Although Learning Management Systems (LMS) are well-established foundations for most Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) solutions across the industry, Federal Government users have very different challenges from their private sector counterparts. Some of these challenges include incorporating and automating the use of established standard forms and related workflows, reporting and tracking data according to specific government requirements, and emerging requirements for enabling courseware sharing among Federal organizations and eventually the public. With many large Federal organizations facing these challenges recently, several common themes and issues have been identified by Federal users in both the military and civilian agencies. This paper will draw on specific experiences from both military and civilian agencies over the past few years to highlight the common themes and issues, how they are currently being addressed, how they will be addressed in the future, and how other Federal organizations can benefit from these "lessons learned." Specific case studies will be provided using several different LMS products, and will include the following Federal organizations:
The US Air Force The Government Plateau Users Group (representing over fourteen civilian agencies, including the IRS, TSA, VA, and USDA)
The Departments of Labor
The Department of Justice
The following key themes and issues will be discussed at length in the paper:
Automation of standard forms (e.g., SF182) and approval workflow
Reporting (including the new OPM Enterprise Human Resources Integration - EHRI - requirements)
Integration with Learning Content Management Systems and Content interoperability
Competency and Force Management Federal government-specific implementation and maintenance
The paper will also emphasize the role that enterprise LMS products are currently playing within each Federal organization, how they will be changing in the future, and leading issues still concerning current Federal LMS users.