Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for online course providers.
A checklist built from how online course providers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Course and cohort catalogue
- Enquiries and admissions
- Instalment plans and subscriptions
- Invoices, receipts and refunds
- Instructor contracts and payouts
- Learner support desk
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the founder or programme head
- For admissions teams
- For finance
- For instructors
- For learner support
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Enrolments by course, cohort and affiliate source
- Collections against the instalment plans due
- Overdue instalments, failed card retries and access status
- Seat use, waitlists and completion by cohort
- Instructor and mentor payable for the month
- Refunds and chargebacks with their reasons
- Open support tickets by age
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Learning platform links
- Payment gateway export
- SMS
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Video meeting links
- Accounting software export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is this a learning management system?
- Can one learner be in several cohorts?
- How are waiting lists handled?
- Can a company pay for a group of learners?
- How are instructor payouts worked out?
- Does it work for learners in different countries?
- Can data from our current sheets be brought in?
- Who owns the learner records?
- How is the price decided?
- Do we need this for one course with a handful of learners?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Enrolments and payments sit apart
- Instalment plans are tracked in sheets
- Instructor payouts are reckoned from several exports
- Support questions have no owner
- Enquiries are not followed up
Prefer to talk it through? See the online course providers page.