E-learning and LMS blog articles

Organisational learning and development requirements can vary dramatically depending on sector. While educational facilities may need diverse assessment capabilities and charities may focus on quickly closing skills gaps, public sector organisations often face a broader range of L&D challenges. With a large number of employees across various departments working from a range of geographical locations, government organisations must find the right L&D tools and technology to overcome training obstacles. And one of the most effective ways for public sector organisations to achieve this is with the help of a multi-tenant LMS. Keep reading to find out more.

What is a multi-tenant LMS?

A learning management system (LMS) with multitenancy functionality is made up of multiple independent learning environments known as ‘tenants’. These tenants consist of separate groups of users who share common access and privileges. Each tenant can have its own unique library of content, branding, customisation settings and can be monitored on an individual basis with reporting and analysis and tenant level. Tenants can be managed centrally by key admins or management can be delegated to individual tenants, meaning department heads with their own training tenant can monitor employee progress at department level.

Read our LMS functionality page to find out more about multitenancy with a Hubken solution.

What are some of the advantages of using a multi-tenant LMS for government organisations?

Catering to a diverse range of training requirements

As public sector organisations are typically composed of large workforces spread across various departments responsible for diverse services, L&D requirements and objectives can be drastically different between one department and another. When a government LMS relies on one ‘single tenant’ solution, all L&D components such as training content, learning plans, reports, and assessments must be housed in one place – making it difficult for learners to access relevant content.

With a multi-tenant government LMS, each department or group within an organisation can have its own learning environment, designed to cater to the unique L&D requirements of each tenant group. Each tenant can be easily managed by admins at tenant level, ensuring that learning activities are focused on the specific skills and objectives of each group, rather than delivering generic training that has no relevance to the job functions within a department.

Multitenancy allows organisations to deliver a truly personalised learning experience, taking into account the preferences, learning objectives, and training styles of each tenant group. For example, a department that has had training success by offering a relaxed, informal training approach can take advantage of fun e-learning content such as gamified lessons, situation training, videos and more. On the other hand, a department which requires a more structured, formal learning environment can adjust its content accordingly.

Perhaps one of the most critical considerations for local government training is compliance training which ensures that legal obligations are met by achieving a fully compliant workforce. When compliance training is delivered with a multi-tenant government LMS, reporting and analytics tools at tenant level make it easier to certify compliance for each department and create an audit trail which can be tracked and extracted centrally.

Lower cost of ownership

Government organisations with multiple departments responsible for a wide range of services often have huge workforces with unique L&D requirements. Without the option for a multi-tenant LMS, each department would need its own unique e-learning platform. An organisation with multiple LMSs will soon find itself spending a great deal of money on the acquisition and long-term management of their online L&D, with hosting fees, license fees, implementation costs and any other hidden costs. But having a multi-tenant LMS means a reduced cost of ownership as one platform can serve multiple departments with numerous learning environments.

Although each tenant boasts its own content and branding, they will share site-wide infrastructure and can be managed centrally meaning resources can be made universal so that they are shared across all tenants – saving costs on content curation and management.

Public facing tenants

As a sector that serves the needs of the public, it is beneficial for government organisations to maximise the potential of resources, platforms and materials by expanding them to external public use. An LMS that has been acquired for internal L&D purposes can indeed be extended to serve those outside of the organisation with activities such as creating and delivering training development courses for members of the public or offering gamified educational content for students.

However, without a multi-tenant LMS, government organisations would have to acquire an entirely separate LMS to achieve external L&D practices. Multitenancy allows organisations to manage a platform that successfully delivers local government training and external training for members of the public. What’s more, with an LMS like Totara Learn, eCommerce functionality allows organisations to sell and manage courses and training programmes online in a separate tenant.

Training for remote workers

With an extensive workforce across a vast geographical location, many employees in the public sector work in offices spread across the UK or remotely at home. When employees are dispersed across multiple locations, delivering effective and relevant L&D opportunities can be a challenge.

With a multi-tenant LMS, tenants can group together learners based on their departments, job roles, proficiency level, or new starter status so that they can be united with the relevant team members regardless of location. As a result, a multi-tenant government LMS can create a better sense of teamwork during the online learning process and makes it easier for managers and team leaders to oversee L&D activities and monitor progress. When it comes to remote learning security, a fully hosted SaaS LMS platform gives government organisations the peace of mind that users are accessing the platform safely, from anywhere and at any time.

How to achieve multitenancy within your organisation

An LMS fit for government organisations must not only cater to its complex structures and training requirements but the additional requirements that come with being a public sector organisation. These requirements range from strict data security measures to scalability, and accessibility. As a result, achieving multitenancy requires a platform with the right functionality and a hosting provider who can assist with additional requirements. 

Our multi-tenant LMS solutions offer the features and functionality required to successfully manage multiple effective learning environments whilst adhering to the strict stipulations that come with being a public sector organisation. As an approved Crown Commercial Service supplier, our services and platforms are available via G-Cloud 13. We have plenty of experience working with many public sector organisations and with years of experience, we know how to deliver the most effective, secure and diverse LMS for government purposes. If you’re ready to elevate your current L&D with a powerful multi-tenant platform, get in touch with one of our experts today.