How to add an LMS to your association

The seven steps

1. Decide what the LMS is forMember education, CE credit, certification and course sales are different programs. Pick the one that matters this year and write down how you will know it worked.
2. Audit the content you already haveList webinar recordings, conference sessions, slide decks and manuals. Most associations already own a first catalog.
3. Draw the line between AMS and LMSMembership, dues and events stay in the AMS. Courses, credits and certificates live in the LMS. Decide which fields cross.
4. Write your credit rules downFor each course: how many hours, which accrediting body, what counts as completion, and when the credit expires.
5. Set member and non-member pricingDecide what is included in dues, what members pay for, and what non-members pay.
6. Run a demo on your own dataAsk each vendor to show one of your courses, one of your credit rules and your AMS, not their sample site.
7. Pilot with one programLaunch one program to one group, check the records against the AMS, then open the catalog.

1. Decide what the LMS is for

"We need an LMS" usually hides one of four different projects, and they are not equally hard.

Pick one for the first year and give it a number: members who complete a course, credits issued, candidates certified or course revenue. A board will ask for that number within twelve months.

2. Audit the content you already have

Most associations launch late because they think they must build courses first. You almost certainly own a catalog already:

• Webinar recordings. Add a five-question quiz and a certificate and each one becomes a course that carries credit.
• Conference sessions. Recorded sessions are the most valuable content you produce and the least reused.
• Manuals, standards and handbooks. A PDF with a knowledge check is a legitimate course for a technical audience.
• Slide decks from in-person training. These convert to structured online lessons faster than anything else.

Sort the list into three columns: ready to publish, needs a quiz, needs rebuilding. Launch with the first column.

3. Draw the line between AMS and LMS

The integration question is simpler than vendors make it sound. Two systems, two jobs, and a short list of things that cross.

If a vendor cannot tell you which of these five rows its connector covers for your AMS, you do not yet know what you are buying. The LMS and AMS integration guide goes through each row and the ways integrations fail after go-live, and AMS vs LMS covers the ownership question in more depth.

4. Write your credit rules down

Before a demo, put your rules on one page. Vendors answer a written rule far more honestly than a general question about "CE tracking". For each course or event you need:

• The number of hours or credits, and the unit. A CEU is 10 contact hours and a CPE credit is 50 minutes, so the same webinar is worth different numbers to different members. Use the CEU calculator to convert.
• The accrediting body or bodies, and whether one course carries more than one type of credit.
• What counts as completion: attendance, time watched, a passed quiz, or all three.
• When the credit expires and what the renewal cycle is.
• What must appear on the certificate.

For the longer version, see what an association LMS must track for continuing education and what CEUs are and how they are counted.

5. Set member and non-member pricing

Pricing is a membership decision before it is a software setting. Three questions settle most of it:

• What is included in dues? A core catalog that every member can take makes education a visible benefit.
• What do members pay for? Certification, exam preparation and premium programs are the usual answers.
• What do non-members pay? A higher price sells the course and makes the case for joining at the same time.

Then check how each vendor charges you. An LMS priced per registered user becomes more expensive every time education does its job and brings in members. In our index, 30 of 53 vendors publish no price at all, 10 state an annual-only contract and only 3 state their setup or implementation fee. Ask for all three in writing. The per-user pricing page shows the arithmetic.

6. Run a demo on your own data

A sample site always works. Send each vendor the same four things a week before the demo and ask to see them live:

1. One of your real courses, uploaded.
2. One of your credit rules from step 4, configured, with the certificate it produces.
3. A member changing tier in your AMS, and what happens in the LMS.
4. The report you would hand an accrediting body, exported.

Vendors that decline the third item are telling you the connector is a project, not a product. That is not always a reason to walk away, but it changes the price and the timeline. For a shortlist to start from, see the best LMS platforms for associations and the 15 questions to ask every LMS vendor.

7. Pilot with one program

Launch one program to one group: a single chapter, one membership tier or one certification cohort. Then check three things before you open the catalog to everyone.

• Records match. Pick ten members and compare their status in the AMS with what the LMS shows.
• Credits land. Complete a course as a test member and confirm the credit and certificate appear where they should.
• Members can get in. Watch three people sign in for the first time without help.

A pilot that surfaces a sync problem with fifty members is a good week. The same problem with five thousand is a bad quarter.

Where MyPass LMS fits

MyPass LMS is built for the first three programs in step 1 and sells courses for the fourth. It connects to iMIS, Nimble AMS, MemberClicks, Fonteva, NetForum, YourMembership, GrowthZone, Personify, Impexium, and Wild Apricot; coverage differs by platform, so ask us about yours. Prices are published: $79 or $249 a month billed annually with unlimited registered members, and 20% off for eligible associations. The trial is 15 days on the full platform, or 60 days once nonprofit status is verified, which is long enough to run step 7.

Questions people ask

Can we add an LMS without replacing our AMS?

Yes, and you should. The AMS remains the system of record for members, dues and events. The LMS is added beside it and takes membership status from it, so a member signs in once and sees the courses their tier includes.

How long does it take to add an LMS to an association?

A hosted LMS can be switched on the day you sign up. The work that takes time is yours: choosing the first program, preparing content and agreeing credit rules. With AMS sync, most MyPass programs are live in two to six weeks, depending on the platform and how many custom fields need mapping.

What does an association LMS cost?

Often you cannot find out without a sales call: 30 of the 53 LMS vendors in our pricing index publish no price. MyPass publishes its own: $79 or $249 a month billed annually, with unlimited registered members, and 20% off for eligible associations. Connecting an AMS is a one-time setup that is quoted separately.

Do we need an instructional designer?

Not to start. Recorded webinars and conference sessions with a short quiz and a certificate make a credible first catalog. Bring in design help when you build a certification program or a course you plan to sell widely.

What if our AMS is not on a vendor's integration list?

Ask what the vendor does through its API and single sign-on. A sign-on connection plus a scheduled sync of membership status and completions covers most of what associations need, even without a named connector.

Should education be free for members?

There is no single right answer. A common pattern is to include a core catalog in dues, charge members a reduced price for certification and premium courses, and charge non-members full price. Decide it before you configure the LMS, because pricing rules follow from it.