Totara LMS

Totara LMS, or more commonly referred to as Totara, (named after the Totara tree which is native to New Zealand where the software was developed) is an open-source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Totara is an open source distribution of Moodle, with features specifically designed for the vocational or corporate training context.
Totara was originally developed through a joint venture company comprising of Kineo, Catalyst IT, and Flexible Learning Network (now Kineo Pacific), with a first release and subscriptions available for purchase from Totara Partners in January 2011.
Totara Partners do not sell the Totara software and this is not a nuance - it’s a critical point to understand. Open source procurement involves the purchase of a subscription to support, development and advice services rather than of a software license. It is a common misunderstanding that by extending a GPL application with more GPL features that there should have a public, free (free as in “free beer”) download. Partners offer a commercial open source service; Totara subscriptions are for a service including code support and maintenance, security updates, error correction, patch updates and a continuing stream of new innovations supported by the Totara Learning Solutions Team.
Features
Totara LMS differs from Moodle in that it provides an extended range of core functionality that has been found is typically required by modern businesses and is set to revolutionise the corporate LMS sector by providing a customisable, flexible, user centric and business focused system:
*competency structure to which you can link roles and learning resources and courses
*management hierarchy allowing managers to review and manage their team's learning
*individual development plans to manage staff performance and development
*full classroom management and self-service
*sophisticated reporting and a dashboard for management reporting
*enhanced theme branding to ensure you can fully reflect any brand
Development
With Totara you get the benefit of a dual roadmap; that of the underlying Moodle LMS and that of Totara itself. Totara Learning Solutions contributes Totara code and bug fixes to Moodle core, as part of Moodle’s open community model.
The architecture of Totara LMS stays closely aligned to Moodle. The large number of Moodle developers in the open source community mean that ahead of any major Moodle upgrade a large number of additional modules and functionality are continuously being developed, many of which are released to the community. This means that subscribers can mutually benefit from the development work done by the community at large alongside Moodle’s own key releases.
Totara also has its own parallel roadmap focused on corporate requirements. Totara’s roadmap evolves based on feedback from clients and future trends in the industry. Current items on the roadmap include:
*Curriculum / programme management, including better handling of groups, mandatory courses and forced regular completions, e.g. for mandatory compliance courses that need to be completed on a periodic basis
*Upgrade of the underlying platform to Moodle 2.0, depending on this achieving stable status
*Further improvements to the face-to-face / classroom course booking and management c omponent
*Evidence management and the ability to comment on capabilities in learning plans
*Online appraisal process modelling
*Skills gap / profile analysis and 360 degree tools.

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