Empowering Remote Training & Increasing Productivity: The Community Foundation NI’s Success with Legal Island’s AppLI LMS

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, a charitable organisation dedicated to social change and community support, has successfully leveraged AppLI LMS to revolutionise their staff training processes.

Fiona O'Toole, Director of Operations, recently shared insights on their experience with AppLI LMS, highlighting the significant improvements and benefits the platform has provided.

About The Community Foundation NI

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland manages and awards grants to hundreds of charities through donations and funds set up by their donors. Their mission is to guide donors, connecting them to a network of like-minded individuals, social entrepreneurs, important causes, and charitable organisations.

Whether donors wish to make a one-off, regular, or lifetime donation, support charities and social enterprises through social investments, or plan their giving for the future, The Community Foundation NI offers expertise, support, and advice to ensure their contributions make a meaningful impact.

Initial Challenges

Before implementing AppLI LMS, the team at The Community Foundation NI faced numerous challenges with their staff training. Bringing together employees from multiple locations for in-person training sessions was logistically complex and often costly.

Fiona explains, "we have staff from all over Northern Ireland, and bringing everyone together for training was difficult and expensive. It took a lot of time and energy to organise. Even then, we often couldn’t get everyone trained due to illness or annual leave."

Fiona described this setup resulted in a “stressful” and “overwhelming” process, especially without a dedicated HR person. Fiona noted how the organisation struggled to ensure comprehensive training for all staff, which was vital for their operational efficiency and compliance.

What Made AppLI LMS Stand Out

The Community Foundation NI was already familiar with some online staff training courses and recognised the potential benefits of a more integrated solution. After learning about AppLI LMS through Legal Island’s email newsletter, Fiona quickly got in touch with our sales manager, Debbie Wilson.

She explains that there were several reasons why AppLI LMS stood out to them:

1. Accessibility: "It was about being online," Fiona notes, which addressed the logistical issues of having staff from different locations across Northern Ireland. Learning more about AppLI LMS, Fiona explained she initially thought it “could be really good for us and make processes a lot easier than what we had been doing and also a lot more cost-effective.”
2. Customisation: The platform allowed branding with their own logo, enhancing organisational identity in staff training.
3. Relevance and Quality: The training courses were highly relevant to their needs, and they trusted the quality based on prior experience of them.

Getting Started with AppLI LMS

Like any new system, the implementation of AppLI LMS had its challenges. Though Fiona described the process went smoother than other systems they had implemented, showcasing the efficiency and support provided by the Legal Island team.

Fiona recounts that the support provided by Legal Island during set-up “was very good” and “any initial issues were quickly resolved."

Success with AppLI LMS

Since integrating AppLI LMS, The Community Foundation NI has seen remarkable improvements:

1. Administrative Efficiency: "It has literally taken a huge amount of admin off us which is brilliant," says Fiona, highlighting the reduction in manual training management.
2. User-Friendliness: Staff find the platform easy to use, increasing engagement and compliance.
3. Monitoring and Compliance: The platform’s ability to track training completion has been “helpful” and ensures that all compliance requirements are met, simplifying follow-up processes. Fiona explains it “gives us that assurance that we've ticked all our compliance boxes… but it also allows us to offer more training beyond compliance topics.”

The introduction of optional well-being courses was also a significant success, with voluntary participation from about a third of the staff, demonstrating increased engagement and interest in continuous learning.

Would You Recommend AppLI LMS?

Fiona is clear in her recommendation of AppLI LMS:

“I would absolutely recommend AppLI LMS. It’s allowed us to offer extensive staff training cost-effectively and with minimal admin. The flexibility and efficiency of AppLI LMS have not only improved compliance training but also enabled our organisation to focus efforts on health and well-being initiatives, which are central to our mission; rather than expending energy on the bureaucracy of trying to organise compliance training ourselves.”

Conclusion

The Community Foundation NI’s experience with AppLI LMS has underscored the platform’s effectiveness in overcoming training challenges, enhancing administrative efficiency, and engaging staff in continuous learning. Fiona O'Toole’s testimony highlights the transformative impact that AppLI LMS can have on your organisation’s learning and development efforts.

To learn more about Legal Island’s AppLI LMS or to discuss your training options, please contact Debbie Wilson, via debbie@legal-island.com. You can also download the brochure here.

 Download the brochure here.

Legal Island Training Resources for Your Staff

AppLI LMS - Maximise Staff Training with our Learning Management Software

Imagine your staff having 24/7 access to a centralised training platform, tailored to your organisation’s brand and staff training needs, with unlimited users.

That’s precisely what Legal Island’s AppLI LMS offers, for a convenient annual fixed fee.

AppLI LMS is a Learning Management System that allows you to effortlessly streamline your company-wide training.

Download the brochure here.