, you should consider an LCMS
Quality content is key and can be time consuming and costly to build. An LCMS puts all of your source files in a single location to solve some of the most common content challenges that an LMS just cannot address.
- Create, store and manage content in a centralized location
- Embed interactivites from other popular authoring tools
- Tag content to serve up to different audiences
- Reuse content and track where it is used
- Eliminate time wasted fussing with layouts
- Sync ILT assets (instructor guide, student guide, PowerPoint)
- Facilitate web-based review sessions
- Support ILT, eLearning, microlearning, and performance support
- Track all content engagement data, not just course completions
- Access detailed analytics on content performance
- Provide content at the point of need
- Support translation and localization
Three of the Most Robust LCMS Features
Centralizes content authoring, storage, management, and maintainance. Because an LCMS uses single-source-authoring, edits and updates are made once, and can be pushed to all existing derivatives and outputs. Appropriate branding, page layout, and styling are automatically added based on the specific output type.
Provides robust delivery and analytics options. An LCMS includes a delivery and analysis platform to track exactly how users interact with digital learning content. Dashboards provide an accurate and objective picture of content engagement and performance.
Simplifies personalization at scale. An LCMS allows content authors to tailor the context around content to meet the unique needs of each audience, without creating a maintenance nightmare. Users can map out and reuse the content that is common among all audiences and customize contextual content that needs to be personalized.
Today's Organizations Need Modern Technology
Xyleme’s industry-leading Learning Content Management System (LCMS) doubles as a powerful content delivery platform, enabling multinational organizations to overcome even the most complex content management challenges. Thanks to Xyleme’s revolutionary LCMS, our users successfully reduce content development and maintenance time, easily reuse content and publish to multiple output types (print, web, PowerPoint, etc.), simplify translation processes, effectively measure and track learner engagement, personalize content at scale, and objectively assess content and learner performance with robust, built-in analytics dashboards.
Ready to turn your content into a competitive advantage?
Xyleme is the only unified solution for content authoring, field service management, delivery, personalization & syndication at scale. Our solutions help organizations streamline their content processes through its integrated suite of tools. Our learning content management system simplifies content creation and distribution, ensuring your teams can produce and manage training materials efficiently. Xyleme content authoring software enhances content development, while our cloud content management software provides a secure and scalable platform for storing and distributing your critical resources. Additionally, our content collaboration software integrates seamlessly with our suite to offer real-time teamwork capabilities, streamlining content creation, review, and approval processes and ensuring that all content is accessible and consistently up-to-date across the organization. Elevate your content strategy with Xyleme to drive performance and achieve measurable results across your organization.
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