Integrate your HR software and LMS to make it easier for employees to access and complete training activities, and to report on important learning metrics
HR and L&D teams are essential to the smooth running – and commercial success – of any organisation. Together, they are responsible for managing employee records, recruiting new staff, ensuring compliance with government regulations, shaping company culture, and ensuring employees are trained and developed to achieve their potential.
Many organisations find that an integrated HR and LMS (learning management system) helps them manage these tasks more effectively. An LMS can automate many of the processes involved in the administration of training activities, including tracking employee training histories, onboarding new employees, and creating job-specific learning plans. And by integrating learning software with a central HR system, you can track employee performance and identify opportunities for improvement more readily. In this article, we share some of the key benefits of HR system and LMS integration, as well as the options for integrating your HR and learning software.
Why you should integrate your HR and LMS software
1. It’ll reduce data redundancies
Data redundancy occurs when the same piece of data is stored in two or more separate places, and this can be an issue for organisations with employee data held in separate systems or databases. Integrating your LMS with your central HR system will help ensure your data is up-to date and secure.
Data redundancies can lead to a variety of issues, from wasting valuable time and resources to inefficiencies caused by inaccurate information. Integrating your HR and learning software saves you hours when it comes inputting or updating data because it’s all in one, connected, database. This ensures data consistency and accuracy across your organisation; for example, any critical learning activities completed in your LMS (such as compliance-related training) would also be recorded against an individual’s record in your HR system.
When organisations are able to maintain a single record for each employee, it means that instead of having two separate databases – one with records on aspects such as absence management and payroll, and another containing information about an individual’s skills development – there would just be one system where all these data points exist together, providing a simpler, more accurate picture of an individual’s performance.
2. It’ll enhance the user experience
Integrating your HR system and learning software will also have a positive impact on the employee experience because employees will be able to see how their own career development ties into company-wide initiatives. This holistic view also helps to personalise training and development for them, therefore building a more effective and engaging learning programme.
Integrating your learning management system with your HR software can also provide insights into how employees learn and what they like or dislike. This information may help you design new training activities or formats that learners will find more engaging.
New employees’ onboarding process often include mandatory training modules. Using a combined HR and LMS system will make it simpler and more efficient to incorporate training elements into your induction process – ones that can be tailored to individuals’ locations and job roles, for example.
3. You’ll be able to analyse data at a deeper level
Integrating your chosen HR software and LMS will provide you with insights that are hard to uncover when data is collated manually from separate systems. Users can be tracked on progress, how much time they’ve spent learning (and when), and which activities (and learning formats) are most popular. The value of any datasets is multiplied when you are able to layer them together, which you can do more easily when software is integrated together.
The integration between an LMS and HR system enables a more comprehensive understanding of HR trends, patterns or companywide initiatives, which you can use to make strategic decisions about how to spend your L&D budget, and identify skills gaps – the areas that you need employees to focus more on.
4. Stay ahead in today’s competitive environment
Without a single system to manage everything from training needs, to hiring and performance evaluations, organisations can be left in the dark. You’ll be missing out on the myriad advantages of an integrated HR tech stack including time and efficiency savings, and greater insight into how training activities are impacting employee performance and customer satisfaction.
The need for a single system that tracks user data and automates certain aspects of training is crucial in today’s competitive environment. Consider integrating other business software, such as accounting or CRM platforms, to achieve greater efficiency and deliver greater strategic insight.
What options are available for integrated HR and learning software?
Every organisation needs HR software to securely store and manage sensitive employee data, but not all businesses use an LMS to manage and share learning and development content.
There are two main options for linking your HR and LMS software:
- Choose a single provider: Choose a single provider – such as us – that offers both cloud-based HR and LMS software that integrates seamlessly to deliver an excellent user experience. You might choose a single provider if you are looking to replace both your existing HR platform and LMS, or are looking to implement your first integrated HR and L&D solution
- The best-of-breed approach: If you are already happy with your existing HR software, or LMS platform, you can choose to integrate software that’s provided by different vendors. Our HR software, for example, can be integrated with a range of LMS solutions, and our learning software is compatible not only with our HR software but with solutions from other vendors, too. Use our award-wining LMS as a standalone solution that integrates with your existing HR software.
So, however you decide to build your HR tech stack, it should be possible to integrate your chosen HR and LMS software to deliver the benefits we’ve outlined above.
Integrate your HR and LMS with us
Using an LMS brings several benefits to your organisation. It gives your people a central hub for their learning activities. It helps you manage, store, and organise training materials, and share them with your staff. It will also provide you with data about completion rates, for example, and it will be able to support a variety of eLearning content formats to support your learners’ needs and preferences.
To find out more about how our integrated HR and learning system can help to improve your organisation’s learning culture, get in touch to arrange a free demonstration. Our solutions are supported by a team of HR and learning and development experts who will help you make the most of our software’s capabilities, as well as support you with the design of optional bespoke learning content.