LMS Requirements Checklist: How to Choose the Right Platform

Most associations and professional networks spend months evaluating learning platforms. Yet a common problem emerges.

They discover their shiny new system can't track member credentials properly, doesn't give them the analytics they desperately need, or worse, makes learning so clunky that members just give up.

Here's what usually happens: Teams fall for impressive demos rather than thinking through what they actually need every day. The result? Buyer's remorse and budgets that go down the drain.

With a detailed LMS requirements checklist, you can cut through vendor promises and choose a solution that supports your members' growth and your strategic goals. 

Let's explore how to build a comprehensive requirements list that will help you choose the best learning management system.

TL;DR - LMS Requirements Checklist

Before you evaluate solutions, you need a clear framework of what your association actually needs. 

Here's a quick overview of the essential LMS system requirements we'll discuss later in this article:

1. Learning management system functional requirements
2. Technical requirements
3. Security requirements
4. Business requirements
5. Reporting requirements 

Why LMS Requirements Matter

Learning solutions are a major investment for associations and professional networks, both financially and strategically. 

The right LMS becomes a growth engine in various ways, such as:

• Bringing in non-dues revenue when you sell courses
• Keeping members around longer because they value the ongoing education
• Helping members build real connections that go way beyond just taking a course

Here's the problem: Without a clear requirements list, you might end up with a system that drives your team crazy, leaves members confused, and collects dust while you go back to running everything through spreadsheets.

When you have well-thought-out learning management system requirements, you get a roadmap for all those vendor conversations and demos.

Your requirements help you evaluate different options fairly, know exactly what to ask, and skip over the bells and whistles that won't actually fit how your association works.

Plus, clear requirements get everyone on the same page about what success looks like before you put pen to paper on any contract.

The Complete LMS Requirements Checklist

Building your requirements list means thinking through every dimension of how members will interact with your learning solution and how your team will manage it. 

Each category below addresses different capabilities that together create a comprehensive evaluation framework:

LMS Functional Requirements

Functional requirements define the day-to-day capabilities your solution must deliver. These features determine how easily your team creates educational experiences and how smoothly members access them.

Your learning management system functional requirements list should cover the main areas below:

• Course Creation Tools: Your education team needs intuitive tools that let them build courses without technical expertise. Look for a solution where you can mix and match content formats (videos, PDFs, quizzes, live sessions) to give members the learning styles they prefer.
• Member Registration Processes: How smooth is the enrollment process? Can it make or break whether members finish what they start? Your LMS needs to let members sign up on their own or let your team register them, and either way, it should sync with your membership database without you having to lift a finger.
• Mobile Access Capabilities: Your members pull out their phones to learn while they're commuting or waiting between meetings. An LMS with a responsive design ensures courses remain accessible wherever professional development fits into members' busy schedules.
• Certificate Management: As a professional network or association, you need to provide credentials or continuing education units. You'll want a solution that generates certificates automatically, which saves administrative time while giving members instant proof of their achievements.

LMS Technical Requirements

Poor data flow is a nightmare because it means your staff does the same work twice and your members deal with a frustrating, disjointed experience.

Here's what your technical setup needs to handle:

• API Capabilities: You want strong APIs so your LMS can talk to your association management system and CRM without any hiccups. Go for learning systems with RESTful APIs and documentation clear enough that your IT team won't pull their hair out.
• Single Sign-On Options: Why should your members juggle different logins for community, learning, and membership portals? SSO makes everything flow smoothly and reduces the number of "I forgot my password" requests that eat up your staff's time.
• Data Migration Support: When you're importing existing course content, learner records, and completion histories, you need a solid plan and real support from your vendor. Ask potential providers how they actually handle data migration and what kind of help they'll give you when you're in the thick of it.

LMS Security Requirements

Each member trusts you with personal information, payment details, and professional credentials. 

You need to ensure your preferred solution meets various security requirements to protect that trust and keep you compliant.

You can evaluate solutions based on the dimensions below:

• User Permission Controls: Your team members need different access levels to course content, member data, and financial information. Granular settings like row-level permissions and audit trails let you maintain security while giving staff necessary access.
• Compliance Certifications: Depending on your industry and member locations, you may need to meet GDPR requirements, WCAG standards, or specific data residency requirements. Verify that the solution you choose holds relevant certifications rather than promising future compliance.
• Data Encryption Standards: Both stored data and transmitted data should use industry-standard encryption protocols. Your association members expect their information to remain secure during login and payment activities.

LMS Business Requirements

Business requirements are about matching what your learning system can do with your actual strategic goals and how you operate day-to-day.

You want to make sure your LMS investment gives you real, measurable wins instead of just letting you check off technology boxes:

• Revenue Models: If you monetize courses, look for a solution with built-in payment processing, flexible pricing options, and support for both one-time purchases and membership bundles. The solution's e-commerce capabilities should integrate with your accounting systems.
• Scalability Paths: Does your organization serve 500 members today but plans to reach 2,000 and more over the coming years? You should ensure the pricing and performance of your preferred solution accommodate growth without forcing expensive migrations down the road.
• Vendor Support Levels: When courses break down before a major certification deadline, you need responsive help. Assess vendors by looking at their support hours, how fast they promise to respond, and whether you get a dedicated account manager who actually gets what associations need.

LMS Reporting Requirements

Analytics turn your LMS from just a way to deliver content into something that actually helps you make smart calls about your education programs and where you can make money.

Your reporting requirements list should address the following:

• Learner Analytics: You should be able to track which courses members complete, where they struggle, and how different segments engage with content. Completion rates, quiz scores, and time-to-finish metrics help you refine how you’ve designed your courses. 
• Revenue Reporting: When you sell courses or certifications, you want to see clearly which ones bring in the most money, which pricing strategies work, and how much your education programs add to your non-dues revenue.
• Engagement Insights: Besides course completion data, look for a learning solution that reveals patterns like peak learning times, preferred content formats, and topics that drive discussion.

All these requirements capture what makes a good learning management system for your specific needs, which you can use to create compelling educational experiences for your members.

How Organization Type Shapes LMS Requirements

Different organizations need totally different capabilities from their learning management system. What matters most depends on your association type, who your members are, and where you're trying to go strategically.

Let's break down how requirements change based on these factors:

1. Associations: If you run a professional association, you typically need strong credentialing capabilities, ways to track CEUs, and tight connections with your membership databases.

Take a medical association, for instance. They might need detailed audit trails to prove continuing education compliance. A trade association will be more concerned about enrolling whole groups of members at once.

The solution you pick should work well for both individual learners and organizational accounts where one person manages multiple users.

2. Professional Networks: These organizations usually care more about peer learning and content that members create together than formal certification programs. They're more focused on connection and community learning. The networks benefit from learning management systems that combine online communities with structured courses, allowing your members to move smoothly between self-paced education and collaborative, peer-to-peer discussions.

3. Other Organization Types: Corporate training teams usually want compliance tracking and ways to connect with HR systems. Educational institutions need grade management features.

When you understand these differences, you won't get stuck with a solution loaded down with features you'll never touch.

How to Prioritize LMS Requirements

Not every requirement carries equal weight, and when you try to check every single box, you end up with analysis paralysis, or you overpay for unnecessary features.

Informed prioritization helps you focus on what matters for your members and team.

Start by separating must-have requirements from nice-to-have features. 

Must-haves are the things you absolutely can't run without. We're talking mobile access or whatever compliance certifications your industry demands.

Nice-to-haves might be gamification features that would make things more interesting, but won't kill the deal if they're missing.

Now, here's who you need at the table: Your education director knows what it takes to create content. Your IT team understands what needs to connect with what. Your finance department has opinions about payment processing.

Don't forget your members, either. They're the ones who can tell you which personalized learning platform features would actually get them more engaged versus which ones just sound impressive in a pitch deck.

Create a simple LMS requirements template that scores each requirement on both importance and urgency. 

High scores in both dimensions become your top evaluation criteria, while low scores might not belong on your list at all.

You can also explore our learning management system demo guide to understand what questions to ask during vendor presentations.

Move Forward with an LMS that Supports Your Goals

Choosing the right learning solution requires more than checking boxes on a feature list. You need a system that understands your association’s needs and grows alongside your organization.

At Forj, we've helped associations create learning experiences that drive both member value and organizational growth. 

Our member and learning experience solution brings together everything you need to succeed in a unified system purpose-built for professional communities.

Here's what you get:

1. Integrated Learning and Community: While Forj Learn delivers powerful course creation and management capabilities, Forj Connect keeps members engaged between formal learning experiences. The two features help your members move more easily from structured education to peer knowledge sharing.
2. Data That Drives Decisions: Forj Analyze goes beyond standard LMS reporting to reveal important behavioral patterns. You can track the complete member journey across learning and community. You can also identify high-value member segments and at-risk learners before they disengage. Forj Analyze also surfaces untapped revenue opportunities by connecting course engagement to purchasing behavior. Our unified analytics combine data from learning and community to give you the strategic insights that standalone systems miss.
3. Seamless Member Journeys: Journey by Forj eliminates the friction points that fragment the member experience. Your members move fluidly from completing a certification to discussing concepts with peers to discovering their next learning pathway. All this happens without changing platforms or logging in multiple times. Every touchpoint reinforces engagement while you gain unified visibility into what drives member success and loyalty.
4. Specificity to Professional Networks and Associations: Ours isn't a generic LMS solution adapted for use by associations. It's a purpose-built community and learning experience solution that understands credentialing workflows and membership structures. We also understand the unique challenges professional organizations face when delivering education at scale.

Book a detailed demo today to explore how Forj transforms learning experiences.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Let's wrap this up with answers to common questions about building your LMS requirements checklist:

Should LMS Requirements Differ for Associations and Organizations?

Yes. Associations need features like credentialing management, CEU tracking, and member-specific pricing that corporate training programs don't require.

Your LMS requirements list should reflect how members engage with professional development differently from employees who complete mandatory training. 

Associations also need tighter integration with membership databases and event solutions to create cohesive member experiences.

What LMS Requirements Are Critical for Associations?

Mobile access is among the most critical for an LMS because busy professionals learn between meetings and during commutes. Credentialing and certificate management come next if you offer continuing education credits.

You also need robust reporting to track both learning outcomes and revenue from course sales. 

Finally, go for a solution that integrates learning with community features because professional development happens through both formal courses and peer knowledge sharing.

Who Should Be Involved In Creating an LMS Requirements Checklist?

Include your education or learning director, IT team, finance department, and membership staff in requirements discussions. 

Each role brings different perspectives on what the solution must deliver.

Your education team understands content creation needs, while the IT department understands the integrations you need. 

Your finance team can offer insights into payment processing, while membership staff can discuss what you should prioritise to improve the member experience. 

You should also consider asking members about their learning preferences before finalizing the requirements.

Conclusion

A detailed LMS requirements checklist helps you choose a learning solution that actually meets your association's needs instead of just ticking vendor boxes. 

When you think through functional, technical, security, business, and reporting requirements, you create a framework that helps you assess options objectively and ensure all your stakeholders align on priorities.

The right learning solution does more than deliver courses. 

You need a unified experience that connects formal education with community engagement while providing the analytics to measure outcomes and identify growth opportunities.

We've built our entire solution around these needs. Learning, community, and insights come together to make one seamless member experience designed specifically for associations and professional networks.

Start building your ideal learning experience with Forj today.