Are training courses an everyday part of your organization’s culture? Or, on the contrary, do you want to launch a new, modern in-house training system? TOTARA Learn LMS, a distance learning and training management system provides a solution for both, efficiently automating training organization and e-learning features.
The TOTARA system constantly receives version updates, which we regularly report in our blog.
WHAT IS THE TOTARA LEARN LMS?
TOTARA Learn is a Learning Management System (LMS) specifically designed for large organizations, based on the e-learning toolkit of the Moodle system, retaining its logic and structure. However, it complements them
with training organization and knowledge management features, which, in addition to e-learning, can be used to manage course attendance, and to manage the individual course progress and performance evaluation of employees.
The central idea of TOTARA Learn is that courses are associated with inseparable HR and management needs that are worth implementing in one system – thus a new dimension has been created based on the basic features of e-learning. As the official Hungarian gold-certified partner of TOTARA Learn, we made a short summary video, feel free to take a look!
If you are interested, feel free to contact us and we will answer any question you have!
In the following, we will introduce you to the TOTARA Learn feature set, focusing on 5 main areas. As we wrote earlier,
TOTARA Learn is capable of everything that Moodle (or any other) e-learning system can do, thus it can be used perfectly as a classic LMS,
thus, the features listed here may be familiar, so we’ll just describe them in headings, in a list-like manner:
- viewing e-learning materials (according to the SCORM standard)
- one-click content sharing, file upload and download capabilities
- built-in training material editor for fast production of e-learning content
- management of tests, examinations and question banks, random exam generation
- management of assignments, group work and peer reviews
- authorization management, freely buildable course structure
- message board, chat, internal messaging, blogging
- glossary, TOTARA wiki module
- unique profile page, badge (award) system, multilingualism
- easy-to-use editing and formatting options for all content, without programming or other prior knowledge
- integration with other systems
The features explained below are specific to TOTARA Learn, which distinguish it from e-learning frameworks.
MAPPING ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY
In the TOTARA Learn system, it is possible to build a company hierarchy, add organizational units and positions, and set the managers of each user. Organizational units and roles can be assigned to users, making it possible to truly create an
organizational unit and position-based training management.
This mapping of the corporate hierarchy is a useful tool for organizations for two reasons:
- on the one hand, training organization can be easily automated, for example, it can be predetermined what trainings belong to the customer service position, so if the company hires a new customer service employee and assigns the appropriate position in the system, the employee will be automatically enrolled in the training,
- also, the data content of the reports can be easily limited, for example, so that the manager has access only to information about his/her own subordinates.
With the introduction of the TOTARA Learn system, it is possible to compile training programs created by the corporate training center as well as individual training plans chosen by the employee or his / her immediate superior. A training program is practically a set of courses grouped together one after the other – but it is also possible to create competency-based programs. Thus, when creating a training program, for example, the company’s headquarters may require employees in a given position / organizational unit to complete certain courses and they may determine what logical conditions there are between these courses. The system also sends us automatically generated notification and warning messages.
With the help of customizable training plans, individual learning plans can be created based on the rules of the given organization. It is possible to set up the system so that the employee can choose courses for himself / herself (e.g. through competencies), if necessary, with the approval of his / her supervisor to finalize the training plan. Otherwise, it is possible for the supervisor to compile the training plan on his / her own, in which case the interface will serve as feedback and a guide for the worker on his / her progress.
Courses with a certificate (expiration) are practically training programs to which a certificate (license) can be attached. As with training programs, you can add multiple courses (or competencies) and set separately what courses are required and in what order to obtain and renew your certificate. In addition, the expiration date of the certificate can be parameterized, as well as how long before the expiration date the renewal of the given licensed training can be started. Therefore,
the training organizers do not have to record the history and due dates of the courses of thousands of employees in Excel spreadsheets one by one – this is done by TOTARA Learn instead.
ADVANCED REPORTING SYSTEM
Comparisons of TOTARA to Moodle are common. Much has been improved on the reporting capabilities of TOTARA Learn compared to the Moodle LMS, so in addition to several predefined reports, an easy-to-use custom reporting interface has been developed. This allows TOTARA to easily display data that Moodle cannot.
The system has more than 40 built-in reports, but you can also create reports from any column in the custom reporting interface, as well as specify filter criteria and breakdown dimensions – all without programming knowledge, using only the user interface.
We can also individually restrict the availability of the reports created in this way, both in terms of viewing and data content. The system also offers the possibility to export to Excel, CSV or PDF format for further processing.
The TOTARA Learn system is suitable for managing courses with compulsory attendance in the case of purely classroom (or mixed) courses too. With the system
we can easily manage courses with compulsory attendance, where we can handle employee sign-ins and sign-outs as well as randomly drawn queues, digital recordings of attendance sheets, and messaging.
In the TOTARA Learn system, various automatic notifications can be sent to users (e.g. when trainings and exams are announced or canceled), and it is also able to manage organizational infrastructure, record available training rooms and equipment (projectors, etc.), and alert us when these are to be used simultaneously at the same time.
Anyone who has gotten this far will probably not be surprised that the system was the first of the e-learning systems to be ready for the 2018 GDPR regulation!
WHAT IT INFRASTRUCTURE DO WE NEED TO OPERATE TOTARA LEARN?
Since TOTARA Learn is a completely online application, in order to operate it only a modern and up-to-date browser is required from the client side. Thus, students, tutors, training providers and administrators do not have to perform virtually any pre-installation – in fact, they can even access the system from a mobile phone. In addition, a dedicated mobile application is currently being developed at the TOTARA Learn center, through which the system will be fully optimized for mobile use in the near future.
On the server side, TOTARA Learn flexibly supports both Linux (recommended) and Windows operating systems. Regarding the database, MySQL is recommended officially, but others can be used (e.g. MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MSSQL). The application was written in PHP based on Moodle, and its code is constantly updated. The system typically receives a monthly minor update, while new feature enriched major version changes are published annually by the central TOTARA.
It is important to note, that unlike the Moodle e-learning system, the TOTARA Learn training management system is a licensed product, which can be obtained from us, TOTARA’s Hungarian partner. Naturally, our company undertakes the IT and pedagogical support of the implementation of the system, the customization of the TOTARA system, and also the continuous operation and maintenance of the system.
The introduction of TOTARA Learn typically has 3 main costs:
- TOTARA Learn license fee, which is based on the number of users of the system (banded pricing of 500 – 3.000 – 5.000 – 10.000 – 20.000 – 50.000 – 250.000 – 500.000 users).
- One-time introduction fee, which covers the cost of the work of our project managers, consultants and IT specialists. As part of this, we install, customize and parameterize the system tailored to your company; we help to develop the processes and to start the first courses.
- Monthly maintenance fee, which ensures the continuous availability of our experts for the smooth use of the system.
Our company has more than 10 years of experience and the relevant competencies to implement a complete TOTARA Learn introduction. In each case, we adjust our prices individually to the needs of our Customers.
Contact us and let’s discuss the details of the TOTARA introduction!
