An auditor at your Wolverhampton plant wants proof your operators are trained on the current work instruction, and you're printing signed sheets from a cabinet

A core system with a skills matrix and training records usually costs £30k to £52k, and a full build with work-instruction version control, allocation links and audit reporting reaches £82k to £110k. Digital Heroes builds the skills matrix first so competency evidence is available early.

Moodle is built around courses and certificates, not machine competency. It cannot tie training to a specific machine, a work-instruction version or a live skills matrix, so the evidence an auditor wants still ends up as paper sheets. A custom LMS makes that evidence instant.

Yes. We tie training to the version of the work instruction, so the system shows a named operator is signed off on the current version for that machine, and flags them for re-training the moment the instruction changes.

We add version control to work instructions, so when one updates, the system identifies everyone whose sign-off is now against an old version and triggers re-training, rather than leaving you to work out who is affected by hand.

Yes. We connect competency to job allocation and your HR software, so only operators cleared on the current instruction are offered a job on that machine, which protects both quality and compliance.

A core skills matrix and records system is usually live in 3 to 4 months, and a full build with version control and audit reporting in 5 to 6 months. We deliver the competency evidence first, then add re-training triggers and allocation links.

Yes. Instead of printing signed sheets from a filing cabinet, you run a report showing who is trained on what, against which instruction version, and when. That turns an OEM or quality audit from a scramble into a few minutes of evidence.

You own the code and the data. We host it where you choose and hand over the repository, and support is a retainer, so your training records stay yours and you can maintain or extend the system with any developer later.

Yes. We can deliver training and sign-off on a tablet at the machine, so an operator learns and confirms competency where they work, and the record updates the skills matrix immediately rather than waiting for a classroom session.

Yes. Self-hosted Moodle gives you full database access and TalentLMS provides exports plus an API, so courses, users, and completion history all come across. The careful part is mapping historical completions and certificate dates so your audit trail stays intact, which is typically a two-to-four-week workstream inside the project. Run the old and new systems in parallel for one full training cycle before cutting over.

By designing the reporting layer first: every assignment, completion, score, and course version is stored as a point-in-time record an auditor can trust. The question audits actually ask is to show everyone certified on version 3 of a course as of March 1, and a flat completed-yes-or-no schema cannot answer it. Retrofitting that history into an LMS that never captured it is one of the most expensive fixes in this category, so name your regulator and your audit format during discovery.

TalentLMS handles standard corporate training well and is the fastest cheap start; its free tier alone covers 5 users and 10 courses. You outgrow it when you need custom role hierarchies beyond its branches, white-labeled portals for many client brands, or integrations it does not offer, and per-active-user pricing stings once learner counts reach the thousands. Run a three-year projection of your learner count against its published tiers before deciding; that math settles most build-versus-buy debates.

Ask to speak with two past clients whose projects resemble yours in size and industry, and ask exactly who will write your code, since some agencies sell senior faces and deliver junior or subcontracted hands. Demand a written specification with acceptance criteria before any fixed price, and check that their portfolio links to products that are actually live. An instant quote given without questions about your workflows is the clearest warning sign there is.

Three to five for a typical focused build: a project lead, one or two engineers, a designer, and part-time QA, which is the standard shape across 2,000+ Digital Heroes projects. Larger platforms justify 6 to 10, but a ten-person team on a small first version usually signals bill padding rather than horsepower. What predicts success is whether a senior engineer is writing your code daily, not the headcount on the proposal.

Ask them to open a live LMS they built and walk you through the SCORM tracking, the reporting layer, and what happens at your learner volume, because those are the three places cheap builds fail. Then check the contract for full IP assignment, hosting in your own cloud accounts, and a discovery phase before any fixed quote. An agency that prices a full LMS from a one-paragraph brief without discovery is guessing with your budget.

Yes. The core loop of enroll a learner, deliver a course, track completion, and pull one report is shippable in 10 to 12 weeks and typically costs 40 to 50 percent of the full roadmap across Digital Heroes builds. Cut gamification, social features, and custom authoring (import SCORM packages from Articulate instead), but never cut the data model, SSO, or content-standard support, because those cannot be bolted on cleanly later.

Digital Heroes builds custom LMS software systems for operators who have outgrown the off-the-shelf tools in their category. The work is delivered remotely: our engineers work from Delhi and Lucknow, leadership is in New York, and some team members live in London and Sydney and work remotely from there. We have no office in Wolverhampton. You can chat with the team directly, and every form gets an email reply within 24 hours.