Course management software is specialist software designed to help training providers manage all aspects of a training business. It’s a comprehensive system that can make scheduling lots of training courses and managing delegates much easier.
However, many training providers aren’t familiar with the benefits of course management software. In this blog, we will answer common questions about course management software, including its key features, capabilities, benefits and who it’s for.
What is course management software?
What does course management software do?
What is the purpose of a course management system?
What is the difference between course management system and learning management system?
What is the best training management software?
What is course management software?
Course management software is a system specifically designed to help training providers manage and deliver their training courses. It is also known as training course management software, training resource management software or more simply training management software (TMS).
With specialist features, it streamlines the process of managing multiple training courses and can handle hundreds and thousands of delegates. With all of this data in one place, it becomes a central area for training providers to manage their daily tasks and report on KPIs.
It can help a range of companies – from internal HR teams who need to manage employee compliance to commercial training providers who sell open courses to the public.
How does course management software work?
Course management software is usually cloud-based software which means it is accessible over the internet, with no need to download anything. It is provided as a software as a service (SaaS) which means you sign a contract for access to the software and all of its future updates, alongside customer support.
This often includes a customer success manager, a helpdesk team for unforeseen issues and questions, and learning materials such as help guides, webinars and platform training.
What does course management software do?
Course scheduling
Using course management software, training providers can create templates for the courses they run regularly. These work as blueprints and include all the key information about them – like duration, cost and format. These can be scheduled far in advance, as all the information pre-populates with no need for rekeying. This saves time and reduces the chance of human error.
Admins can see which courses are upcoming, edit their details and view real-time data such as booking numbers.
Resource management
Course management software also allows training admins to easily assign resources to courses. Trainer and venue availability is visible, as well as any other relevant information such as trainer qualifications or venue layout, meaning the most suitable can be assigned with ease.
Booking and payments
Many course management systems have functionality for setting up a course booking system. Learners or managers can easily book places, whether that’s through the training provider's website via a plugin that pulls information directly from the software or by contacting the sales or admin team who can process bookings and payments using the software.
Course management software has many payment gateway integrations as well as invoicing and partial payment support so that customers can pay their way.
Automation
One of the key features of course booking software that provides impressive ROI for training providers is automation. Many cogs are turning in a busy training operation and admin teams can get swamped in important but repetitive tasks.
Using workflows, course management software makes it possible to automate much of this admin work. For example, workflows can send out a course booking confirmation as soon as someone books a course, automatically follow up on unpaid invoices, generate and send out certificates, and much more.
Task management
Course management software can also automate the creation of tasks to be assigned to certain members of the admin team when defined parameters are met. This helps admin teams to stay on top of their daily workload and clearly see when tasks are overdue. They can then manage bookings, cancellations, transfers and waiting lists with the touch of a button.
Reporting
With all of this data housed in one place, the reporting capabilities of course management software are vast. Admins can keep it simple with dashboards for at-a-glace information (such as number of courses running today or total overdue tasks) or go deeper with automated, detailed reports sent out to stakeholders at key intervals for data-driven decision-making.
What is the purpose of a course management system?
The purpose of a course management system is to reduce admin for training providers and make running a training company easier with dedicated software that has all the required functionality and data in one place. Without it, training providers may use realms of spreadsheets or stacks of software that are not fit for purpose and don’t talk to each other. For example, we see many training providers trying to force CRMs to work for them which ends up slowing them down.
Day to day, it's most often used by training administrators, but can also be used by the sales team to manage opportunities, trainers to view their upcoming classes and managers for booking training for their workforce.
What is a course management system used for?
A course management system is flexible, so can be used for a range of training operations, whether they offer in-person instructor-led, virtual instructor-led or blended learning within short courses, full-day courses or sessional courses.
Commercial training providers, education providers, and in-house learning and development teams all use course management software.
Typical industries include:
and many more.
Training Industry Benchmark Report insight: 64% of training providers use training management software.
What is the difference between a course management system and a learning management system?
Learning management software (LMS) is about improving the way that learners consume training, whereas course management software is more focused on administrating the training. Course management software is more well-rounded and complex, with more features than an LMS. This means that it is typically more expensive but can provide impressive ROI because it can replace disparate software, increase workforce efficiency and enable training companies to deliver more courses.
An LMS is useful for training providers that offer eLearning to their delegates. It hosts eLearning content online, in an accessible and appealing environment for learners. It can aid with creating content, delivering content, tracking learner journeys and assessments.
Course management software is better suited to training providers who deliver instructor-led training because as we have discussed, it is a useful tool for scheduling courses and assigning resources, as well as automating admin tasks. It is used by training admins to streamline their training management.
Some training providers may have both a learning management system and a course management system if they offer both instructor-led learning and eLearning courses. Course management software can usually integrate with LMS software.
However, some course management systems like accessplanit have a native LMS, reducing the need for two different types of software. If you don't offer eLearning, you won't need an LMS - but with accessplanit, there is the flexibility to diversify into offering eLearning in the future without the need for new software.
Read more: LMS vs TMS: Which is better?
What is the best training management software?
There are many course management software examples and which is best will depend on the training company and their requirements. Some solutions are better suited to smaller training companies while others are best suited for large internal training teams. Do your research by reading customer case studies and reviews on sites like Capterra and G2.
For medium to large commercial training providers who sell instructor-led courses, accessplanit is the most well-rounded solution. With its range of optional modules, it's configurable so you only pay for what you need and nothing you don't.
It is the only training management software that supports manager, trainer and learner access so that your customers can self-serve and further reduces admin workload. It offers an unparalleled level of customer support with two customer success managers per customer and a dedicated support desk.
Download the ultimate guide to training management software to find out more.
Conclusion
Course management software is a smart investment for any growing training company that wants to scale to new heights without being stifled by software not designed for their specific needs.
Want to find out more? See a demo of our course management software to find out how accessplanit can help streamline your training operation so you can plan, manage and sell your training courses and resources, all in one place.
