IDC estimates U.S. corporations spent $1.1 billion on e-learning in 1999. Not all of the money was well spent, however. Lessons learned are beginning to emerge: Common among successful organizations is a well documented e-learning strategy that focuses on infrastructure.

Increasingly, firms are turning to e-learning to build competencies and capabilities throughout the extended enterprise of employees, customers, partners, and suppliers (see Figure 1). To accomplish that, organizations need a comprehensive learning strategy that moves beyond basic delivery of learning offerings. Successful organizations are building infrastructure systems that support performance, content, and resource management.

Figure 1. Enterprise-Wide Learning for Performance

The blueprint

To determine the key elements of an e-learning strategy, consider the desired outcomes. A successful e-learning initiative should reduce costs over the long term, improve individual and business unit performance, help maintain core competencies, and enable the organization to react quickly to competitive pressures and market needs. Therefore, an e-learning strategy should motivate people, improve productivity, enable skill development, and aid retention across the enterprise. Those outcomes are wide in range and require thoughtful consideration of the benefits and limitations of learning technologies and a comprehensive look at business, technology, and learning needs.

But ask an organization about its e-learning strategy and the reply will likely include only two components: content and delivery. Although content and delivery are important, they alone don't equal e-learning success. In fact, focusing on content and delivery can create a myopic e-learning vision. Enter infrastructure.

The foundation

Infrastructure is the permanent foundation on which e-learning is built. Infrastructure must address an organization's existing culture, governing principles, processes, and structures that will contribute to e-learning success or failure. Supporting the entire infrastructure is a common vision and language for conveying e-learning across the enterprise.

Developing a common language and vision is similar to excavating and leveling the ground prior to building a house. Language and vision are the shared expectations and interpretation of concepts and operations. In addition to shared terminology, stakeholders must agree on what e-learning will look like and how it will be used by customers, partners, employees, and suppliers. For example, how many different replies would executives have for the question What is e-learning?

Failure to have a common language and vision weakens an e-learning initiative. A common e-learning language and vision should

• agree on what e-learning is at the executive level
• agree on what e-learning looks like across business units
• view e-learning as a solution that meets needs across the enterprise.

Building blocks

The infrastructure's essential elements are building blocks that support one another. Investigating each block or tier and making key decisions early ensures a sound structure that will yield desired performance results.

So what comprises each tier?

The first tier focuses on a company's overall business strategy and architecture. The second tier looks at technical architecture, addressing delivery and presentation of learning technologies and how learning will be managed across the extended enterprise. The third tier addresses learning strategies, focusing on the experiences and content made available to learners. The fourth tier addresses learner identities, needs, and issues.

Figure 2. Infrastructure Model

Business strategy and architecture. The first tier addresses how e-learning should link to the organization's business strategy, issues, and goals. To identify strategic business needs, examine the organization:. When performing analysis, think beyond the organization to consider such factors as how the capabilities of customers, partners, and suppliers affects internal success. Perhaps the company needs to provide enterprise-wide learning due to a recent merger or acquisition. In another scenario, the enterprise might need to reduce time to competence to alleviate rapid hiring or high turnover.

Ask the following questions:

• Do large numbers of learners need access to learning?
• Are learners geographically dispersed?
• Do learners include individuals outside of the organization, such as customers, partners, and suppliers?
• Does learning need to be deployed quickly to multiple locations?

Technical architecture. The second tier of the infrastructure model looks at the required components and functionality of learning. Most e-learning requires an open architecture, and must include standards for integrating existing elements, such as legacy learning, enterprise applications, online learning, and emerging tools (see Figure 3). Be sure to answer the following questions: How will the organization integrate and manage e-learning across the extended enterprise? and Which learning approaches and technologies will the organization embrace?

Figure 3. Technical Architecture Standards

When choosing e-learning approaches and technologies, project managers must coordinate efforts with IT staff. Consider the impact of various e-learning media options, such as WBT, electronic whiteboards, online conferencing, and so forth. Also be sure to answer the following questions:

• Do internal learners have continual access to the corporate intranet? Do enterprise learners have consistent, reliable access to learning and information?
• What's the connection speed for remote users?
• Is network bandwidth an issue?
• Does the program allow data sharing with such other enterprise solutions as HR and finance?
• Are solutions standards-compliant?
• What are the security requirements?

Learning strategy: experiences and content. The third tier of the infrastructure focuses on learning strategy, matching learning experiences and content. Presentation and distribution methods offer a wide array of options and require extensive technical infrastructure. Basic presentation methods include WBT, CBT, interactive TV, teleconferencing, groupware, virtual reality, and electronic performance support systems (EPSS). The most widely used presentation methods are WBT, CBT, and teleconferencing. Distribution methods include cable TV, CD-ROMs, e-mail, extranets, Internet, intranets, LANs, satellite TV, simulators, voicemail, and WANs. The most widely used distribution methods are CD-ROMs, intranets, and the Internet.

Matching content to delivery is critical because different presentation and distribution methods best support various learning experiences. Regardless of presentation and distribution method, e-learning effectiveness depends on its deployment strategy, ease of use, and content quality and relevance.

To develop a comprehensive learning strategy, perform the following tasks:

• Identify existing learning content that meets the organization's business strategy and gaps for which new materials must be procured or developed.
• Document the size of the learning community.
• Track direct costs, indirect costs, and opportunity costs for current training options.
• Catalog current content and format.
• Define current competencies.
• Define learning levels, such as novice, intermediate, or expert.
• Determine whether distribution and presentation technologies are appropriate for conveying specific content and reaching performance goals.
• Select appropriate presentation and distribution methods for the infrastructure.
• Define whether content is best deployed using e-learning or a blended approach.
• Separate instructional material from reference and performance-support materials.
• Determine methods and requirements for providing consistent feedback to learners.
• Identify components of existing instructor-led courses that can be repurposed.
• Determine time required to convert existing materials.

This is an organization's opportunity to reinvent how learning occurs across the extended enterprise. Consider using e-learning to integrate training and instruction with knowledge management initiatives.

Learner identities and needs. To define this tier, try answering the question: How will e-learning meet performance needs and goals, as well as the individual interests and motivation of learners? Consider job title, competencies, and roles an individual must perform, and recognize areas of interest outside current job functions. Also review individual learning styles and preferences.

Perform the following tasks when configuring tier four:

• Use personal profiles to target learning.
• Link learning to career development plans.
• Consider individual technical abilities.
• Determine user's familiarity with technology.
• Consider workspace limitations, such as noise and work distractions.
• Evaluate content to ensure relevance for target learners.
• Analyze varied needs of the internal and enterprise-wide learner populations, such as customers and suppliers.

It's best if e-learners are results-oriented, self-starters who are flexible and comfortable with technology. Determine whether employees, partners, customers, and suppliers reflect those competencies and how the organization can help them feel comfortable with e-learning. An organization may discover that to ensure e-learning success, it must teach some people how to learn and think about learning in a new way.

The mortar

Binding e-learning's infrastructure together is an organization's governing principles, or the shared interpretation of operations and structure. This includes understood and agreed-upon principles for how e-learning will work, the processes and rules in place, and the reporting structure.

To define its governing principles, an organization must

• determine whether learning experiences are centralized or decentralized
• determine the access policy for e-learning, for example, the amount of learning that can be taken without management's approval
• determine how individuals request learning
• develop scheduling policies
• identify and change existing policies that undermine acceptance of e-learning and enterprise-wide learning management
• ensure the same level of reinforcement for e-learning courses and classroom training
• determine ROI measurements
• consider success factors for partially completed courses
• seek buy-in for funding
• identify stakeholders and engage additional stakeholder support.

Raise the roof

For many organizations, e-learning requires a paradigm shift. Developing and instituting governing principles will require careful change management and new incentives and success measures. More important, learners must be able to champion their personal learning needs and career development.

Successful e-learning initiatives require

• a strategy that tightly links e-learning with business needs
• a standards-driven technical architecture that can link to existing systems and be accessed efficiently from globally dispersed populations
• experiences and content that make learning compelling, engaging, and relevant to target audience needs
• support for individual learner profiles, including job or role-based competencies, interests, and long-term career goals
• governing principles and organization-wide support policies.

It's worth investing time to analyze requirements, determine essential elements, and build a solid foundation for e-learning across the extended enterprise. A comprehensive e-learning infrastructure model can be a blueprint for success.

Published: June 2001