Budget and Quality - Managing the LMS Implementation effectively

Companies that approach me for the LMS solution come up with the following experience they had with the previous vendors

• The implementation cost has overshot the budget by at least twice the budget
• The quality of the implementation

I found the following common problems in the above implementations

• The Vendor over charged for the LMS implementation and delivered a poor quality implementation.
• Waterfall Approach followed in the execution of the projects. This approach conceals the problems in requirements, implementation, skills, budget till the end where there is  little room to make any corrections as the budget had already been overshot. 
• The source code for the integration is not available to the Customers and as a result they are tied up with the costly solution provided by the Vendor.

Here is how I propose the above to be solved. Of course, this has to be discussed with the Customer and they have to be comfortable with it.

• Get the fixed cost bids from a few vendors and compare them
• Follow the Agile methodology. This ensures the integration is done in multiple iterations. This will help flush out the requirements, continously tests the quality of the implementation, helps in prioritizing what needs to be done, helps in controlling the budget. This is a change in the mindset for which the Customer and Vendor need to be ready to work with.
• Ensure that the Vendor provides the source code of the Connector as this will reduce the cost in upgrading to new versions and in customizing the solution.

There are other problems that I have observed which the Companies should be aware of

• This is a technical problem and needs strong technical folks with Plateau LMS SME knowledge to head this effort. Do not rely on the non technical managers who may be the SME in this.
• Get the Content right. Prioritize this for the beginning and ensure that different types of Content(AICC, SCORM) can be launched and the run time communication works well.
• Ensure that you get the setup of Domains right and automated.
• Ensure that any data transformation is externalized.