Migrating Courseware Between Systems

Standards compliance means a package can be imported. It does not mean the course works, looks right, or reports the same data.

Migration projects overrun because the difference between those two statements is discovered course by course, after the platform decision has been made.

What actually breaks

Media playback. Video and audio encoded for one player, embedded in a way the new platform handles differently. Common, and it affects a large share of a video-heavy technical library.

Fonts and layout. Content built with authoring-tool-specific styling that renders differently.

Interactions. Drag-and-drop, hotspot and simulation elements built with tool-specific extensions.

Tracking calls. A course written against SCORM 1.2 running on a platform whose implementation differs in the details. It imports, it launches, and completion does not record — which is the worst failure mode because it is silent. See standards.

Sequencing rules, if you used SCORM 2004. Implementations vary substantially and partial support is normal.

Links to external resources that were valid in the old environment.

Assessment behaviour — question randomisation, attempt limits, feedback. Frequently handled by the platform rather than the package, so it does not travel.

Language versions, which multiply every problem above by the number of languages. See localisation.

The records question

Usually more consequential than the content, and usually addressed later.

Completion records are frequently not portable, even where content is. A network's training history is a compliance record, and losing it at a platform change is a serious matter rather than an inconvenience. See training records and compliance.

Ask before signing anything: can historical completions be imported into the new platform, in a form that remains queryable, with dates, versions and certification expiry intact.

If they cannot, the options are a read-only archive of the old system, an export to a data warehouse, or accepting a discontinuity — and each has consequences for audit.

Certification expiry is the acute case. A migration that loses expiry dates means the network cannot tell who is currently qualified, which is a compliance failure rather than a data quality issue.

Testing before committing

The step that prevents the overrun, and it costs a fortnight.

Pick a representative sample, not the simplest courses. Include: your most complex interactive course, a video-heavy one, one with an assessment, one in a non-Latin script if you have them, and an old one from the earliest part of the library.

Import them into a trial instance of the candidate platform.

Then actually take them, end to end, and verify: rendering, media, interactions, assessment behaviour, and — critically — that completion and score record correctly.

Test on the devices technicians use, including mobile. See mobile learning.

And test a record import with a sample of historical completions.

Whatever fails in that fortnight is what the migration will cost. Extrapolate honestly.

Planning the migration

Inventory first. What exists, in what format, built with what tool, in how many languages, when last updated, and how much it is used.

Then retire. A large share of most libraries is obsolete — vehicles out of the parc, procedures superseded, courses with no completions in two years. Migrating content you should have withdrawn is the most avoidable cost in the project.

Prioritise by use. Migrate what is actually taken first.

Rebuild rather than convert where it is cheaper. An old course that would need substantial repair is sometimes better rebuilt in a current tool, particularly if it also needs content updating.

Run in parallel. Both platforms live, with the new one taking new enrolments, for long enough to find problems while there is a fallback.

Keep the old system readable for a defined period afterwards, for records access.

What to negotiate before signing

Export of content and of records, specified, in a stated format, at any time and at termination.

Migration support, and what it covers.

A trial with real content, before commitment.

And what happens to your data if the vendor is acquired or ceases trading.

The costs that are underestimated

Testing and remediation per course, which is the bulk of it.

Language versions, multiplying everything.

Records migration and validation.

Parallel running, which means paying for two systems.

Retraining administrators at every dealer, which in a network is a substantial and easily forgotten line.

And the support load during transition, which is heavier than steady state by a wide margin.

The short version

Importable is not working. Silent tracking failure is the worst outcome and the easiest to miss.

Test a hard sample in a trial instance before committing — a fortnight, and it sizes the project honestly.

Retire before you migrate. Most libraries contain a great deal that should not travel.

The records question decides the schedule, and certification expiry is the acute case.

And negotiate export of both content and records before signing, while you have leverage.

For open web standards that affect portable learning content, consult W3C web standards.