There are several platform-agnostic solutions on the market, but SAP offers options that can be integrated with SAP ERP Human Capital Management (SAP ERP HCM). SAP Learning Solution (LSO) and SAP Enterprise Learning — which is LSO plus virtual learning room functionality — each comprise three separate, but integrated, components: a back-end Learning Management System (LMS), a learning content management environment, and portals through which employees, administrators, managers, and instructors access learning-related functions.

See Figure 1 for an overview of the SAP LSO and the process functions it supports.

Figure 1

The SAP LSO process overview

Regardless of the version, implementing SAP LSO introduces elements not encountered in typical SAP HCM deployments. While many SAP projects are technically challenging and focused on transactional modules, an SAP LSO implementation requires as much focus on business processes and content as technical mastery.

Leendert van der Bijl of EPI-USE America points out a number of considerations for project managers tasked with an SAP LSO implementation. He highlighted several of these considerations in an interview with SAPexperts.

Start By Evaluating Your Goals

One of the hallmarks of successful project management is the ability to remain flexible while keeping the project focused squarely on the desired end results. That principle also applies to SAP LSO implementations.

“Everything we do on a project revolves around what these goals are. Those are what ultimately determine whether the project was successful or not,” says van der Bijl.

He recommends dividing the project’s goals into strategic, operational, and technological goals. Strategic goals are set on the highest level within the organization and have often been decided upon before a learning systems deployment starts.

“Strategic goals are typically very high level and are focused on how the organization’s approach to training is going to make it more profitable or successful. The opportunity lies in finding ways to have learning system deployment play a role in accomplishing those goals,” says van der Bijl.

Clarifying relevant strategic goals helps project managers avoid the trap of focusing too heavily on the technological aspects of a project. While an SAP LSO implementation presents its own set of technical challenges, addressing relevant business processes and related content — such as an effective eLearning training program — is equally important.

Operational goals refer to the specific aims of the group or department responsible for training program development and delivery. That group may be trying to reduce costs by moving to an eLearning environment or improving learning cycle times with the help of new technology.

Separating strategic and operational goals from technological goals helps project managers remain focused on the benefits of the new system rather than the accomplishment of finishing the implementation. 

“Technology is an enabler, and it empowers organizations to achieve more and better things, but we recognize the importance of helping our customers distinguish between the importance of a strategic goal and the importance of a technological goal — which could be replacing a non-integrated legacy system,” says van der Bijl.

Emphasize Business Processes and Reporting

“It is key to follow a process- and reporting-centric approach to projects. Business processes address how the system will be used to capture and process data and communicate relevant information to end users and other persons or systems. Reporting is about discovering what has been captured or processed and deriving meaning from it in order to drive new instances of business processes and continual change and improvement. These are the two key aspects of what an organization is going to do with enterprise software and the Learning Solution and so these are the primary areas in which we focus our efforts to achieve the goals of a deployment,” he says.

“Process-centricity means we tie as many elements back to the business process as possible. One starts with the process definition and then defines which roles, business rules, best practices, SAP transactions, and other elements are attached to that process. By linking all of this information in a traceability matrix it becomes possible to determine which process will be impacted by changes to or problems with any of these elements.”

Process-centricity also fosters emphasis on crucial user-adoption initiatives, which are the responsibility of change management and end-user training personnel.

Van der Bijl recommends creating a business process inventory for SAP LSO deployments, as is typical for all SAP ERP HCM implementations, and prioritizing the deployment of those processes depending on the goals of the deployment. For example, project managers might plan to deploy course scheduling processes for the initial deployment and demand planning processes in subsequent phases.

Likewise, he recommends a reporting inventory that not only lists the required reports and their input and output data, but also why and when a particular report will be needed, by whom it will be run, and how its results will be used and distributed.

Consider Phased Implementations

Many companies choose to implement SAP LSO as one phase of an implementation of a full suite of Talent Management applications, but even deployment of the SAP LSO itself can be broken down into separate phases, according to van der Bijl.  

“A company should begin by deploying learning administrator functions first. Processes for creating and maintaining the course catalog, scheduling the courses, managing participation, and recording completions — processes which can all be performed by learning administrators — form the backbone of a Learning Solution deployment,” says van der Bijl.

Under this system, a company would begin by deploying instructor-led training courses. From there it would deploy end-user portals, such as a learner portal, which will allow course participants to search the course catalog, enroll in courses themselves, and look up their training history. The next logical step is to deploy online courses, which will allow participants to launch courses themselves without the direct involvement of an instructor. It is possible to roll out all of these components at the same time or in phases, in which case the learning administrator functions must be rolled out first.

Choose an Appropriate Pace

It is technically possible to deploy the learning administrator functions of the SAP LSO implementation relatively quickly. However, there are a few considerations project managers should heed when budgeting for a fast rollout.

“If a customer wants standard or close to standard functionality, it’s a much simpler application to implement than some of the transactional applications that many SAP customers are used to. But it’s not the technology that’s going to prolong these kinds of projects. Longer deployment timelines are much more likely to be the result of business process- or content-related issues,” says van der Bijl.

If your company’s existing course catalog is outdated or poorly organized, for example, you will have to spend time updating it before taking advantage of the rapid technical deployment. If reorganization of the catalog is done during the deployment it may have an impact on the project’s deployment schedule.

Training program development and administration teams will need to collaborate with relevant stakeholder departments to determine how to structure and populate the course catalog. When representatives from the stakeholder departments aren’t dedicated to the project full time, this process alone could take months to complete, says van der Bijl, depending on the size and state of a customer’s complete training program.

“If you are working with a consultant who knows what is needed for a successful deployment, you can start working on these issues before technology deployment starts. The actual implementation can be accelerated if the course catalog and other relevant content are ready by the time the project begins,” he says.

Work with Learning Strategists and Instructional Design Experts

Getting your company’s curriculum done right before the implementation is key to the success of an SAP LSO implementation. One proven way to accomplish that, van der Bijl says, is to work with experts in the field of instructional design.

These experts can be in-house or consultants on the project. The important thing is that they understand how to build an effective curriculum.

“This is all about knowing how to put together a curriculum — to start with an overall learning strategy and to decide whether to start with a particular set of learning objectives or a crisis point within the organization. While most customers design their own curriculums, they may still profit from outside expertise in some areas — especially the design and development of online course content, which tools to use for particular kinds of online courses, how to convert to online course standards, and how to manage online course repositories,” says van der Bijl.

Another option is to buy training content from a third-party provider and use learning strategists to help incorporate the content into your business and overall training program, according to van der Bijl.

Standardize on SCORM

For companies moving older electronic course material into the SAP LSO, the implementation project offers an opportunity to update those materials to adhere to the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) standard, or other similar, appropriate standards.

“The SCORM standard is intended to lead to reusable, modular pieces of content called shareable content objects, which can be strung together in any combination to create an entire course. The idea behind SCORM is also that online courses are developed in a standard way to ensure system interoperability - so the content can be used on any SCORM-compliant LMS. This allows an organization to engage any number of independent content developers. As long as they develop content according to the SCORM standard their content is supposed to work in the customer’s eLearning environment,” says van der Bijl.

SAP LSO also supports the less-common and older Aviation Industry Computer Based Training Committee (AICC) standard, according to van der Bijl. SCORM, however, is the advisable option for most enterprises.

Other Resources

For more on planning for an SAP LSO implementation, see the SAPexperts article, “Part 1: Plan For and Implement SAP Learning Solution,” by Tammie Eldridge of SAP America and Sharon Wolf Newton of hyperCision Inc.

For more on working with SCORM, see the SAPexperts article, “Demystify SCORM and the Participation Document in LSO,” by Danielle Morrison.

Davin Wilfrid

Davin Wilfrid was a writer and editor for SAPinsider and SAP Experts. He contributed case studies and research projects aimed at helping the SAP ecosystem get the most out of their existing technology investments.

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