UELconnect Blog

So my mean motivation for actually attending Uncovered 2009 was to get a closer look at E2Train’s new version of their proprietary Learning Management Systems (LMS) Kalidus 8. Basically I attended the following sessions:

Using Kallidus web gadgets to create a learner environment
Kalidus LMS configuration workshop
Kalidus LMS accreditation
What’s coming from Kalidus
Introduction to Kallidus 8 reporting

I’m not going to write about every detail of this sesson and if you are desperate for more detail about the features and fucntionality of Kadlidus LMS then take a look at their site. Instead I’m going to give a brief overview of my impressions.

What first struck me is yep it is an LMS. In terms of look at feel it very much sits within the pack. If you have seen SumTotla, Saba, Plateau, Clix then Kalidus will look familiar to you. The terminology changes slightly but LMS systems do sometimes feel like clones of each other. Most like because they are trying to address the same problem in terms of managing and tracking a users learning. It did not look out of place in the pack though, perhaps not qute in the same league as the big vendors but certainly competitive. Reporting looked strong although I did grown slightly when the issue of datawarehousing and cropt up, as not all of the reports are run from livedata. This can cause problems if people are not aware of this (or the data jobs fail). The administration interface seemed logical but possibly this is because I’ve spent so many years staring at these things, cerainly requires a level of training and support though. Customised reporting is also due to be built in to the next release, so that will add some flexibility. All the old favourites were there in terms of standard reports, completion, attendance and so on. The learning pathways essentially how you access learning activities (be that content or face to faces sessions) did not really float my boat. It felt slightly too much like a directory structure and was quite busy with iconography. That may be just me.

In summation I actually think this is a pretty competitive product. The upgrades from the previous version gives me more confidence in saying that and the development roadmap also gives me faith that this is not a fly by night product. Additionally the delegates at the conference, who were predominantly E2Traing cliets, were from big corporates. If there is one thing that fuels an LMS systems it is adoption by large companies at a enterprise level.