LMS Migration: How to Successfully Migrate Your Learning Management System

Migrating from one learning management system (LMS) to another is a daunting task, especially for larger organizations with extensive content libraries and well-established processes. The thought of disrupting ongoing learning programs, transferring large volumes of data, and retraining staff on a new platform can make even the most forward-thinking teams hesitate.

But just as there are drawbacks, there are very real rewards. Staying with an outdated or inadequate system can limit your organization’s ability to grow and innovate. And if you’re reading this, you already know that your existing LMS isn’t getting the job done.

With the right approach, LMS migration doesn’t have to be overwhelming. In this article, we outline nine practical tips to simplify the process, minimize disruption, and set your organization up for long-term success.

Whether you're upgrading to meet modern learning needs or consolidating platforms to streamline operations, these strategies will help you navigate the transition with confidence.

Why migrate to a new LMS?

There are several reasons why an organization might want to migrate from its legacy LMS to another:

• The current system or platform is not generating enough engagement among learners.
• You’re lacking the right functionality. This often includes the ability to localize content for international teams, involve subject-matter experts (SMEs) easily, and create courses faster with the help of AI. All of these are critical as you grow.
• The LMS lacks integration with other tools—your HRIS or CRM, for example.
• The return on investment from the learning platform isn’t paying off.

Whatever the reason, migrating an LMS involves some major challenges. You need to transfer lots of valuable data quickly and efficiently, without overly disrupting current user activity.

And then you need the smoothest-possible onboarding to the new platform to get everyone up and running easily.

It's impossible to embark on a migration without preparation. That's where a proper migration plan comes in handy - and that's what this article will help you prepare.

If you would like to discuss the migration of your LMS with one of our consultants, please contact us. 👇🏼

The essential steps for smooth LMS migration

Here’s a simple and effective nine-step migration checklist for a smooth transition to a new learning management system.

1. Align L&D with your company’s strategic vision

Migrating to a new LMS is a strategic move that needs to be perfectly aligned with your company's long-term plan. It’s also the perfect time to assess your learning and development roadmap. You’re about to rebuild your learning environment around new tools, so reinforcing your strategy now helps set you up for success.

Review your company's 5-year strategic plan and ensure that it is properly reflected in your talent management strategy. Ask yourself: how can training support this ambition?

Today, the most successful L&D programs tie directly to core company objectives. If your training and learning initiatives help the business progress towards its biggest goals, your impact becomes evident to everyone.

In short, rigorous strategic alignment from the outset is the key to a truly beneficial LMS migration in the long term.

2. Assess your migration needs and objectives

Aside from strategic objectives, take time to properly assess your migration needs. This step is crucial for choosing your LMS provider and preparing for the next steps.

Consider your needs in terms of:

• LMS features & functionality. What is your current LMS lacking that a new system should provide? For large companies, this could include detailed performance reporting or advanced admin roles for the learning support team.
• Learning experience. What type of user experience do you want? Most learners benefit from social learning features (such as discussion forums) and gamification (such as quizzes or multiple choice questions). We’re firm believers in a collaborative learning approach, so the right LMS will emphasize this.
• Integrations with other tools you use. Confirm compatibility with your CRM, HRIS, ERP, or training content creation tools that you use alongside it.
• Compliance with standards in your sector, such as SCORM or compliance rules linked to the security of shared data.
• Timing. When do you need your new LMS up and running? How much downtime from elearning services can you accept? Depending on the answer to these questions, your LMS migration may happen all at once, or in stages.
• Costs. What budget can you deploy for your new LMS?

Crucially, get agreement and sign off from key stakeholders on these needs and the budget, before going too far into migration.

3. Select your new LMS platform

This step is simple, but not always easy. You want the right LMS platform that fits your business and learners. So try to line up the priorities you identified above with your next learning platform.

One technical issue to consider at this point is LMS data migration. You must be able to bring all of your existing training data and history with you to the new service. This issue impacts both the new LMS and your existing platform.

To start, look at the content migration services offered by your current LMS, and how they adapt to different platforms:

• Does it let you automatically export your learning content without modifying it?
• What about the data linked to the use of the platform (engagement rate, completion rate, history of courses taken by employees)?
• If so, in what formats?

If the answer to the first question is no, you will need to think about allocating time to manually transferring data from one software package to another. Which is, obviously, a huge undertaking.

To make the right choice, send a specification to different LMS vendors and compare the different solutions available to you.

4. Define the roles of key stakeholders

An LMS migration project generally involves several players in the company:

• A training manager, in charge of the educational strategy
• A dedicated project manager, who monitors the various stages and allocates tasks to each person
• IT specialists, who will deploy and integrate the LMS into your tech stack. Given the potential for added issues and complexity, involve your IT team early in the planning phase.
• Learning content creators, who will migrate and then create the content from scratch.
• Team leads and/or line managers of a few key roles, to confirm the user experience and help get their teams excited. An obvious example could be managers of junior sales teams, where the need for training is high, and the volume of course content will be too.

Clarify everyone's roles and responsibilities at each stage of the migration, to limit platform downtime and potential errors. Forming a real team is the key to a smooth migration.

5. Communicate internally about the changes

Migrating from one LMS platform to another is akin to a corporate change management strategy—especially if users were familiar with and attached to their old software. Hence the need to communicate clearly with learners and managers about the impact of migrating your LMS.

Here are a few questions to answer:

• Why have you launched this migration? What benefits will team members get from it?
• How long will the migration take?
• What impact will it have in terms of access to the platform, process changes, access to training history, and more?

The best communication channels will be those you already use most frequently: all-hands or “town hall” meetings, your HR newsletter, intranet, or corporate communication tools like Slack or Teams.

6. Migrate your existing data and content

Other than choosing the right enterprise LMS, data migration is the most critical part of the LMS implementation process.

To succeed, start by categorizing your data into different typologies:

• User data (linked to the profiles of the various learners)
• Data linked to the courses themselves (uptake across the organization, for example)
• Analytical data (usage history, engagement, and other metrics measured in your old LMS)
• Certifications

Then there are four important steps to follow.

First, back up current data to a separate server from your LMS. This will let you retrieve it intact if something goes wrong.

Second, extract the data from your current LMS. Many LMSs offer automated export options, but you still need to check that all the data you need is contained in this export.

Then, transform this data so that it fits well with your new platform. This is the time to clean out your training and analytical data that you may no longer need. It may be necessary at this stage to change course formats—for example, by transforming PowerPoint presentations into videos or more engaging e-learning modules.

At this stage, you will probably have SCORM files to migrate to your new LMS. (SCORM is a set of technical standards used to create e-learning courses). Remember to download any media you may have (documents, videos, etc.) if your current LMS offers this.

Some rare tools on the market offer SCORM reversibility for content created in their authoring tool. This is the case with 360Learning.

Finally, you can import your updated data into your new LMS.

7. Test and validate the LMS migration

Now that your data has been migrated, go back over the list of exported data and check that everything is present in your new LMS. If this is not the case, you will need to manually export missing data from your backup.

Next, carry out a test on a few different user profiles, and check that everything is working properly. Have these tests carried out by several people in the company: the project manager, the course content creators, the IT managers, or even test groups of volunteer learners.

Make sure you can also use all the features of your new LMS platform to modify your content, user profiles and reporting.

Once these tests are complete, you can officially switch from one platform to the other.

8. Train your users on your new platform

To reap all the benefits of your LMS, make sure that your learners know how it works and can use it optimally.

To do this:

• Organize demos, guided by training managers
• Prepare tutorial videos to teach them how to connect to the training platform, use it and get the most out of it
• Create a dedicated communication channel where users can ask any questions they may have

Also consider training content for back-office users. Those who are involved in the content creation process, or who have to do the performance reporting, also need to master the new platform properly.

9. Measure post-migration performance and results

Last but not least, check that your new LMS platform is well suited to your needs and those of your learners.

To do this, monitor key metrics relating to:

• Platform use: number of connections, use of a particular feature, and more.
• Employee engagement: completion rates for the various modules, and engagement rates for social learning features (such as forums or comments).
• Learning results: employee success in the various quizzes or certifications obtained via your LMS. And if possible, broader progress towards key company objectives—such as employee retention or size of deals closed.
• Collect qualitative feedback from learners. Distribute questionnaires (anonymous if necessary) to find out how they are getting on with the new platform.

These results let you continually adjust and improve your new LMS.

Case study: Mangopay’s LMS migration process

Global fintech Mangopay has more than 500 employees across multiple geographies. The team had enjoyed using Looop as their tool of choice for compliance training and onboarding, but needed more support in upskilling and reskilling employees. So Mangopay’s learning experts chose to migrate to 360Learning.

Long story short: the migration was a huge success. Immediate results included a 99% relevance score for training courses, and a more engaged workforce that can easily adapt to changing business priorities.

Mangopay created custom learning groups for each department, assigned authors and group admins, and created a process to share internal learning needs.

These new groups and roles gave managers the visibility they needed over their teams’ learning, while keeping L&D leaders in control.

Overall, there’s now a better structure and clear culture of collaborative learning at Mangopay.

Keys to this successful migration

On top of the nine steps shared above, there are a few great lessons to learn from Mangopay’s LMS migration.

• Open communication. During the migration process, 360Learning and Mangopay had regular check-in meetings to keep the project on track, and ensure both sides understood their responsibilities.
• An internal migration team. Mangopay’s L&D team created a migration group on 360Learning. Using the online forum, this group had real-time discussions around the content migration and launch initiatives.
• A revised L&D strategy. Mangopay used the migration to 360Learning as an opportunity to review and revamp their overall L&D strategy. While a migration is a huge project, it’s also the perfect time to assess your current initiatives and make smart changes where appropriate.

Read Mangopay’s migration story in full.

Ready to migrate to a new LMS?

Switching such a core company tool will always feel like a large, and potentially overwhelming, challenge. But if done for the right reasons, the rewards can be huge.

As you prepare to take this big step, revisit the steps and advice above to ensure things go smoothly. A good project plan is key, and almost as important as choosing the right platform to migrate to.

If you’re looking for a high-performance, collaborative digital training platform, 360Learning’s LMS solution is designed to improve learner engagement and make teaching more effective. What’s more, the migration process is simple and easy, including a mass import function for all your content (including SCORM).

Making the switch to 360Learning is straightforward and painless, and our team is here to help you every step of the way.

Request a demo now to take your digital learning to the next level.