Most useful LMS reporting metrics

Learning management systems are packed with data about your learners and your L&D programme — but what are the most useful LMS reporting metrics to track?

Your LMS is constantly building data on every aspect of your learning programme. All of that data is readily available within the analytics and can be collated within reports.

But with so much information at your disposal, how do you decide which LMS reporting metrics will be most valuable? And how do you make sure the statistics you compile serve a specific purpose without creating an information overload for you or your management team?

Broadly speaking, there are three areas in which LMS reporting metrics are most useful:

1. Proving ROI – Data that proves the value of your LMS to justify a past or future investment, or showcases the financial impact of your L&D programme.

2. Improving learning – Data showing which courses are performing well and which are underperforming, so that you can improve the overall quality of learning experiences.

3. Understanding learners – Data that helps you to see how learners are interacting with your courses on a macro or a micro level so that you can make improvements and interventions.

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the LMS reporting metrics that will build insights in those three areas.

7 best LMS reporting metrics

Some of the most helpful reporting metrics for proving ROI, improving learning or better understanding your learners are:

Enrolment rate (% of visitors that enrol on specific courses)

Tracking enrolment rate shows you what percentage of visitors to your LMS enrolled on each course. This can be helpful to gauge which topics or types of courses are most attractive to your learners.

Equally, you can see which courses have a low enrolment rate and make changes to increase the number of learners enrolling. For example, could the course title or description be updated to make it more engaging? Could you use email, LMS notifications or marketing spots around your LMS to drive more learners to courses with a low enrolment rate?

Completion rate (% of learners who complete the course)

The completion rate shows you what percentage of those who enrolled on a course actually completed it. Obviously, a course with a low completion rate points to some sort of problem with the course or an activity within it.

By following the completion rate metrics, you can take a targeted approach to finding and enhancing courses that are not engaging your learners.

Time to complete (how long it takes to complete a course)

Building on completion rate, time to complete is another useful reporting metric. In general, the longer it takes to complete a course the less likely it is that a learner will complete it. There is simply more chance of them dropping off without finishing the course.

A long average time to completion will suggest that a course is too time-consuming. This could be because the course is too long (in which case it could perhaps be split into two shorter courses), too complicated for learners, or has user experience, navigation or technical issues. 

User last login (when each learner last logged in)

Build a picture of how regularly learners are visiting your LMS by keeping track of the user last login reporting metric. This helps you to see what percentage of your learners are actually active users of your learning platform.

It also helps you to identify learners who are not logging in regularly and formulate a plan to increase engagement levels among those who are not fully engaged with L&D. 

Certification (which learners have completed required training)

Tracking which learners have achieved a specific certification has many uses. It’s an incredibly helpful tool for monitoring and increasing compliance levels. It can also be used to maintain health and safety levels or other key certifications.

Equally, it can be used to highlight candidates for promotions or other tasks that require a specific level of certification.

Average grade (mean scores for a specific assessment)

Track how learners are performing on a specific assignment by checking average grades. This is useful to see if the average grade indicates your learners or over or underperforming on an assignment.

The results of the average grade metrics might lead to you adding additional learning activities or adjusting the difficulty or format of the assessment, depending on the reason for an anomalous average grade. Alternatively, it can help you to gauge learner comprehension and knowledge retention within a particular course.

Learner progress (how users are progressing through a course)

Monitor how users or groups of users are progressing through a course by tracking learner progress. This gives a real-time overview of how learners are progressing, giving the insights you need to make individual interventions or identify bottlenecks within the course.

Talk to us about LMS reporting metrics

While all of the LMS reporting metrics we’ve mentioned above are helpful, the most useful metrics will be the ones that help you achieve your learning objectives or wider business goals. Contact us to discuss what those goals are and how your LMS can measure them.

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