SCORM and xAPI support in a UK LMS: what to look for, and what Open eLMS supports

Open eLMS is a UK learning management system (LMS) that plays and tracks SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 courses, including packages made in Articulate Storyline, Rise and Adobe Captivate. For every learner, it records completion, pass or fail, score, time and resume point. It is built to the LTI v1.3 standard, uses xAPI to track video learning, and its Learning Generator exports courses as SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004, so they run in any SCORM-compliant LMS. Below is a plain checklist of what good SCORM and xAPI support looks like, and exactly how Open eLMS measures up against each point.

The standards in plain English

• SCORM 1.2: the most widely used eLearning standard. A course is packaged as a zip file and the LMS records completion, pass or fail, score, time spent and where the learner left off.
• SCORM 2004: the newer SCORM version. It separates "completed" from "passed", and lets a course set its own pass mark and sequencing rules.
• xAPI (Tin Can): a more flexible standard that records learning as simple statements ("Sam watched the safety video"). It can track activity outside a traditional course, such as video, simulations or on-the-job tasks. Statements are stored in a learning record store (LRS).
• cmi5: a set of rules that lets an LMS launch and track xAPI courses in a consistent way, much as SCORM does for SCORM courses.
• LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability): a standard from 1EdTech for launching a course or tool in one system from inside another, with the learner signed in automatically. LTI v1.3 is the current, more secure version.

What good SCORM and xAPI support looks like: a buyer's checklist

When you compare LMS providers, ask each one to show you these eight things working, not just ticked on a feature list.

1. Both SCORM versions play and track properly: SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004, with completion, pass or fail, score, time and resume all recorded.
2. Courses from popular authoring tools just work: Storyline, Rise, Captivate and similar tools have their own quirks.
3. Reporting you can act on: who has completed, who has passed and who is overdue, by team and by course.
4. Safe updates to live courses: you can replace a course with a new version without wiping learners' completions.
5. A clear answer on xAPI: whether the LMS has its own LRS, can send statements to yours, and can accept xAPI-only or cmi5 courses.
6. Authoring that exports to the standards: so courses you build are not locked into one platform.
7. Interoperability: LTI and single sign-on (SSO), so content and people move between systems.
8. Independent proof: certification and security standards you can check for yourself.

How Open eLMS meets each point

1. SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 play and track in full

Upload a SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004 zip and Open eLMS plays it in the browser and tracks it. For every learner, it records completion, pass or fail, score, time spent and the attempt, and it saves their place so they can pick up where they left off. Where a SCORM 2004 course sets its own pass mark, Open eLMS respects it.

2. Courses from Storyline, Rise and Captivate

Open eLMS handles the way Articulate Storyline, Articulate Rise and Adobe Captivate packages save progress, so learners can resume these courses reliably. If your courses come from these tools, publish them as SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004 and upload them as they are.

3. Reporting and compliance

SCORM results feed straight into one-click completion and compliance reports, manager team dashboards and a full audit trail. You can see at a glance who is compliant, who is due and who is overdue, and set refresher training to be re-assigned automatically when a certificate is due to expire.

4. Updating a course without losing completions

You can upload a new version of a SCORM course, keep it ready without making it live, and switch over when you choose. Learners' completions, scores and time can be carried across to the new version, so nobody has to retake a course because you fixed a typo.

5. xAPI: what we support today

Open eLMS uses xAPI statements to track video learning. When a learner watches a YouTube or Vimeo video in Open eLMS, their progress and completion are recorded against their learning record, and they can resume where they stopped. Courses packaged for SCORM, which includes the SCORM output of most authoring tools, are tracked in full. If you have content published for xAPI or cmi5 only, talk to us about your requirements before you buy. We would rather you know exactly what is supported.

6. Authoring that exports to the standards

The Open eLMS Learning Generator uses AI to turn a Word, PDF or PowerPoint file, or a short brief, into an interactive course. Each course can be exported as SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004, ready for any SCORM-compliant LMS, not just Open eLMS. The same course can also be exported as a video, podcast, PowerPoint deck, mind map or microlearning.

The Open eLMS course library includes over 4,500 fully editable SCORM courses covering compliance, health and safety, management and IT skills, available in 28 languages. Because they are standard SCORM, you can edit them to suit your organisation.

7. Interoperability: LTI v1.3 and single sign-on

Open eLMS is built to the LTI v1.3 standard. Another LTI 1.3 platform, such as a university virtual learning environment, can launch Open eLMS courses with the learner signed in automatically and their progress tracked. Single sign-on works with Microsoft, Google or your existing identity provider, and the Open eLMS API connects your HR and other systems.

8. Independent proof, and a UK supplier

• ISO 27001:2022 (information security), ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 20000 (IT service management)
• Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus
• Built to the LTI v1.3 standard
• Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
• A pre-qualified supplier on the public sector Learning and Training Services DPS (RM6219), and a member of the Training, Learning and Development Solutions framework (Y25003)
• UK-based and founded in 2003, building learning technology for central and local government, the public sector, education and large employers

You can check our certificates on our accreditations page.

See your own SCORM courses running in Open eLMS

Bring one of your SCORM courses to a demo, and we'll show it playing, tracking and reporting in Open eLMS.

• Book a demo
• Explore the Open eLMS LMS
• Email sales@openelms.com or call +44 (0)203 929 2051