SkillBuilder® LMS: Getting the Data You Need

You've built a great new learning program, but no one's completed it yet... what's going on?  Comprehensive reporting functionality provides the data you need to effectively manage the learning programs you've put so much into developing. This article will review how you can use key reports in SkillBuilder® LMS, and how to make those reports work for you.

LMS reports contain the information you need to see how learning is working for your organization. And, if it isn't, they help you track down the problems you need to fix to make it work. Reports answer questions like:

• Have all employees completed the required compliance training?
• Which courses are most popular?
• Where (and therefore why) are learners stalling in a learning path?
• Are exam questions clear?
• Does course content successfully prepare learners for assessments?
• Has your latest eCommerce promotion increased sales?

If you'd like to know more about how to use reports, learn the Five Secrets of Effective Reporting. Read on to explore the reporting capabilities of SkillBuilder® LMS.

Learning Reports

Learning reports provide data about learners, learner progress and about the learning material itself. Standard learning reports in SkillBuilder® LMS include:

Learning Path Completion

SkillBuilder® LMS' Learning Path Completion report is used to track learners' progress as they complete a learning path. It lists:

• Learner
• Learner's organization
• Any groups the learner is a member of
• Learning path
• Assigned date
• Activated date
• Completed date
• Expiry date
• Learner's status on the Learning Path

Learning Item Completion

The Learning Item Completion report is similar to the Learning Path report, but at the Learning Item level. It not only provides more detailed information about learner progress but can be used to assess the learning material itself.

For example, if learners are having difficulty completing a learning path or course, the Learning Item Completion Report shows completion trends that can be used to determine whether the issue lies with a particular Learning Item.

To find out more about training program analysis, download the Complete Guide to Training Analysis.

Test Item Details

SkillBuilder® LMS's Test Item Details report is used to evaluate the reliability and validity of assessment questions. It provides specific information about each question on an exam, including:

• The question
• Each question's unique ID
• The question's status
• Correct and incorrect answers
• Details about how the answers are displayed
• The number and proportion of respondents who selected each answer option

eCommerce Reports

eCommerce reporting is used to track purchases and generate revenue reports. They can be used to answer questions like:

• How much revenue did a learning program generate last month?
• What proportion of our revenue comes from a given organization?
• Which payment methods do customers prefer? Does it depend on their organization?
• What discounts are being used?

Order Details

The Order Details report provides an overview of each order made in the LMS, including:

• Order number
• Paid date
• Category
• Band
• Learning Path
• Price
• Discount
• Subtotal

Order Summary

The Order Summary report contains much of the information from the Order Details report as well as:

• Order type
• Name of person making the order
• Organization
• Payment status
• Payment method
• Transaction ID
• Discount amount

Optimizing your SkillBuilder® LMS Reports

There's no point in pulling lots of reports which are jam-packed with data if they're not going to help you measure your training and make important decisions for the future of your business. Kim Morrison

We've reviewed some of SkillBuilder® LMS's standard reports, but do standardized reports always offer what's best for your unique organization? SkillBuilder® LMS takes three approaches to optimizing reporting just for you.

1. Filtering and Sorting

SkillBuilder® LMS's reports come with integrated filtering and sorting functionality. You can narrow down the options in almost any field to pinpoint the data that matters to you.

2. The Right Format

Reports can be viewed and printed from within the LMS. But if you'd rather crunch your data in another system, they can also be exported either directly to Excel or in the widely-recognized csv (comma separated values) format.

3. Introducing the Excel API

So, you've looked at all of SkillBuilder® LMS's reports and how you can customize them, but you still want some specialized tables and more robust reports? Our Excel API is just what you need. An application programming interface (API) is "a code that allows two software programs to communicate with each other." What this means for you is that it's now possible to harness the power of Excel to process SkillBuilder® LMS data.

If you want to learn more about this option, let's talk!

Conclusion

Whether you're selling learning or training your own people, analysis is the key to making your learning programs pay. SkillBuilder® LMS enables effective analysis, providing several standard reports with methods for filtering and manipulating your data within the LMS. It also offers the opportunity to analyze your LMS data in programs designed for the purpose.

Ready to start crunching the numbers? Sign up for a trial run.