Today, an effective training and development plan is essential for attracting, retaining, and upskilling your workforce. As a key part of any talent management strategy, HR teams face the growing need to adopt software solutions that allow them plan and manage their training and development strategy.
Two systems often mentioned are the Training Management System (TMS) and the Learning Management System (LMS). Both support corporate learning initiatives, but they serve different purposes.
So how do you know which one your organization really needs? Should you implement a TMS, an LMS, or both?
In this article, we break down the key differences, advantages, and uses of each system—supported by three real-world examples from learning and development teams.
Both a Training Management System and a Learning Management System contribute to employee learning. However, they serve distinct purposes. Understanding their differences is key to choosing the right solution for your organization.
The core function of a TMS is to plan, organize, and manage your company’s training and development plan. They often streamline administrative and logistical tasks and ensure that learning initiatives align with an organization’s priorities.
Above all, a Training Management System is designed for HR managers, training or learning and development managers, and similar profiles. It serves as a centralized platform to manage the entire training lifecycle:
Integrating a TMS into your HR Ecosystem
While a Training Management System can function as a standalone tool, its real power emerges when integrated with an HRMS (Human Resources Management System) or a broader talent management platform. This integration allows members of the HR team to pull relevant data from various sources like performance reviews or skill assessments, for a more robust and strategic training and development plan.
Overall, a TMS is an essential tool for HR teams looking to save time, leverage and secure workforce data, and connect training and development to their broader HR processes.
A Learning Management System is a platform designed to deliver, manage, and track online courses or content to employees. In simple terms, it's a virtual learning hub offering a structured and accessible way to upskill all employees.
Unlike a TMS that allows HR to manage training and development plans or programs, a LMS is primarily used by learners or employees themselves. It offers an immersive, personalized training experience, whether online or blended learning.
Offering a great user experience is a must for any Learning Management System. In addition, an intuitive interface capable of encouraging employees to take regular training courses is key. The more fluid and engaging the LMS, the more attractive training becomes.
A LMS is ideal for organizations wishing to democratize training and development for their entire workforce. It supports employee development by recommending and distributing relevant courses or programs across the board.
Here are 3 concrete use cases to help you make the right choice between TMS and LMS.
Creating a training plan manually, whether on paper, Excel spreadsheets, or across multiple email exchanges requires a considerable amount of time. This inevitably results in a significant gap between your workforce’s expressed needs and the actions your HR team can implement.
By digitizing the training and development plan, HR teams can easily collect and centralize training requests, streamline the validation process, and manage the entire training plan with greater clarity. This not only saves valuable time but also ensures that training actions are aligned with strategic objectives.
A Training Management System is the ideal solution for organizations looking to manage their entire training and development plan efficiently and at scale. While an LMS may deliver individual training sessions, the TMS ensures that every stage of the training lifecycle is streamlined, strategic, and aligned with business goals.
With a TMS, you can move from a traditional training and development plan to secure, data-driven, performance-oriented HR management.
Monitoring training and learning initiatives without measuring their impact is like walking blindfolded. In a context where training and development is a key driver of employee engagement and retention, it is essential to track, measure, and adjust training plans.
By integrating a TMS with a LMS, you can create a cohesive training and development ecosystem that is powered by real workforce data and is fully aligned with your broader HR development strategy.
To go beyond simply organizing training sessions, HR needs to track the impact of training on employee career paths. This is where a TMS and LMS duo truly shines.
Together, a TMS and LMS add a powerful element to any talent management toolkit, enabling HR to be proactive by offering targeted training, anticipating workforce development needs, and effectively mapping your workforce’s expertise.
Saving time on repetitive, time-consuming tasks is major priority for many HR professionals. Here, employing a TMS and LMS can provide a lot of value.
A Training Management System is designed to simplify the day-to-day tasks of HR managers by centralizing and automating a variety of tasks tied training and development: invitations, registrations, reminders, attendance sheets, certificates, absence management, and so on. As a result, HR teams observe:
With a Learning Management System, automation focuses on the learner’s experience. Once the content has been integrated, the LMS manages distribution, notification, reminders, progress tracking and final evaluation.
The result benefits are clear:
As the TMS relieves HR from administrative burdens, the LMS creates a frictionless learning experience. Together, they optimize every stage of training and development, from planning to data analysis.