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CUSTOM SOFTWARE · LEARNING MANAGEMENT (LMS)

Learning Management (LMS) and Mandatory Training Records

We build a learning management system (LMS) that brings together, in one place, the training catalogue, who is required to take which course, who has completed it and when a certificate expires. When an audit asks for the record of your health and safety and quality training, it comes out on a single screen rather than after hours of searching.

In a factory the training record usually sits in a folder. Signature sheets, attendance lists, photocopies of externally issued certificates and one Excel file. The training really did take place; the problem is not the training but the moment someone needs proof of it. When a customer audit arrives, when the health and safety officer asks for a list, or when questions follow a workplace accident, the record is searched for. Who took which course and when, whether their certificate is still valid, and whether that person counts as authorised for the machine they work on all have to be dug out of individual files. That search can take days and usually ends with gaps. A missing record usually points not to training that was never given, but to training that was never recorded.

The second problem is quieter. Mandatory training has a validity period; occupational health and safety training must be renewed at intervals set by the hazard class of the business, and documents such as forklift operator licences, working-at-height and first-aid certificates have durations of their own. If nobody keeps those dates in a calendar, nobody finds out when they run out. In plants with high staff turnover the picture gets messier still: a new worker goes straight onto the line, their induction is pushed back a few days, and those few days never appear in the record. In the end, who is competent to do which job is not the company's knowledge but the foreman's memory. When that foreman leaves, the knowledge leaves with them.

A learning management system (LMS) is a structure that gathers this record in one place and reminds you of itself. Courses are defined in a catalogue; a rule sets out which training is mandatory for each role, department and hazard class. When a new employee joins, the assignments are created automatically. Online courses are followed through the system and progress is recorded; classroom sessions are entered with an attendance list, and the register can be taken in the room by scanning a QR code. The exam result, the certificate and the certificate's expiry date all sit in the same record. As expiry approaches, both the employee and their manager are warned. When an audit asks, no folder is searched — a report is produced. The same data also yields a skills matrix showing who can work on which machine.

The limits of this work should be stated up front. An LMS does not produce training content; the video, the presentation and the exam questions are still prepared by your OHS specialist, your quality team or the training provider you work with. Nor does the system guarantee learning; what it measures is attendance, completion and exam results, not a change in behaviour. Sitting everyone on the production floor down at a computer is not realistic either; in most plants the bulk of training carries on being delivered in a classroom, and the system's job is to put that training on record. Even so, before a single online course has been published, simply collecting the existing records in an orderly, dated form produces a gain on its own in most businesses. A year later you will, for the first time, be talking about how much training has actually been done from records rather than from guesswork.

Who is it for?

Who is Learning Management (LMS) a good fit for?

Plants in the hazardous and very hazardous classes

Factories where occupational health and safety training has to be renewed at set intervals and where operator licences and authorisation records are kept. In these plants the training record is not only an HR matter but a health and safety responsibility; a missing record is the first thing asked for after an accident. Keeping track of renewal dates is, on its own, work that pays for the system.

Manufacturers facing customer and certification audits

Companies undergoing ISO 9001, ISO 45001, BRCGS or customer audits. Training and competence records are requested in almost every one of these audits; beyond simply existing, they are expected to be dated, signed and quickly retrievable. Preparation that used to run for weeks before an audit gives way to a short check when the record is kept continuously.

Businesses with high staff turnover

Plants that are constantly taking on new workers, that see seasonal swings or that use large numbers of subcontractors. Tracking induction and entry training by hand for every new person breaks down quickly. A training list assigned automatically by role makes the first day of employment standard. Subcontractor employees' records can be held separately within the same structure.

Teams spread across branches and the field

Retail chains, service and field teams, logistics companies and multi-site groups. Bringing training together centrally lets you roll out the same content without having to deliver it again at every branch, and shows you who has watched it. Mobile access is a necessity here rather than a preference; a branch manager sees their own team's outstanding training from their own screen.

What we build

What we deliver within Learning Management (LMS)

Training catalogue and content library

Courses are defined in a single catalogue: subject, duration, target audience, validity period and owner. Content can be video, presentation, PDF, and SCORM or xAPI packages; classroom sessions are also defined in the same catalogue and closed off with an attendance record. Online and face-to-face training therefore appear in one list, under the same rules.

Mandatory training assignment by role

A rule sets out which training is mandatory for which role, department, hazard class or machine worked on. On a new hire or a change of role the assignments are created automatically, with no need for anyone to update the list by hand. Exceptions can be defined; why a particular person was assigned a separate course, or exempted from one, is written into the record. The same rules can be defined separately for different worker types such as subcontractors, interns and visitors.

Classroom training, attendance registers and QR check-in

For sessions held in a room, the attendance list is taken by scanning a QR code or ticked off by the trainer; the wet-signed sheet is scanned and added to the same record. On site, people can check in from a tablet or from a kiosk at the shift entrance. For employees without a personal computer or a corporate email address, a payroll number and a QR code are enough. The trainer closes the attendance list before leaving the room and the record reaches the system the same day.

Exams, assessment and retake rights

At the end of a course an exam is generated from a question bank; the pass mark, the number of attempts and the retake window are set separately for each course. Results are written into the person's record and can be reported. We position the exam not as proof of learning but as a measurable minimum threshold; we state this limit in writing at the start of the project. For anyone who fails, the course is automatically reassigned and their manager is informed.

Certificates, validity and renewal alerts

A certificate is generated for completed training; externally issued operator licences, first-aid and working-at-height certificates are uploaded to the same place. An expiry date is held for every document, and before it runs out an alert goes to the employee, their manager and the OHS officer. Expired documents are collected in a separate list. The warning period is set separately by document type; earlier notice is given for training that takes a long time to arrange externally.

Skills matrix and job authorisation

Who counts as authorised on which machine, line or job is shown as a matrix. Training and document status feed that matrix; when a document expires, the related authorisation automatically moves into a warning state. Whoever draws up the shift plan is warned before putting someone without the authorisation on that job, and blocked if required.

Audit file and reporting

A training record report is produced by person, department, course or date range; attendance lists, exam results and certificates can be exported as a single file. Completion rates, overdue mandatory training and documents about to expire are tracked continuously on the management dashboard. Report filters can be saved to match the scope an auditor asks for, so the same output is reproduced at every audit.

Technologies

The technologies we work with

  • SCORM 1.2 / SCORM 2004
  • xAPI (Tin Can)
  • LTI 1.3
  • H5P interactive content
  • HLS video streaming
  • SSO (SAML 2.0 / OpenID Connect)
  • LDAP / Active Directory
  • QR code attendance and kiosk access
  • PDF certificate generation
  • Mobile and offline content access
  • PostgreSQL
Process

How we move from discovery to go-live

  1. 01

    1. Training inventory and requirement discovery

    We map which courses are delivered today, which of them are mandatory by law or because of customer audits, and where the records are kept. The OHS specialist and the quality officer take part in this session together. Scope usually starts with mandatory training; development and technical courses are left to a second phase. At this stage it emerges in most plants that a portion of the training has never been recorded at all.

  2. 02

    2. Catalogue and role-to-training matrix

    The training catalogue, the validity periods and which role has to take which course are defined together. This matrix is the most critical part of the project; set up wrongly, the system either generates unnecessary assignments or leaves gaps. Drawing it up usually takes between two and four weeks. We produce the matrix not with HR alone, but together with the department heads and the OHS specialist.

  3. 03

    3. Content migration and pilot department

    Existing training content and past records are migrated into the system; we decide together how much history to carry over. A pilot is run with a single department or site. The aim is to see that the assignment rules and the attendance flow really work on the ground, and to fix whatever falters while the scale is still small. The pilot usually lasts four to six weeks; rules changing during that time is to be expected.

  4. 04

    4. Switching on exams, certificates and alerts

    Exams, certificate templates and validity alerts go live. Who receives the alerts, how far in advance and how often is configured; without that configuration the system quickly turns into a source of notifications everyone ignores. In the first period the alerts run as information only. Alert texts, recipient lists and escalation rules are switched on after they have passed your approval.

  5. 05

    5. Roll-out, audit rehearsal and handover

    Scope is extended to the other departments and sites. Before a real audit arrives we rehearse with the report outputs; any remaining gaps show up here. The system is handed over to the team, and how catalogue and rule updates are to be run is left in writing. Go-live is completed in two to four months depending on scope.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about Learning Management (LMS)

Do you prepare the training content?

No, that falls outside our scope. The content of a course belongs to the expert on the subject: your OHS specialist prepares health and safety training, your quality team the quality training, and the machine manufacturer or a training provider the technical training. Our job is to make sure that content gets into the system, is assigned to the right people and is recorded. We take in the videos, presentations and SCORM packages you have prepared and, where needed, connect to the platform of the training provider you work with. If you see a software proposal that also promises content production, make sure you clarify who is actually going to do that part.

Most of our employees do not use a computer — how will this system work?

This is the question we meet most often on site, and the answer shapes the design of the system. In production plants the bulk of training carries on being delivered in a classroom; the system does not deliver the training here, it keeps the record. Attendance is taken by scanning a QR code or by the trainer ticking names off a list, and the wet-signed sheet is scanned and added to the record. There is mobile access for those who want to use their own phone, and a kiosk at the shift entrance or a shared tablet for those who do not. We do not try to sit anyone down at a computer; we have seen many times that this approach does not hold up on the ground.

Does the system guarantee that the training has genuinely been learned?

No, and we do not promise that. A learning management system measures attendance, completion, exam results and the validity of documents. These can be indicators of learning, but they are not proof of it; what shows whether behaviour on the ground has changed is not software but observation, site audits and the manager's follow-up. The system's honest contribution is this: that the training took place, who attended and whether the document is valid all become beyond dispute. Improvement beyond that is the job of management and the OHS team, not of the software.

Why build custom software when an off-the-shelf LMS exists?

If all you need is to publish online courses and track who has watched them, an off-the-shelf product is very likely enough; we say so plainly and do not start an unnecessary project. Custom development makes sense when the training record has to be connected to other systems: the employee list coming from an HR or timekeeping system, the skills matrix tied to the shift plan, OHS and quality records gathered into the same audit file. Most off-the-shelf products either lack these connections or force you to fit their own logic.

Will it clash with our existing HR and timekeeping system?

It will not. Employee records, role and department information come from your existing HR system or timekeeping software; you do not enter the same person in two places. When a new hire or a change of role comes through, the mandatory training assignments are updated accordingly. Overtime, leave and bonus calculations are not on our side; the system that does that work stays where it is and we only add the training layer. The problem seen most often in practice is the same person being recorded differently in two systems; that is why we set the integration up from the very start.

What do we end up with?

A training catalogue with defined validity periods; mandatory training assignments generated automatically by role and department; attendance records for online and classroom training gathered in one place; exam results, certificates and a validity calendar that raises alerts before expiry; a skills matrix showing who is authorised for which job; a training report that can be exported as a single file at an audit. The source code, the accumulated records and the content you upload belong to you.

Contact

Let us talk about your Learning Management (LMS) project

In a 30-minute discovery call we listen to what you need and tell you honestly whether custom development or an off-the-shelf product is the better answer.

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