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Can I share or export Tribal Habits content to a learning management system via SCORM links?
Can I share or export Tribal Habits content to a learning management system via SCORM links?

You can use SCORM links (our 'LMS Link' feature) to integrate a Tribal Habits topic with a learning management system (LMS).

Lou Monsour avatar
Written by Lou Monsour
Updated over a week ago

Tribal Habits can integrate with an external a learning management system (LMS). That being said, remember that Tribal Habits can fulfil the functions of an LMS for most organisations - Tribal Habits is an LMS itself.

However, for those organisations who still require a separate LMS, or when you would like to make your Tribal Habits content available to a third-party via their LMS (say, selling your training modules to a customer to use in their own LMS), you can utilise our LMS Links to embed your Tribal Habits topics in a third-party LMS via SCORM 1.2 files.

NOTE: SCORM links are an optional feature in Tribal Habits. Please contact your Tribal Habits Relationship Manager or Tribal Habits Support and ask for SCORM links to be enabled. There may be an additional cost for your subscription to enable this integration.

This article examines sharing native Tribal Habits content via our LMS Links. If you wish to import external SCORM modules into Tribal Habits, please see this article on our SCORM element.

How do you create LMS Links in your topics?

NOTE: LMS Links are only available for topics, not for articles or pathways.

Once LMS Links are enabled in your Tribal Habits portal, Admins see a new panel on the Access tab in a topic called 'Create and download LMS links'.

Click 'Edit LMS Links' to begin, then follow these steps:

  1. Select 'Add a new LMS auto-enrol link'.

  2. Provide a unique LMS Reference. See the important note below about the LMS Reference.

  3. Optionally change the 'Creates' drop-down selection from 'Staff' to 'Client' or 'Prospect' depending on which type of user you want to be created in your Tribal Habits portal by this LMS link.

  4. Optionally provide a limit for how enrolments this LMS link can create. 0 equates to unlimited usage. One an LMS link has created the given number of enrolments, no further enrolments can be created by that link.

  5. Optionally enter an expiration date. No date means the LMS link does not expire (although you can still deactivate or delete it at any time in future). Once an expiration date is reached, the LMS link will no longer allow any access to the topic (for new or existing enrolments).

  6. Lastly, you can add Notes to each LMS link that you create which can help Admins identify where these links are used, who these links were sent to etc.

  7. Click 'Save'.

Admins can then download a SCORM 1.2 ZIP file for use in an LMS. The ZIP file can be uploaded just like a standard SCORM package in the third-party LMS.

IMPORTANT - LMS Reference. The LMS Reference for each LMS link is a critical field. It is the field used to link users in an LMS. The LMS Reference for each LMS link can only be set once at the creation of the LMS link - it cannot be edited after saving. The LMS Reference should be a single phrase (no spaces, no special characters) used to identify the LMS that will use that LMS link.

  • If the same LMS is used to host LMS Links from multiple topics in your portal, it is critical that the same LMS Reference is used for each link. e.g. if you are providing your customer with three LMS Links to three different topics, then use the exact same LMS Reference for all three LMS links.

  • Each user in Tribal Habits can be associated with ONE LMS Link. Each user in your Tribal Habits portal also has an LMS Reference field. When an LMS Link creates a new user, it will populate the LMS Reference field for that user. Alternatively, you can edit/update the LMS Reference field for your users. A user can only utilise an LMS Link if their LMS Reference field matches the LMS Reference of the link.

Admins can also deactivate or delete LMS links as required.

  • Deactivated LMS links will prevent LMS users from accessing the topic in your Tribal Habits portal (both new and existing enrolments are blocked).

  • If you delete an LMS link, you will need to also delete it from your LMS as the link will permanently cease functioning (you can always create a new one if required).

Can you create multiple LMS Links in a topic?


Each topic in Tribal Habits can have multiple LMS links. This can be useful when you need to link one Tribal Habits topic to many different external LMS platforms.

A typical use-case would be when your organisation creates training for use by other external organisations. In this case, you can provide each external organisation with an LMS link. Users from each external LMS can then access the same copy of your topic on Tribal Habits. This allows you to manage just one version of the topic, ensure that all users are always accessing the latest version of your topic and to monitor usage in each LMS.

NOTE - LMS Reference. As noted above, if you were providing three different customers with LMS Links to the same topic, then you must create three LMS Links each with a different LMS Reference (e.g. Customer1LMS, Customer2LMS, Customer3LMS).

What is the LMS "link"?


โ€‹An LMS Link is not a URL or website address. It is a file - a .zip file. Inside that .zip file is code which 'links' the external LMS to Tribal Habits. So admins do not 'copy a URL' but instead they 'download a file'.

In technical terms, the LMS link is a SCORM 1.2 package in the form of a SCORM wrapper. This means the ZIP file you download from your topic is very, very small (10-20kbs). It only needs to contain key information to allow your LMS to enrol users and communicate completion data with Tribal Habits. All topic data remains in your Tribal Habits platform.

This means that your Tribal Habits platform will continue to collect rich data on the topic and its users, while your LMS can manage enrolments and record completion results. It also means that you can update your topics in Tribal Habits without having to create new SCORM links - LMS users always access the topic in your Tribal Habits platform and therefore always access the latest version of your topics.

What LMS does Tribal Habits support?


Any LMS which supports SCORM 1.2 (which should be every LMS!).

How are users managed between Tribal Habits and the LMS?

Both Tribal Habits and the LMS will have their own user profiles. There are ways, however, to harmonise these profiles in Tribal Habits and allow users to access topics directly via Tribal Habits as well as via an LMS.

Once LMS Integration is enabled in your Tribal Habits platform, you can define two new additional fields for your Tribal Habits users.

  • LMS Learner ID. This is the unique user ID (called a Learner ID or Student ID) in your LMS. This is often a number, but it can be a dedicated username or email address. Every LMS has a different ID system. You should be able to download your list of LMS users with their ID, and then upload those IDs into the LMS Learner ID field in Tribal Habits (using the Upload People function). This allows Tribal Habits to match your Tribal Habits users with your LMS users via this unique ID.

  • LMS Reference. HOWEVER, in order to avoid any duplicate ID numbers when using multiple LMS links, each user must also have an LMS Reference. This should typically be the name of the LMS of that user (e.g. Skillsoft or Docebo).

When you create an LMS link, you also define an LMS Reference for that link. When an LMS user accesses a topic in Tribal Habits, we use the LMS Learner ID and the LMS Reference from the link to match to an existing Tribal Habits user with the same LMS Learner ID and LMS Reference.

CRITICAL - The LMS Reference in an LMS link in topic and the LMS Reference stored for a user must be identical to correctly match each user to their LMS and topic.

CRITICAL - If you are using just one LMS, then all your users and all your LMS links should use the same LMS Reference.

CRITICAL - If you are supplying your topic to multiple LMSes, then each of your LMS links in a topic should have a different LMS Reference. This will allow you to manage a range of LMS users which may have the same LMS Learner ID across different LMS platforms. You might use each organisation's name for example.

What about new users? Do I need to create all my LMS users in Tribal Habits first?

When an LMS user accesses a Tribal Habits topic via your LMS link, we examine their LMS Learner ID and LMS Reference. If we find an existing user with those two matching fields, then we can link to that user.

If we do not find a matching user, then we create a new user in Tribal Habits automatically. So you do not need to create your LMS users in Tribal Habits in advance. When creating new users via the LMS link, we...

  • Create their first name and last name as provided by the LMS

  • Populate the LMS Learner ID from the LMS

  • Populate their LMS Reference from the LMS link

  • Create a temporary email address.

  • Create a temporary Tribal Habits user name.

New users created by your LMS will be able to access Tribal Habits topics you assign to them via your LMS. After their first login, we will be able to continue to link new topics to the same Tribal Habits user to consolidate reporting in Tribal Habits.

Can my LMS users log into Tribal Habits directly?


New users created by your LMS in Tribal Habits cannot immediately log into your Tribal Habits platform - they will have a temporary user name and email, and they will not have a Tribal Habits password. For some organisations, this is ideal, since the LMS will handle all user enrolments and you won't want or need those users to ever log into Tribal Habits direction. In such a case, you may only need your topic creators and Tribal Habits admins to log into Tribal Habits directly.

If you would like new users created by your LMS in Tribal Habits to also log into Tribal Habits, then you will need to correctly populate their usernames and email addresses, and set a temporary password for them. This can be easily completed by CSV upload using the Upload People function.

If you have existing users in Tribal Habits and you populate their LMS Learner ID and LMS Reference fields, then those users will be able to log into both your LMS and Tribal Habits.

NOTE: Any topics your users have been enrolled into by your LMS will not be accessible via their Tribal Habits login. We require them to access those topics via your LMS to establish the LMS link. These topics will still be visible to your users in Tribal Habits but they will be directed to your LMS to access them.

What information is sent by Tribal Habits to the LMS?


The LMS link uses a SCORM 1.2 process to communicate with your LMS. This means we can track incoming users and topics and communicate...

  • Module status. When a user completes a topic in Tribal Habits, we communicate the 'Passed' status back to your LMS.

  • Assessment score. When a user completes a topic in Tribal Habits, we will communicate any assessment score back to your LMS.

  • Return to LMS. Users can also see a button to 'Exit topic' in Tribal Habits which will 'concede control' back to the LMS.

Does anything change when users access a Tribal Habits topic via an LMS?


Very little changes for the user. They will see the Tribal Habits topic embedded in your LMS and can explore it just like normal.

  • We recommend allowing the largest possible screen size in your LMS (ideally the entire browser in a popup). However, Tribal Habits topics are fully responsive and will adjust to suit any screen size including mobile.

In order to maintain the LMS link, there are some restrictions when a user accesses a topic via your LMS.

  • The user cannot leave the Tribal Habits topic to access other parts of Tribal Habits. They will not be able to access the explorer dashboard, access another topic, access the Admin area of Tribal Habits or edit a topic they are a creator of. They will need to log into Tribal Habits directly for that (and will be prompted to do so if they try to access another page).

  • As we may not have the correct email address for LMS users, LMS users will be prompted to enter their email address to receive a copy of their topic journal.

In addition, since topic enrolments are being managed by your LMS (and not Tribal Habits), we disable several topic management features for LMS enrolments to avoid duplication. The following features will NOT apply to any LMS enrolments in Tribal Habits and should instead be managed by your LMS.

  • Due dates

  • Reminder notifications

  • Completion certificates

In addition, LMS links only apply to individual topics in Tribal Habits - you cannot use an LMS link for a Tribal Habits pathway. Your LMS should have a similar pathway function and you can group Tribal Habits topics via LMS links in your LMS.

How can I track LMS enrolments and users?


All users in Tribal Habits have a 'Created by' field. Any new Tribal Habits users created by an LMS link will note this in the 'Created by' field. You can download all users in your platform or in a topic into a CSV to filter for users created by each LMS link.

All topic enrolments in Tribal Habits have an 'Enrolled by' field. Once again, any users enrolled in a topic via an LMS link will note this in that field. You can download all explorers into a CSV to filter by each LMS link.

You can also review all your LMS Links via the Analytics report, LMS Links.

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