Four Simple Steps to Prepare for the New CIS Learning Center
Over the past few months, we've shared updates about the future CIS Learning Center, highlighted exciting new features and walked through our transition timeline. While CIS continues working behind the scenes to build and configure the new platform, there are several things your organization can do now that will help make the transition smoother and set you up for success when the new system launches.
Here are our four recommendations for getting started.
1. Clean Up Your User Accounts
The single most helpful thing you can do is review your organization's active user list.
Take a few minutes to verify that user information is current and accurate. While you're reviewing accounts, consider the following:
Are there users who are no longer employed by your organization?
Are email addresses current and valid?
Are job titles populated and accurate?
Are managers assigned correctly?
Are there duplicate or inactive accounts that should be cleaned up?
Accurate user information will help ensure a smooth transition and improve reporting, learning assignments, and administrative workflows in the new system.
For organizations with a large number of users, click here for instructions on exporting your data and submitting bulk updates rather than making changes one record at a time.
A little housekeeping now can save a lot of time later.
2. Review Your Custom Content
Does your organization currently have custom training content in the CIS Learning Center?
Now is a great time to take inventory.
To see content associated with your organization, navigate to Browse and then select Your Employer from the category list. This will display the content tied to your organization.
As you review what you find, ask yourself:
Is this content still relevant?
Should it be archived?
Does it need updates before moving into the new platform?
Do we want it available in the future Learning Center?
If content should be archived, simply email us the title at learn@cisoregon.org, and we'll take care of it for you.
If content needs updates before being added to the new platform, don't worry about making changes right away. We'll be sharing more information in future blog posts about how custom content updates and migrations will be handled.
Taking stock now will make future decisions much easier.
3. Start Planning Your Learning Plans
If there's one feature members consistently tell us they love, it's learning plans.
We're excited to share that learning plans will be even more flexible in the new Learning Center. In fact, organization administrators will be able to create, manage, and maintain their own learning plans.
We'll talk much more about learning plans in future updates, but now is the perfect time to start thinking strategically about what your organization wants to accomplish.
Consider building a high-level roadmap that focuses on:
Who needs training? (Departments, positions, employee groups, supervisors, etc.)
What topics are important? (Safety, leadership, HR, technical skills, compliance, onboarding, and more.)
When should training occur? (Monthly, quarterly, seasonally, or tied to organizational events.)
Don't worry about selecting specific courses yet. We'll have plenty of familiar favorites as well as new learning opportunities available in the new system.
For now, focus on identifying your organization's learning needs and priorities so you'll have a roadmap when it's time to build.
4. Start Collecting Ideas for New Custom Content
The transition to a new platform is also an opportunity to think beyond what exists today.
Are there internal resources, policies, or training materials you've always wished were available through the Learning Center?
Now is the perfect time to start brainstorming.
Some possibilities include:
Employee handbook acknowledgments
Policy review and acknowledgment activities
Internal onboarding content
Department-specific training
Video-based learning activities
Resource libraries and reference materials
Supervisor tools and guides
The new platform will give your organization more options for delivering and tracking its own content, creating opportunities to support learning in ways that fit your workforce.
Even if you're not ready to build anything today, start keeping a list of ideas. Those ideas can become valuable first projects when you begin exploring the new system.
Looking Ahead
Preparing for a major system transition doesn't have to happen all at once. By taking a few simple steps now, you'll be in a much stronger position when it's time to move into the new CIS Learning Center.
Whether you're cleaning up user records, reviewing content, evaluating organizational structures, planning learning initiatives, or brainstorming new training ideas, every step you take today will help make the transition smoother and more successful.
Together, we're building the next generation of the CIS Learning Center.
Subscribe to this blog for updates, member feedback opportunities, and transition resources as we work to make learning more accessible, flexible, and valuable for Oregon's cities and counties. Questions? Email us at learn@cisoregon.org.
In our next post, we'll take a closer look at 2027 learning plans, including why now is the time to start thinking about timelines, training priorities, and the decisions organizations may want to make before the start of the next calendar year.
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