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What is a training management system (TMS)

Workforce resources are crucial for modern businesses, as qualified and well-motivated people create much more value than anything else. As the world develops and becomes more and more complex, new industries arise, bringing new opportunities, and your company must be smart to succeed.
A training management system (TMS) is a platform that facilitates the business organization by administration and tracking the employees’ skills. It is a bright example of educational technologies (EdTech), a large industry with great potential, crucial for the modern world. Let’s see which possibilities a TMS can bring you, how it works, review its benefits, and see how you can develop such a system for your business.

Capabilities of the training management system

TMS is used in various areas and industries, but two main goals are learning new practical skills and efficiently administering the learning process. For example, employee training management software is designed to increase the level of employee qualification and productivity. This is one of the most common TMS destinations: as mentioned, modern businesses must be smart to be competitive and provide good products and services.
Let’s see the formal training management system definition: the platform for administering and conducting work training programs based on various materials. Examples are videos with instructors who show how to perform specific tasks required from employees. In addition, it includes progress tracking to facilitate the process and help learners to successfully complete all tasks. Quizzes, ratings, and contests serve the purpose of skills’ consolidation and maintenance. The management staff has access to TMS to track the employees’ progress and be sure that they are training.
Therefore, a TMS provides endless opportunities for you and your teams to develop, empower, and educate your employees. As it is a type of online personal training management software, it will improve the competitiveness of your business, making your workforce more capable of performing various tasks. Each employee will access their own personal account, with training programs dedicated specifically to them. Be it industrial vehicle driving, healthcare activities, web development, or sales, TMS software can include training programs in all areas.

How does a training management system work?

Training management system software is dedicated to teaching your employees new skills and increasing their productivity and personal responsibility. Let’s see typical TMS features which enable them to realize these options:
  • A clear user interface is the basis of a good application. You can see an example of a good UI in the screenshot below. When logging in, a user should see their progress, available courses, goals set, and the list of all available features.

  • A courses library is a database with a well-developed search menu to find and select a course or training materials, such as videos, books, or simulations. A company should update its course library regularly to stay competitive.

  • Tests, surveys, and contests enable learners to prove and consolidate their new knowledge by performing various tasks connected with it. Regular practice is a key component of developing and maintaining a skill.

  • Progress tracking is necessary for goal setting and understanding what is already learned and what still should be mastered.

  • Reporting is crucial for an employee training management system and includes creating learning reports and statistics. The management should be able to see and control the training progress to be sure that employees are mastering the necessary skills in time.

  • A communication panel should be present, as employees and management are better to be in touch during the learning process. It also includes a news feed, enabling employees to know what’s going on in their workplace.

  • Automatization is a good feature of the TMS, which enables the company’s management to implement all mentioned processes much faster. For example, courses can be assigned automatically based on the employees’ jobs and qualifications.
The education and training management system is designed to meet the requirements of the modern business environment: be flexible and well-organized simultaneously.

Training management system vs. learning management system

Training management (TMS) and learning management (LMS) systems are similar EdTech app types. Often, these terms are used interchangeably, even in company’s names. For example, CleverLMS is a good tool for staff training management, but it is still called LMS.
Still, it’s crucial to understand their differences to use them properly. Training management system features include administering the learning process and reporting whether each learner passes the course successfully. Such systems are essential for businesses to ensure their employees’ skills remain high and constantly improve.
Unlike them, the LMS aims at learning more than at administering and controlling. They often provide a wider choice of materials and a studio where one can create their own educational courses.
Therefore, an LMS app is much more education-centered, while a TMS is focused on productivity, administration, and teaching specific work-related skills. See a typical LMS interface with learning statistics from Dribbble.
Learn more about key differences here.

In many cases, LMS and TMS are good to be used together. As a summary, you can see the comparison of the two app types in the table below.
Training management system (TMS)
Focuses on administration, management, and organization.
Used by businesses to increase their competency.
Productivity-centered, provide short educational videos to acquire work skills.
Usually integrated with business apps, such as performance management software.
Learning management system (LMS)
Focuses on the creation and delivery of educational content.
Used by educational organizations to teach their students.
Education-centered, provide various statistics and formal learning courses.
Usually integrated with other EdTech apps, including TMS.

Benefits of a training management system

Implementing a TMS in your business can provide many advantages for your company and employees.

  • Consistent training to improve performance: your employees can easily learn required technical skills in the training management system, obtaining the best training programs necessary for each position. It leads to a consistent and standardized approach across the organization.

  • Compliance with quality, as the TMS ensures that employees are trained in accordance with regulatory requirements, thereby reducing the risk of non-compliance.

  • Personalized learning: the system allows employees to choose the courses and learning materials that are most relevant to their job roles, interests, and learning style. Therefore, the TMS enables consistency without suppressing personal desires.

  • Empowerment and engagement: staff training management system not only increases efficiency but provides opportunities for employees to show their skills and be rewarded.

  • Efficient organization: TMS helps businesses to deliver and manage training programs. You can automate training tasks, such as scheduling, tracking, reporting, and grading.

  • Reduced costs: traditional education requires a lot of time and money to be spent. Online learning reduces costs associated with travel, equipment, materials, and instructor fees. It will also save time, as you and your colleague will be able to study when they can, and the only requirement is finishing the course in time according to the goals.
In addition, a personal training management system will help you maintain your own skills on a high level, being sure that you’ll remain adapted to the market. The monitoring system, embedded in TMS, will motivate you to pace your chosen courses successfully. New skills can be learned much easier, while you also can evaluate your level in skills that you’ve already mastered. All these functions make a TMS app highly valuable for you and your work.
Therefore, let’s see how it can be created and how much it will cost you.

How to create a corporate training management system

In some cases, creating your own corporate training management software may be more beneficial than purchasing. The developing process in EdTech is similar to the creation of mobile apps in general, and the main distinction is in the stages of planning and prototyping.
  1. Goal setting and analysis are crucial to determining other development stages. Goal setting includes working out why you need a TMS and how it will solve your specific business issues based on the industry in which you’re operating. Analyze the skills which
  2. Prototyping is when you should develop a minimum version of your training app with essential features. It will enable you to test it with as little spending as possible and better comprehend your business needs.
  3. Design your app: a main menu and user interface should be friendly and easy to orient. This stage includes the creation of the app’s front-end part with all menus, feature lists, color schemes, and other points which your users will see when using it. All interactions between these points and the user should be planned and designed there, too.
  4. Develop the app’s code: when you know how your app should look and which tasks to perform, start coding a back-end part connected with the data processing and making the app work. It is the most time- and cost-consuming part, as it actually creates the app’s core.
  5. Testing is an important part of the process, enabling you to polish the developed TMS. Consider quality assurance (QA) testing to identify and fix the possible UI/UX flaws and incorrectly working features.
  6. Release and maintain: integrate the app into your workflow, collect and analyze employees’ and other users' feedback, and release updates to ensure all features work properly. Also, remember to renew the course base regularly!
To evaluate the enterprise training management system development cost, calculate the approximate development time and consider the prices of mobile app developers. In European markets, typical hourly rates are from $15 - $30 in Eastern Europe to $40 - $70 in Western Europe.
For example, supposing the development time will be 500 hours and taking the typical hourly price of $40, the app development will cost $20,000. However, you must also consider so-called “hidden costs” such as integration, API, and course prices, so consider this sum as a minimum.

Top-5 best training management systems

To summarize the TMS essentials, let’s see the list of the best apps which you can find and use as a tool for your business. For this list, we compiled several existing lists, such as the one from Forbes.
If you want to develop your own TMS, they will serve as bright examples. Remember the difference between LMS and TMS? Keep it in mind when reviewing these apps.

  1. CleverLMS, despite its name, is designed as an online training management system, explicitly mentioning that it was created for managers and administrators. Its features are specifically shaped for the business training organization, and as you pay $5/month per user, it is perfectly suited for small and middle enterprises.
  2. TalentLMS is quite an easy learning tool, suitable for personal learning and even has a free version. It is especially good for very small enterprises, despite its features being quite limited compared to other apps from the list.
  3. LearnUpon is distinct from other digital training management systems due to its perfect integration with various training services. In addition, it is suitable for live training sessions. It is expensive, starting from $599/month, so it’s the best for middle-size businesses.
  4. Docebo is a good and universal solution with various educational features, including gamification, enabling quick and efficient mastery of skills. To use it, you pay from $3.3 to $5/month per user, so, similarly to CleverLMS and TalentLMS, it is well-suited for small and middle companies.
  5. Absorb is a powerful automated training management system that enables the management to create well-organized training programs. However, it is designed only for middle and large businesses with many employees, as its prices start from almost $1,400/month and extend up to more than $10,000/month.
Lastly, you can review all apps in the table below.
BY VERONIKA SINITSA
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