How to Choose a Custom Content Developer
By Brandon Hall

How do you choose a vendor to create content for your organization? Most people rely on word-of-mouth. This can be a starting point, but like any significant purchasing decision, it's smarter to follow an RFP (Request For Proposal) process – or something similar – and have vendors convince you they're the right firm for the job. Instead of being sold directly by the sales department, with an RFP you can create a more meaningful exchange and find out if your organizations are truly compatible. To get there, you'll need to ask the right questions.

For our research on custom content vendors, we asked CLOs, e-learning managers, and training directors to tell us what they look for in a custom content vendor. We then took this information and matched it with what companies typically want from vendors to create a list of the "Top 10" characteristics sought by end users. You can use this information to create a checklist of “things to ask” when interviewing or requesting information from custom courseware vendors.

1. Well-defined, efficient instructional development process
The vendor should at least be able to freely articulate their model for instructional development and in most cases provide documentation of what to expect from the project kick-off to final completion. Many developers follow one of several variations of the basic ADDIE model: A=Analyze, D=Design, D=Develop, I=Implement and E=Evaluate. While this is a good overview approach, watch specifically for details about how they accomplish this. How do they ensure that the analysis is correct? What is the level of quality assurance you can expect during final evaluation? Etc.

2. Experienced staff
A company’s name is only as good as the experience of the people. Hiring a custom developer is similar to hiring a new employee. You not only want someone who seems eager to get the work done but is also qualified for the work. For example, do the instructional designers have advanced degrees in their field? Does this matter to you? During your final RFP process, you may consider asking for full resumes of the people you will be working with.

3. Instructional integrity in all courses
Ultimately you are looking for courses that teach and meet your objectives. Ask the vendor to share case studies with you about successful implementations. Be sure and look at different measures of effectiveness. Did learners like the course? Did they learn something? Can they demonstrate their competency on the job? Etc.

4. Body of work with similar types of projects
Remember that demos are designed to catch your attention. Most courseware vendors are happy to show you polished demonstration courses. What you should do is ask the vendor to show you a course that most closely resembles the type of course you’d like them to produce (by teaching style and subject matter). Most vendors will be happy to comply and may even be willing to create a special prototype course using your content.

5. Communication skills/project management
One of the most frequent complaints we hear when companies hire custom courseware developers is that the vendor simply didn’t share much information over the project development cycle. Most problems, even major ones like not keeping up with the timeline, can be overcome by fostering an open communication channel between vendor and customer. Look for information in each vendor profile about how they work to establish clear communication throughout the development process.

6. Ability to grasp complex or difficult subject matter
Some courses have difficult and demanding learning curves to get up to speed on the content that is to be taught. Imagine having to learn a concept that is only taught in the fourth year of medical school. How hard would it be if you were tasked with creating learning content on the topic? A good custom courseware developer should have the capacity to absorb and disseminate information from subject matter experts and convert this into meaningful course material. It doesn’t mean they have to already have subject matter expertise. Rather, it means they have the ability to work under these conditions. If you have a specifically difficult subject matter area, be sure to ask the vendor to talk through several of examples where they have had to deal with similar issues.

7. Rapid prototyping capabilities
One of the most frequent mistakes a custom content developer can make is to wait until the course is completely finished before showing you how the course works. Look for a vendor who has prototyping steps built-in to their instructional development process. A good vendor will at least create a mini-prototype of each new type of interaction to be used in the course. This will keep expectations at a proper balance. No surprises.

8. Moderate cost
In reality, customers are simply worried about paying too much for the service. In general, the more sophisticated the level of interaction and the more media-rich content (such as video, audio and animations) that are needed for the project, the higher the cost. It is a good idea to learn what the approximate costs might be before opening the project for bid. And, be sure to get a good representative sampling of bids for the project, asking the vendor to share exactly what you get for your money.

9. No page-turners
Another area of dissatisfaction is when a customer chooses a vendor and they provide nothing more than mere page-turning content. This has been the source of much conflict and even lawsuits. Be sure to get a description of the level of interaction before signing a contract. Be somewhat wary of very low-cost bids. Ask the right questions.

10. Experience working with standards-based, Web-development tools
It is one thing for the vendor to create a nice looking, engaging, interactive course and quite another to make sure that it works within your infrastructure. If you are already using an LMS (learning management system), you need to make sure and specify the amount of data that must be passed between the content and the LMS. Also, look for companies that have experience with the systems you intend to use.

By asking these kinds of questions, you'll be able to make a more informed and more diligent decision about the vendor(s) you eventunally hire to create your organization's content.

Reprinted from Brandon-Hall Research

To learn more about choosing a custom content vendor, check out "Custom Content Developers 2005: A KnowledgeBase of 100+ Firms to Build Your Online Courses." It's an online service designed to help you answer questions like these – and many more – in your search for the right learning solutions for your organization.