We get this question a lot. If you aren’t already aware, a learning management software (LMS) is a service that allows you to administer and deliver online trainings. A business can create, customize and edit their training programs within the online tool.
Some businesses use an LMS to onboard new employees, educate new clients, or deliver a compliance training program relevant to their industry. Other e-commerce businesses may even sell training programs to clients that are built and delivered within their LMS account. The ability to create custom training for your business is a different service than what we offer. We’re different because many businesses don’t actually need an LMS, but need the ability to track training and accountability across tens, hundreds, or thousands of employees.
Most LMS services don’t share their prices publicly, but rather build a customized plan and quote based on how many bells and whistles are included. This makes the cost comparison tricky, but in general, LMS companies charge between $1-$10 per employee per month. This is in addition to the company hours invested in building training content within the tool.
Training Tracker is not an LMS, and our pricing is a flat monthly rate per user (admin users, not individual employees) that doesn’t increase based on your company’s size and annual revenue. Training Tracker is designed for companies with complex or large scale training needs. You don’t need to create online trainings, you simply need to ensure all employees are trained.
Training Tracker is ideal if your business:
Completes third-party regulatory training
When your organization is required to complete training provided by a regulatory body, it doesn’t make sense for your business to recreate the training within an LMS software solution. You can simply go to the source for the training, and use Training Tracker to keep accurate records. This is why we see many of our clients work in government, manufacturing, and healthcare. Any business in these industries needs to complete training that wasn’t created in-house. For example, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) requires new hires to be trained within ten days. If the manufacturing company fails to ensure that the new hire is trained on time, they’re likely to be fined. In fact, when OSHA finds that a company’s failure to comply with OSHA training is willful or repeated, the minimum fine is over $130,000. Training Tracker allows you to pull records on an individual employee and ensure the training was completed on time.
Any business involved in healthcare, such as a hospital or clinic, is subject to government regulations as well. Often, these trainings will change year to year. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), enacted in 1996, created requirements of client privacy across the healthcare service spectrum. If a hospital hires a new nurse, he or she must complete HIPAA compliance training within a ‘reasonable period’ of time. This is a pretty open-ended time period, so tracking HIPAA compliance and the training dates is critical. Additionally, every time a hospital changes their policies or procedures, so must their HIPAA compliance training. However, the specific training components and the frequency of HIPAA training are not specified, so hospitals and clinics must refer to outside resources like the HIPAA Journal to keep training content relevant.
Your business has a lot of hands-on, in-person training.
A new factory hire can watch videos about operating complex machines all day, but still won’t be qualified to run the machine until they’ve done it successfully in real life. Much of manufacturing and healthcare training is done in-person, with the new hire practicing and the supervisor observing the progress. In these cases, an LMS simply isn’t enough to onboard a new employee. Training Tracker provides managers with accountability to help protect your business against fines or damages. When the manager believes the new hire is competent in the skill, the training task can be marked complete.
Accountability is the biggest component of hands-on training. With Training Tracker, the business has concrete, written proof whenever a training is completed.
So... can I just track all of that with a spreadsheet?
If you’re wondering why you can’t accomplish your accountability tracking with a spreadsheet, the answer is, you can. But what we’ve found is that most training/HR managers that try this route usually end up going with Training Tracker due to the complexities of managing a spreadsheet (or spreadsheets) for compliance tracking. Spreadsheets are easily messed up, are difficult to roll over year to year, and can quickly turn into an unwieldy beast prone to mistakes and oversights. Many happy Training Tracker clients have come from the self-managed spreadsheet solution, and welcome the simplicity, accountability, and functionality built into the Training Tracker software. If this is currently you, give Training Tracker a try. Track the tasks more quickly, hold your team accountable, and keep your business protected.
Jen Remsik, CEO Training Tracker
Training Tracker: Track the Tasks, Achieve the Goals
