Absorb LMS vs eFront Learning

All in all, the Absorb LMS system is a user-friendly system for the employee as well as the administrator. Creating courses is not cumbersome and allows for a variety of types. The only missing type of content that it doesn't allow is the upload of a PPT that can be viewed directly in the training window instead of forcing the download to the user's computer. The workaround is to save the PPT presentation as a video or to create a scorm file. I really like the scheduled emailed course activity reports that can be set up for course owners so that they may track course completion by users. All in all, I would highly rate the system from a cost standpoint, user-friendliness, and in the area of course creation. I do wish the more advanced reporting features were included without a significant cost upgrade.

You must have an IT staff with knowledge of PHP in order to install and maintain the system. This is not a plug and play solution by any means. If you have that staff, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It's a very robust system. Once we solved initial bugs caused by our own errors during installation, the support desk requests have dropped to almost zero, with nearly 2,000 users online every day. That's a good, solid program.

• The admin reporting dashboard is amazing. Customizing widgets with course stats for our courses allows us to see (or share with stakeholders) visual representations of our progress immediately upon login.
• Publishing SCORM content from Create into the LMS is seamless. Maintenance and editing is a breeze!
• I have worked in many systems in my tenure as a designer at multiple companies- the admin side of Absorb is by FAR the easiest to learn and use. Many systems have a deeply nested structure that is difficult to navigate - Absorb has lots of features and options but doesn't nest them in a way that difficult to understand.
• The LMS is flexible and provides options regarding course setup that is nearly limitless. If you want multiple lessons within one course you can do that- if you want only one lesson per course but then you want to build a curriculum you can do that. You can enforce orders with ease. Set up enrollment rules with ease. Use email messaging from within the system- or turn it off for individual courses while not affecting global levels. Those are just a few examples of things I have done in Absorb with ease that couldn't be done in other systems I worked with.

• courses management
• quizes management
• variety of addons

• Communication of updates in the Platform can be improved.
• Social interactions amongst the learners can be improved to facilitate an environment of learning.
• A quick search bar can be added to search for courses.

• Merging this software may be difficult and cumbersome at times
• Reporting features can be worked on for better and easier usability
• Not very easy to organize files/folders in the system

I enjoy using Absorb, especially as a first-time user and not being familiar with an LMS. I have also received a great amount of support.

I'm not sure what else is out there that has the ability to do what our organization needs. We've come across things we didn't like about it, but due to costs of switching and possibly lack of other options, we'd probably renew with eFront. Also, we've invested a lot of time in the software and it seems to be satisfactory at this point.

For most situations, it is extremely easy to learn and use. There are ergonomic issues that seem a bit tedious, but overall, we are seeing a very high success rate with new registrants. They are learning the material and earning their certificates at a rapid pace. This is a good program once it is properly installed by a knowledgeable systems architect.

Support is very helpful when needed. It is easy to open a ticket and support is always quick to assist in getting the issue fixed the first time. My only issue was an issue we had for a long time when trying to get the file feed up and running which never seemed to work right, however it does now work correctly the way we want it to.

Two disadvantages: 1. Many staffers who respond don't know how to solve the problem using the User Interface - they want to work from the back end, to which I have no access. 2. The support staff are in Europe and I am in California, so there is an overnight delay in getting a response.

I'm not the most technical person, so some of the training didn't make sense to me. It wasn't a complete training - it was more topical. The people working at EFront were happy to answer my questions later when I resorted to learning it by doing. This was very valuable to me.

It's important to have a robust course catalog before launching. Courses should be QC'ed to be sure there are no errors or other problems. Don't let engineers write quiz questions! Remember that well-formed quiz questions are not designed to trick or fool the user - they are used to reinforce learning through repetition of important concepts. The "grade" isn't as important as the assurance the information has stuck.

Absorb LMS is the only LMS we have used and we made the selection based on recommendations from other Learning and Development Professionals in our industry.

Unfortunately I have not had the chance to try other products, however I would think eFront would stack up fairly well against competitors and it provides all the necessary tools to stay compliant and excel at having efficient KICs.

• Absorb [LMS] allows us to decrease live customer training by 80 percent
• Required much larger time investment than expected
• Consulting services routinely delivered modules late

• We decided not to continue the trial because it will be either very expensive or impossible to modify the system to our requirements