Stay informed
Subscribe to our newsletter, our monthly look at food and non-food quality management.
Automatically invite every new employee in the HRM system to the introductory training in your academy? View an overview of successful visitors for visitor instruction in the visitor system, without having to enter anything manually? Handy, right?
Talking about online or digital training often involves a conversation about links between different systems. System links enable the exchange of information between multiple systems. We call such a link an Application Programming Interface, or API for short. An API is a piece of code that allows two systems to exchange certain information. Hard to grasp? Compare it to a scanner. In system A you scan your name and e-mail address and in system B you paste them in. Sometimes the scanner has to translate from the format in which data are in system A to the format in which data are in system B.
Really explaining what an API is is a very technical story. We won't do that here. What we do do is explain why an API can be useful. Do you use a Learning Management System (LMS) within your own organization, but also use other systems? Then API can be useful. An example: a visitor passes the mandatory introductory training in the LMS. This is then forwarded to the visitor registration system. Then the gatekeeper can see in the visitor system that the visitor has passed. This way, the gatekeeper does not have to log into both systems.
APIs mean you no longer have to manage systems side by side. Convenient, right?
Learning Tools Interoperability or LTI connects e-learning modules and other course materials to learning environments. But what does that mean? Suppose you want to take a vendor's e-learning module through your own learning management system. With LTI, you can then ensure that the training is loaded from the supplier's system into your own LMS. The training is then not physically in your LMS, but as a user you do not see it. Useful for the user, but also for the company offering the training. For example, a lot safer, so you don't have to go into the other party's system.
You may be wondering what the difference is from an API. Well, with an API, one system forwards you to another system, allowing you to take a training course in another LMS than through your own LMS. The results are then passed on later. With LTI, you take the course through your own system. So for some companies, this is ideal.
However, not every LMS is suitable for LTI or API. So if you are thinking about purchasing an LMS, ask about the options for API and for LTI as well. It makes you much more flexible as a company! And for the record, Précon e-learning offers great options for both API and for LTI.
Get in touchSubscribe to our newsletter, our monthly look at food and non-food quality management.