Quick Answer:
A learning management system (LMS) is software that lets an organisation create, assign, deliver and track training online from one place. Employees log in, complete courses at their own pace, and the system records who has done what and when. Australian workplaces mainly use an LMS for compliance training, onboarding and upskilling, because it replaces classroom scheduling and spreadsheets with automated assignment, reminders and audit ready records. You need one when you have more people to train than you can track by hand, when you need to prove training happened, or when staff are spread across sites or working remotely.
A learning management system, usually shortened to LMS, is the platform behind almost every online course your employees complete at work.
It plans, delivers and evaluates learning programs, and it keeps the record that shows the training was done.
The term gets used loosely. You will also hear learning activity management system, training management system, e-learning platform or learning experience platform.
They overlap, and the differences are covered below, but they all exist to do the same basic job: get the right training to the right people and prove it happened.
This guide explains what an LMS is, how it works, what it is used for in Australian workplaces, the benefits, how it differs from the other systems it gets confused with, and how to decide whether your organisation needs one.
In this blog
- What Is a Learning Management System (LMS)?
- How Does a Learning Management System Work?
- Why Use a Learning Management System?
- Types of Learning Management Systems
- LMS vs LXP vs Training Management System vs HRMS
- Benefits of Using a Learning Management System
- Do You Need a Learning Management System?
- What to Look for in a Learning Management System
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is a Learning Management System (LMS)?
A learning management system is software that helps an organisation plan, execute and evaluate learning programs for its employees.
It provides the framework for every part of the employee learning process: building or uploading courses, assigning them to people, delivering them online, assessing understanding, and reporting on completion.
An LMS is largely used to provide employees with e-learning that can be accessed anywhere using the internet. Employees can learn new skills based on their requirements, and each learning program may or may not carry a time limit for completion.
An LMS is an essential part of the employee learning and development mechanism and is often incorporated into a human resource management system (HRMS), so that training records sit alongside the employee record, policy acknowledgements and performance reviews.
For HR personnel and managers, who are usually in charge of learning and development, an LMS helps to identify the need for training, upload training based on those needs, define and analyse individual and organisational learning goals, track the progress of each program towards those goals, and collect information for decision makers.
How Does a Learning Management System Work?
Most modern learning management systems are cloud based, so there is nothing to install and staff log in through a browser or mobile device.
The workflow is the same in almost every system:
- Content: Courses are either built in the system, bought from a content provider, or uploaded in a standard format such as SCORM or xAPI so they run in any compatible LMS.
- Assignment: An administrator assigns courses to individuals, teams, roles or locations, with due dates. New starters can be enrolled automatically at onboarding.
- Delivery: Employees complete the course at their own pace, usually with videos, scenarios, and a short assessment at the end.
- Reminders and escalation: The system chases incomplete training automatically and can notify managers when deadlines are missed.
- Records and reporting: Every completion, score and date is stored against the employee, and reports can be pulled by person, course, team or content version.
That last step is what separates an LMS from simply emailing people a link. The record is the product.
Why Use a Learning Management System?
The main purpose behind using an LMS is to improve the learning process for both the employees who are learning and the managers who are administering it.
It is used not just to host online learning sessions but also to manage course registration, skills gap analysis, and the tracking and reporting of data from each learning program. Being an online tool means it can be accessed at any time, from any location.
In Australian workplaces the most common uses are:
- Compliance training: Work health and safety, bullying and harassment, privacy, code of conduct and sector specific courses, delivered at induction and refreshed annually. Our list of mandatory compliance training covers what is usually expected.
- Onboarding: Giving every new starter the same induction, policy training and system walkthroughs before their first week is over.
- Upskilling and professional development: Role based learning paths, leadership programs and product training.
- Collaborative and social learning: Shared resources, discussion and peer learning inside the same platform.
The need is real. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Work-Related Training and Adult Learning 2024-25 release found that only 19% of Australians aged 15 to 74 had taken part in work related training in the previous 12 months, down from 23% four years earlier, and that 49% of that training was delivered online or virtually.
Fewer people are being trained, and the training that does happen is increasingly online, which is exactly the gap an LMS is built to close.
Types of Learning Management Systems
Learning management systems (or “LMS systems”, as people often search for them) are usually grouped in three ways:
- By hosting: Cloud based (software as a service, hosted by the vendor, updated automatically) or self hosted (installed on your own servers, more control, more IT work). Almost all new deployments in Australia are cloud based.
- By licence: Commercial (a subscription that includes support and often content) or open source (free to use, such as Moodle, but you supply the hosting, configuration, content and support).
- By audience: Corporate learning management systems built for employee training and compliance records, and academic learning management systems built for schools and universities with classes, grades and assignments. Google Classroom and Canvas are academic examples. A workplace needs the corporate kind.
LMS vs LXP vs Training Management System vs HRMS
These four get confused constantly, and vendors do not help. The short version:
For most Australian employers, an LMS inside an HRMS is the practical answer, because the training record ends up next to the policy the employee signed and the incident they reported, rather than in a separate silo.
See our explainer on what a human resource management system is for how the modules fit together.
Benefits of Using a Learning Management System
Making Use of Technology Staff Already Have
The majority of the workforce already has capable technology at work, whether laptops, desktops or phones.
An LMS uses those resources to deliver training efficiently at an individual level, rather than classroom training that needs rooms, trainers and substantial coordination.
Centralised Learning to Save Time and Costs
All the essential learning resources can be stored and accessed from one centralised location.
HR personnel and managers can assign and manage training for every employee across the organisation from the same screen.
This centralised mechanism reduces the time and cost of managing employee training.
Better Evaluating, Tracking and Reporting
With an LMS, evaluating individual performance and tracking each employee’s learning progress becomes far easier.
Decision makers have detailed evaluation reports to design future programs, and, just as importantly, the organisation can produce a completion record for any employee and any course on demand.
A Streamlined Learning and Development Process
Technology makes the learning and development process easier by integrating training programs that can be assigned quickly and completed efficiently.
A good LMS has a simple interface that needs no training itself, for employees or for HR. Sentrient’s learning and development plans tie those programs to individual goals.
Easy Updates
A learning management system is designed to be simple to implement and upgrade.
Because content is managed centrally, any change to an existing course, or any new course, is available to employees immediately, and older versions are kept so you can show which version a person completed.
Do You Need a Learning Management System?
Not every organisation does. A team of six in one office can train people face to face and keep a spreadsheet. You are likely to need an LMS when one or more of these is true:
- You need to prove training happened: Regulators, auditors, insurers and courts ask for records. Under WHS law and the positive duty, being able to show who completed which training and when is part of demonstrating you took reasonable steps.
- You have more people than you can track by hand: Once you pass a few dozen staff, spreadsheets and email reminders start to fail quietly.
- Your people are spread out: Multiple sites, shift workers, remote and hybrid staff, or a field workforce that cannot attend a classroom.
- Training has to be repeated: Annual refreshers and induction for every new starter are far easier to automate than to run manually.
- You are in a regulated sector: NDIS, aged care, healthcare, financial services, construction and food service all carry training expectations that need a record.
What to Look for in a Learning Management System
- Australian compliance content included, or easy to add: Courses written for Australian and New Zealand law, not adapted from overseas.
- SCORM and xAPI support: So you can bring your own content or move content between systems.
- Automatic assignment and reminders: By role, location and start date, with escalation to managers.
- Reporting by person, course and content version: The version matters when the law changes.
- Integration with your HR system: So the record sits with the employee file.
- Mobile access: For staff who do not sit at a desk.
- Simple enough that nobody needs training to use it.
If you are comparing platforms, our guide to the best learning management systems in Australia compares the main options side by side.
Conclusion
A learning management system helps an organisation manage employee training and completion efficiently, and it produces the record that proves the training was done.
Often paired with other employee management activities, an LMS is an integral part of a human resource management system.
Sentrient’s HRMS includes a learning management system alongside its other HR modules, with legally endorsed compliance training courses for Australia and New Zealand built in.
A Learning Management System with the Compliance Courses Already in It
Sentrient’s cloud based LMS comes with legally endorsed Australian and New Zealand compliance courses, automatic assignment and reminders, and records that sit with the employee file. Most organisations are live within about a week.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Is an LMS System in Simple Terms?
An LMS system, or learning management system, is the software an organisation uses to give people training online and keep track of who has completed it. Employees log in, do the course, and the system records the result.
2. What Is an Example of a Learning Management System?
In workplaces, examples include Sentrient, ELMO and Go1 in Australia, and global platforms such as Docebo and Cornerstone. In education, Moodle, Canvas and Google Classroom are learning management systems built for schools and universities rather than employers.
3. Is Google Classroom a Learning Management System?
Yes, but an academic one. It manages classes, assignments and grades for students. It does not do what a workplace needs, such as assigning compliance courses by role, chasing overdue completions or producing audit ready training records.
4. What Are the Types of Learning Management Systems?
They are usually grouped by hosting (cloud or self hosted), by licence (commercial or open source) and by audience (corporate or academic). Most Australian employers choose a cloud based, commercial, corporate LMS, often as a module within their HR system.
5. What Is the Difference Between an LMS and an HRMS?
An HRMS is the employee system of record covering onboarding, leave, performance, policies and records. An LMS delivers and tracks training. Many HR systems, including Sentrient’s, include an LMS as one of their modules, so the training record sits with the rest of the employee file.
6. Does a Small Business Need a Learning Management System?
Not always. A very small team in one location can train face to face and keep a simple record. Once you need to prove compliance training was completed, have staff across sites or shifts, or run induction and annual refreshers for more than a handful of people, an LMS saves more time than it costs.
7. How Much Does a Learning Management System Cost in Australia?
Pricing is usually per user per month or per year, and it varies with the number of users, whether content is included and the level of support. Open source systems are free to licence but you pay for hosting, setup, content and maintenance. Ask any vendor whether compliance courses are included, because buying them separately changes the comparison.
8. What Does SCORM Mean and Why Does It Matter?
SCORM is a technical standard for packaging e-learning content so it runs in any compatible LMS. If your content and your LMS both support SCORM (or its successor xAPI), you can move courses between systems and buy courses from different providers without being locked in.
