Ask the vendor to show you your own real tasks, live, rather than a scripted tour: loading one of your courses, enrolling a group, running your compliance report and logging in through your own single sign-on. Then check the proposal for the total cost over the whole contract, what happens to your data when you leave, and the service levels in writing. If anything matters a lot to you, ask for a short paid or free pilot with clear success criteria before you commit.
Before the demo: send the vendor your script
A demo goes best when you set the agenda. A week before, send the vendor:
- Three to five real tasks your admins do every week (for example, "enrol all new starters in induction and chase anyone overdue").
- One or two of your own courses as SCORM files, so you can watch them load and track.
- The report you most often get asked for, such as mandatory training completion by department.
- Your sign-in set-up, for example Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) or Google.
- A list of must-haves and nice-to-haves, so you can score every vendor the same way.
Invite an admin, a line manager and someone from IT. Each of them will spot different problems.
Questions to ask during the demo
Content and courses
- Can you load our SCORM course now and show us completion, pass/fail, score, time spent and resume working?
- Which SCORM versions do you support (1.2, 2004)? Do packages from Articulate Storyline, Rise and Adobe Captivate work without changes?
- If we update a course, what happens to learners who have already completed it? Do we lose their records?
- Do you track video, xAPI, cmi5 or LTI content? Ask them to show it, not just say yes.
- Is there an off-the-shelf course library? Can we edit those courses, and are they in the languages we need?
- If we leave, can we take our courses with us in a standard format?
Learners and managers
- Show us what a learner sees on a phone.
- How do managers see their team's overdue training without asking the L&D team?
- How are reminders and refresher training set up when a certificate expires?
- How does the platform meet accessibility standards? Is there a published accessibility statement?
Admin and reporting
- Show us how to build our compliance report from scratch. How long did it take?
- Can we schedule reports to go to managers automatically?
- Can reports be exported (for example to Excel) or connected to tools like Power BI?
- Is there an audit trail showing who changed what and when?
Integration and sign-in
- Show single sign-on working with our identity provider.
- How do new starters and leavers get into and out of the system? Is there an HR integration, an API or a spreadsheet import?
- Who builds and maintains integrations, and what does that cost?
Security and data protection
- Which security certifications do you hold (for example ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus)? Can we see the certificates and their expiry dates?
- Where is our data hosted, and who are your sub-processors?
- Are you registered with the ICO? Will you sign our data processing agreement?
Support and the company behind it
- What are your support hours, response times and resolution targets? Are they in the contract?
- What uptime do you commit to in the service level agreement (SLA), and what happens if you miss it?
- Who will we actually speak to after we sign: a named account manager, a help desk, or both?
- How long have you been trading, and can we speak to two customers of a similar size?
What to verify in an LMS proposal before signing
A good demo does not guarantee a good contract. Before you sign, check the proposal for each of these points.
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Total cost | Licences for every year of the contract, set-up fees, training, integrations, extra storage, support tiers and content. Compare like for like across vendors. |
| Pricing model | Per user, per active user or a band? What happens if your headcount grows or shrinks mid-contract? |
| Price rises | Is there a cap on renewal increases? |
| Contract length and notice | Initial term, auto-renewal terms and the notice period to leave. |
| Service levels | Uptime commitment, support response and resolution times, and any service credits, all written into the contract. |
| Implementation scope | Exactly what the vendor will do to get you live, by when, and what you need to provide. |
| Data migration | Who moves your users, courses and training history, in what format, and at what cost. |
| Exit and data return | How and in what format you get your data back when you leave, how long you have, and when it is deleted. |
| Security and compliance | Certificates in date, a signed data processing agreement and a named data protection contact. |
| Content ownership | You own the courses you create. Check the licence terms for any library content. |
| Roadmap promises | If a feature you need is "coming soon", get the date in writing or don't rely on it. |
Should I negotiate a trial period?
Yes, if the decision is a big one. A demo shows you what the vendor wants you to see. A trial or pilot shows you how the system copes with your people, your content and your data.
What to ask for:
- A pilot with a real group, such as one department of 20 to 50 people, for four to eight weeks.
- Your own content and sign-in, not a demo site with sample data.
- Written success criteria, agreed up front. For example: SSO works for everyone, completion data is accurate, managers can find overdue training without help, and admins can run the monthly report alone.
- Clear terms, including what the pilot costs (if anything), whether that cost comes off the full contract, and what happens to the pilot data if you don't go ahead.
If a vendor won't offer a pilot, ask for a short initial contract term or a break clause after the first year instead.
Red flags in a demo
- They won't load your course or log in with your SSO during the call.
- Every answer is "yes", with nothing shown on screen.
- Pricing only arrives after "a few more calls", or there are no prices published anywhere.
- Certificates are mentioned but never sent.
- The exit and data-return section of the contract is vague or missing.
How Open eLMS handles this
Here are the facts behind our answers to the questions above. Ask us to show any of them in your demo.
- Company. Open eLMS Ltd (formerly e-Learning WMB) is a UK company, founded in 2003, Companies House number 04682876.
- SCORM. Open eLMS plays and tracks SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 in full: completion, pass/fail, score, time spent and resume. It handles packages from Articulate Storyline, Rise and Adobe Captivate.
- Course updates. You can upload a new version of a course and switch it live. Carrying existing completions across to the new version is optional.
- Video and other standards. We use xAPI to track video learning from YouTube and Vimeo. Open eLMS is built to the LTI v1.3 standard.
- Content library. Over 4,500 editable SCORM courses in 28 languages.
- AI course creation. The Open eLMS Learning Generator creates courses with AI and exports them as SCORM 1.2 or 2004 for use in any LMS.
- Sign-in. Single sign-on with Microsoft, Google or other identity providers.
- Getting users in. Admins can import users from a spreadsheet, and a scheduled file feed from your HR system can add starters and disable leavers automatically, keeping their training history.
- Security and compliance. ISO 27001 (certificate 373282021), ISO 9001, ISO 20000, Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus. ICO registration ZB031013.
- Accessibility. Open eLMS is designed to WCAG 2.1 AA. See our accessibility statement.
- Service levels. A 99.9% uptime SLA, with response and resolution times by severity published on our support hours and SLA page.
- Public sector buying. Open eLMS is available through DPS RM6219 and framework Y25003.
- Pricing. Per user per year, published on our pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
How long should an LMS demo be?
Allow 60 to 90 minutes. That gives time for the vendor to run your own tasks live and for your admin, manager and IT colleagues to ask questions.
Who should attend an LMS demo?
Bring someone who will run the system day to day, a line manager, and someone from IT or information security. Each of them will test different things.
What is the most important thing to see in an LMS demo?
Your own course loading and tracking correctly, and your own compliance report being built live. If those two work, most other things are easier to fix.
What should I check in an LMS contract before signing?
Check the total cost over the full term, renewal price caps, notice periods, service levels, what implementation includes, and how you get your data back when you leave.
Should I ask for a free trial of an LMS?
Ask for a pilot with your own content, sign-in and a real group of users, with written success criteria. A pilot tells you far more than a demo site with sample data.
How many LMS vendors should I demo?
Three is usually enough to compare properly. Score each one against the same list of must-haves so the decision is not just based on the best presenter.
Can I take my courses with me if I change LMS later?
You can if they are in a standard format such as SCORM and the contract gives you the right to export them. Check both before you sign.
See your own tasks in an Open eLMS demo
Send us your course, your report and your sign-in details, and we'll run them live in the demo.
- Book a demo
- Email sales@openelms.com
- Call +44 (0)203 929 2051