SCORM is crucial and SCORM is hard
An LMS without solid SCORM support is like a phone with an intermittent dial tone. If your users can’t count on your LMS to do content delivery well and with the expected consistency, they will dismiss your entire product as a shoddy tool. If you don’t solve this problem elegantly from the beginning, it will haunt you for years.
SCORM is hard the first time. The specifications covered by the SCORM Engine encompass more than 3,000 pages. Reading them alone is more than most developers would care to do. Industry estimates have put the time required for a first draft SCORM 2004 LMS at more than two man-years.
SCORM continues to be hard even after you solve it the first time. Creating an LMS that can pass the SCORM test suites will seem difficult, until you take it out into the real world of SCORM, where countless content vendors interpret the standard in subtly different ways. Whether these vendors have made good choices or bad ones, your development staff will be forced to discover if that new piece of content doesn’t work because of the LMS they’ve created or the content they’ve received. As an invested party, resolving standards disagreements like this is extremely difficult.
We have already solved this problem
Without a doubt, your organization can solve hard problems. But problems that are fundamental and difficult result in high risk. We have already solved this problem, thereby eliminating a major source of risk. By working with us, you can eliminate both the problem of the initial implementation and obtain the ongoing support and expertise that is required. Even large companies with huge technology staffs often struggle when they take on this problem themselves.
One reason that we excel is that the SCORM Engine is constantly evolving. As the standard itself changes, our product follows suit. As interpretations of the standard evolve, so too does the SCORM Engine. We’ve built the SCORM Engine such that we can provide these updates to you regularly with little or no reintegration required. If you don’t keep up with SCORM’s evolution, you will fail to maintain the compatibility that is so crucial to the success of an LMS.
By joining the 90+ implementations of the SCORM Engine that make up our “software cooperative,” you gain the benefit of their experience. The risk of creating a solution on your own or outsourcing it to a development staff is completely eliminated by the proven nature of this solution. The “dial tone” of your LMS is simply something on which you can’t afford to take a risk.
Other Benefits
- Our involvement with standards evolution means you are connected and your voice is heard.
- The technical quality of the SCORM Engine can set you apart from your competitors.
- You will enjoy working with a company that is forthright and values customer success and employee happiness above financial gain.
