Four steps to building e-learning success: your timeline is tight and your budget even tighter. Here's a plan for researching, testing, and launching an e-learning program under strict time and money constraints

Workforce, May, 2002 by Jason Lewis, Dan Michaluk

* The vendor must have a broad course selection (at least 20 soft-skill courses).

* The courses must not require the installation of any software or plug-ins that are not currently supported by the IT department.

* The courses must comply with all accessibility criteria in section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

* The vendor must comply with AICC and SCORM interoperability standards.

* The course must cost less than $200 per seat.

Step 2: Create a vendor shortlist

With your selection criteria and constraints in hand, it's time to create a shortlist of vendors. Visit vendor Web sites, examine their marketing claims, and follow up with vendor sales representatives when you require additional information. If your users will purchase through a public e-commerce Web site, buy at least one course from each vendor to test the e-commerce experience.

On the other hand, if you require integration with your learning management system, installation on your intranet, or any other special administrative process, speak with vendor sales representatives about the feasibility and cost of such a solution. Also scan each vendor's course list (which should state exactly what learners should get out of every offering) and list each course that meets one or more of your learning objectives.

Eliminate any vendor that fails to meet your list of criteria and constraints, and eliminate any vendor without a significant number of courses that coincide with your learning objectives. The more vendors that you eliminate at this early stage, the more time you will have for a rigorous course analysis later on. If your goal is to move through this four-step process in six weeks or less and save on implementation costs, create a shortlist of three or four vendors with very broad course offerings.

At this stage, you are assessing whether vendors meet your technical and administrative requirements and making a primary assessment of learning-objective fit. Avoid the temptation to evaluate the quality of vendors' offerings. It's simply too early in your process for subjectivity, especially when you have not yet had the opportunity to take a detailed look at vendor courses. Even if you do purchase and examine a single course from each vendor, avoid early conclusions about vendor quality. Many vendors are still working out their designs and offer courses that vary in quality.

Step 3: Select and test courses

Once you have a shortlist of vendors that meet your requirements and a list of course candidates for each vendor, it's time to call your vendors and ask for demonstration access. But be sure to attain access to every course that you are considering, even if you have to make a purchase.

This is the fun part of the selection process. Your task is to make a careful hands-on analysis of each course and answer the following two questions: (1) Does the course content really meet your learning objectives? (2) Is the course appropriate for your organization and your audience? As you become familiar with each vendor's basic design; you'll be able to focus more on the course content and skim through courses efficiently. For courses that are two to three hours in length, budget an average of one hour for each review.