Okay I need to start this discussion because I have a colleague who recently road tested 4 different LMS and he's driving me nuts. First of all he is looking for a basic system to train employees and customers on short manageable e-learning modules and the ability for the users to get a certification if they pass the exam. So far Ihe looked at Moodle, Blackboard & Saba. Everyone recommends Blackboard but you almost need to take a week long training course to figure out how to use the system. Cumbersome to use at best. Moodle was next and I don't want to run this thing locally I want someone other than my IT staff to manage the system. Plus I couldn't bring in flash and video easily. Next I looked at Saba which was so far out of wack for price range he almost choked. It seems like everyone posting on this list is selling something or has an agenda. What's the easiest system to use? I keep recommending LearningZen because it is what I use, it's simple to create courses and it has a robust course editor but what else is out there?

Can you tell me what features are important and/or essential to your colleague?

Do they need all the bells & whistles that Blackboard offers for example, or do they just need a simple system that manages training modules and quizzes?

You do not need to host Moodle yourself. There are many companies that provide Moodle hosting. They provide help ranging from just letting you access an installed system, to full support.

First. Everyone does not recommend Blackboard.

Second, Moodle does not require an IT staff to manage, but if you have an IT staff why on earth would you not use them? Using IT staff ensures the system is backed-up, the latest patches are installed, etc.

LearningZen is not free is you need the premium services, they like other vendors need to make money.

The easiest LMS platform to use is the one that fits in budget and fits with the organizations systems topology. IT needs to be involved to ensure that the LMS that is selected they know how to support, does not violate security policies (such as confidential information outside the corporate firewall, etc.).

Put another way, there are more issues involved in selecting an LMS than ease of use for the instructional design team.

I believe the question "What is easiest to use?" is only part of the question that you should ask when selecting an LMS. An even more important question to me is does it meet my requirements. One of those requirements should be the ease of use for learners, administrators, IT departments, instructors and HR, but that is only one facet of creating an effective training solution. For example if you have 1000 users and the system won’t integrate with your hr system, it doesn’t matter how easy it is to use because the administration costs alone would make not feasible. I know this may be unlikely in your colleague’s case, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other restrictions that would make one system more viable than another.

Also, one question that I think should be asked is if you want to create courseware with the system? If so your colleague may want to look at Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) instead of a Learning Management System? Creating and managing course content is a completely different process and has different requirements than deploying training to end users. If that is a requirement, it probably makes sense to look at those systems or systems that have both LMS and LCMS together.

Although I am not recommending a specific system, once these system requirements have been established, it should be fairly easy to get a list of compatible options. One a number of vendors have been selected, your colleague should make the vendors explain (and show) how they will meet those requirements. Then you can easily see what the easiest and best option is for your needs.