Adopting Synthesis LMS isn’t about launching a platform—it’s about solving a real business problem. The most successful LMS rollouts don’t start by migrating all past learning content or building an exhaustive curriculum. They start with a clear strategic focus, pilot targeted content, and grow from there.
Synthesis LMS Version 1.0 will be available in Public Beta by the end of 2025.
This playbook outlines how to prepare for Synthesis LMS by identifying a single, high-impact business opportunity and delivering value fast—without boiling the ocean.
1. Focus on One Strategic Business Challenge
Your first move is to identify a single, high-priority business problem where learning can move the needle.
Here are some examples:
- Upskilling a wave of emerging professionals.
- Streamlining and improving onboarding.
- Creating self-service content to reduce IT support burden.
- Helping employees envision and act on career growth paths.
- Reducing rework or errors in key technical areas (e.g., QA/QC issues).
Choose a problem that:
- Has clear business value.
- Has urgency or executive attention.
- Has a defined target audience.
- Allows you to pilot and learn before expanding.
Don’t try to represent your entire learning strategy on day one. Just solve one meaningful problem. That’s how you get traction and start imagining what’s possible.
2. Build the Right Team to Tackle That Challenge
Once your problem is defined, assemble a team aligned to that opportunity. You don’t need a formal L&D department—just the right people.
Your Phase One team might include:
- Executive Sponsor: An executive who cares deeply about solving the business problem (e.g., Director of HR, Ops, IT).
- LMS Champion: The operational lead managing rollout and coordination.
- Content/Track Owner(s): People with domain expertise (e.g., onboarding, IT, project delivery).
- Support Roles:
- Content facilitator/editor.
- Video production or formatting help.
- Coordination with the intranet team
Build the team to solve the problem, not just to launch a platform.
3. Take Inventory—But Only for the Problem You’re Solving
Don’t inventory everything. Focus only on content related to your Phase One business goal.
Ask:
- What content already exists (videos, guides, live trainings)?
- What’s usable as-is? What needs updating?
- What’s missing entirely?
This will give you a clear picture of what can be used, what needs work, and what needs to be created from scratch to support your launch.
4. Plan a Targeted Content Roadmap
Now that you know what you have, outline your learning experience:
- What courses or lessons will you offer?
- Will content be delivered as short videos, blended experiences, or flipped classrooms?
- Are there key milestones or assignments?
- Do you need quizzes or reflections?
Map this plan to the business goal—your goal isn’t to teach everything, just what’s needed to deliver results in your Phase One area.
Note: You can include content that’s already published in your intranet (as guides or videos) and migrate it to LMS later.
5. Stage Your Content in Your Synthesis Intranet
Even before LMS is released into Public Beta, you can get a head start by staging content:
- Upload key videos to Synthesis Native Video (good for LMS and AI Search).
- Use Guide Pages to outline lessons and organize handouts.
- Draft what will become courses and assignments.
This groundwork pays off later and helps you build faster once the platform is ready.
6. Define What Success Looks Like
Success should be tied directly to your Phase One business challenge—not to abstract LMS goals.
Ask:
- What does success look like for the business problem we’re solving?
- What metrics would show we’re making progress (qualitative or quantitative)?
- How will we gather feedback from learners and instructors?
- Will we track time savings, reduced errors, better onboarding ramp-up, fewer IT tickets, etc.?
Clarifying this early helps shape the content, priorities, and rollout—and gives you something to celebrate and learn from.
7. Consider Branding (or Not)
Some firms will brand their Synthesis LMS under a unified umbrella (e.g., “CJP University”). Others treat the LMS as a quiet, behind-the-scenes enhancement to existing learning programs and just refer to it as the Learning Center.
Both are valid. Decide whether branding:
- Helps you frame the value of the LMS.
- Avoids confusion with existing programs.
- Strengthens your firm’s talent or knowledge culture.
But don’t let branding be a blocker. The most important thing is showing value through real learning that solves real problems.
Got Questions?
Please feel free to reach out to your Client Success Manager if you’d like more guidance with any of the above, and send any comments or questions to support@knowledge-architecture.com.