In the evolving landscape of digital learning, organisations rely on their Learning Management Systems (LMS) not only to deliver training but also to generate valuable insights and integrate with external tools. However, extracting data from an LMS often requires complex custom integrations or third-party services, which can be costly, time-consuming, and error-prone. For clients using EssingtonITS’s robust eLMS platform, the challenge was to provide a flexible, secure, and user-friendly way to extract and share LMS data for reporting, dashboards, and external applications.

This is the story of how EssingtonITS.co.uk delivered eLMS SimpleFeeds, a powerful feature that transformed data accessibility within eLMS.

The Problem: Locked Data, Limited Insights

Organisations faced two primary hurdles when trying to leverage their LMS data:

Complex Data Extraction

Pulling specific data from an LMS typically requires custom development or reliance on external tools, which can be expensive and demand technical expertise. This creates barriers for organisations needing quick access to course, user, or platform information.

Integration Challenges

Feeding LMS data into reporting applications, dashboards, or external websites often involves fragile integrations that are difficult to maintain and prone to errors, limiting the ability to showcase courses or track performance effectively.

Clients needed a solution within eLMS that allowed them to easily extract and share data in standard formats, without depending on external services or extensive technical support.

The Vision: Flexible, User-Driven Data Feeds

EssingtonITS aimed to enhance eLMS with a feature that empowered clients to create custom data feeds using simple SQL statements. The goal was to deliver a secure, intuitive tool that provided RSS and JSON feeds for seamless integration with reporting tools, dashboards, and websites.

The brief: “A customizable data feed generator within eLMS, enabling clients to extract course, user, and platform data using SQL queries, with robust configuration options and debugging support.”

The Solution: eLMS SimpleFeeds

Our engineers developed eLMS SimpleFeeds, a powerful integration integrated directly into the eLMS platform. This feature allows clients to create tailored RSS and JSON feeds by writing SQL statements that query the LMS database for course information, user data, or platform metrics. Built on eLMS’s secure infrastructure, SimpleFeeds ensures reliability and scalability without requiring external services.

Key features include:

• Custom SQL Queries: Clients can write SQL statements to extract specific data, such as course completions, user progress, or platform usage, with access to course, user, and system tables.
• RSS and JSON Outputs: Feeds are generated in standard RSS and JSON formats, making them compatible with reporting tools, dashboards, and external websites.
• Feed Customisation: Each feed can be set as hidden, visible, locked, or unlocked, giving clients control over access and visibility.
• Debugging Support: A built-in status viewer displays query results and highlights SQL errors, simplifying troubleshooting and ensuring accurate feeds.

SimpleFeeds operates entirely within eLMS, requiring no external hosting or maintenance. The intuitive interface allows non-technical users to manage feeds with minimal training, while advanced users can leverage complex queries for deeper insights.

How It Works

Clients access SimpleFeeds through the eLMS admin dashboard, where they can create and manage feeds. By entering an SQL query, they define the data to extract, such as course details for an external website or user metrics for a dashboard. The system generates RSS or JSON feeds instantly, which can be integrated into third-party tools or shared internally. Feed settings and debugging tools are accessible in real time, ensuring smooth operation.

The integration is optimised for performance, with query caching to handle large datasets efficiently. Security is maintained through eLMS’s authentication protocols, ensuring feeds are accessible only to authorised users and protecting sensitive data.

Whether it’s feeding course listings to an intranet, powering a real-time analytics dashboard, or tracking training compliance, SimpleFeeds unlocks the full potential of LMS data.

Benefits: Flexibility, Efficiency, Control

By embedding SimpleFeeds in eLMS, EssingtonITS eliminates the need for costly custom integrations or third-party services. Clients gain the flexibility to extract exactly the data they need, in the format they want, with full control over access and configuration. The built-in debugging tools reduce errors and save time, empowering organisations to focus on insights rather than technical hurdles.

Built by Engineers. For Data-Driven Organisations

At EssingtonITS, we’re passionate about making technology work smarter for our clients. Our mission is to empower organisations to harness their data for growth, innovation, and impact, without being limited by complexity or cost.

LMS data shouldn’t be trapped in a system. It should be as accessible as your vision for its use.

Interested in Deploying eLMS SimpleFeeds?

Whether you’re a corporation, educational institution, or training provider, eLMS SimpleFeeds by EssingtonITS offers a powerful, secure solution to unlock your LMS data for reporting, integration, and more.

Visit myelms.co.uk or contact us to learn more.