The document outlines considerations for building an e-learning business, emphasizing the importance of establishing clear project goals, key stakeholders, and content development strategies. It addresses aspects such as web development, accreditation, certification processes, user support, customer identification, and financial management. Additionally, it discusses profit margins, risk tolerance, and investment limits necessary for the project's success.

1. Considerations for Building an E-Learning Business

2. Project Goals In order for all parties involved to be marching toward the same end, the project must have a clear SMART goal. S pecific expectations M easurable outcomes A ctionable steps R ealistic milestones T ime-bound ends How many phases/stages will be included in the project from beginning to end? By what dates will each stage of the project be expected to be complete?

3. Purpose Increase brand exposure? Generate profit? Expand service offerings? Educate employees? Educate customers? Educate partners?

4. Key Stakeholders Who are the key stakeholders in the company who will be impacted by, or will contribute to, the project? IS/IT Web Support Accounting/Finance Customer Support/Tech Support Corporate Training Sales Marketing Operations

5. Key Stakeholders Who are the key stakeholders outside the company who will be impacted by, or will contribute to, the project? Partners What internal or external partnerships should be considered for the project? Sourced support LMS Content development Sales Order management Marketing Solution consulting

6. Content Focus: Brand-Specific or Neutral Will the intent be to provide content that educates users on a broad spectrum of universally applicable concepts, or will the intent be to educate customers on proprietary product differentiators?

7. Content Development Where will you get the Subject Matter Experts required to provide the important details required to develop courses? How will you get the commitment from SMEs and their managers to ensure SMEs can/will consistently contribute and meet project deadlines?

8. Content Development Who will translate/develop the subject matter into a standardized course? What will the specific standards of each course include? Length of course/s Level of interactivity Handling of knowledge check-points/quizzes/in-line assessments Graphic design Branded look and feel What costs will be involved with content development?

9. Accreditation and Certifications Will you seek accreditation to add credibility and value to the courses? Who will provide accreditation? What costs will be associated with attaining accreditation?

10. User Certification Will the intent be to provide information to users, or will the focus be to “Certify” users? Who will develop “Certification” exams? How will “Certification” exams be validated? What cost will be involved with the development and validation of “certification” exams?

11. Web Development Who will handle developing web content? What additional costs need to be considered for web development?

12. Order Processing/Entry How will orders be handled? Who will enter and process orders? Will entry and processing be provided from the same source, or will these be two different functional areas? What additional cost will be associated with order entry/processing?

13. LMS Ownership Will you purchase an LMS, or source it from an LMS provider? What costs will be involved with the acquisition or lease of the LMS?

14. Tech Support Who will provide tech support? Internal? Sourced? What will tech support for the solution look like? When will tech support be available? 24/7? 8/7? 8/5? Will tech support be provided by phone? Live chat? What costs will be associated with tech support?

15. Customer Identification Will customers be organizations/companies or individual persons? Both?

16. Sales and Marketing Direct sales Channel partners? Who will provide marketing support? How will the product be marketed? What costs need to be considered relative to marketing?

17. Receivables Who will handle receivables? How will customer payments be received? Will customers be invoiced? Will Visa/Mastercard be payment options? Will payment be taken online when purchasing the solution? Is the current receivables group sufficiently equipped to handle collecting payment from customers? If selling to individual persons, the volume of handling payment may need to be considered if the receivables group is more prepared for handling payment from organizations/companies.

18. Profit Margins and Risk Tolerance Generate revenue to self-fund or realize profits? What is an acceptable minimum profit margin? What are the profit goals and milestones? How willing is the company to take a potential loss in the investment? What would be considered a loss?

19. Investment Limits What are the acceptable cost limits for year 1, 2, 3? What costs can/should be capitalized? What costs will be operational expenses?