Your SCORM, xAPI and cmi5 packages, running as published
Upload the zip your authoring tool exported. LMS Advisor works out the format, tracks completion and scores, and can pass the data on to an external LRS or a campus LMS.
At a glance
- SCORM 1.2 and 2004
- xAPI with a built-in LRS
- cmi5
- LTI 1.3 Tool Provider
- External LRS forwarding
When you change LMS, the content library is usually the part you cannot afford to rebuild. Years of Storyline, Rise, Captivate or iSpring output sit in zip files, and the line on the evaluation sheet is simple: will they run, and will they track?
In LMS Advisor a package is one more lesson type. You add a lesson, upload the zip, and the platform reads the manifest to decide how to launch it. SCORM 1.2 and 2004 packages talk to the runtime APIs they expect. xAPI packages send statements to a Learning Record Store that ships with the product. cmi5 courses get the full launch contract and their moveOn rules. In the other direction, LTI 1.3 lets a university or partner platform launch your courses and receive the grade.
Why content moves badly between systems
A library you cannot re-author
Hundreds of packaged modules, some from vendors who no longer exist. Rebuilding them is off the table, so they have to launch unmodified.
Completion that says too little
SCORM reports passed or failed. Designers who built xAPI interactions want those statements kept somewhere they can use later.
Learners who live in another LMS
A university partner or a customer’s own platform is where people already sign in. Asking them to create one more account loses many of them.
Standards covered out of the box
Each standard below is handled by the course player and admin screens that come with the platform. There is no separate LRS to license and no connector to install.
SCORM 1.2 and 2004
The player exposes both runtime APIs, so packages record completion, success, score, bookmark and suspend data without edits.
xAPI with a built-in LRS
Packages that contain a tincan.xml launch in xAPI mode and send statements and state to an LRS inside LMS Advisor.
cmi5
Multi-AU courses, the fetch-token launch contract, moveOn rules and mastery scores, all mapped to lesson completion.
LTI 1.3 Tool Provider
Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, D2L and Open edX can launch your courses, exams and paths, with Deep Linking and grade passback.
External LRS forwarding
Copy package statements to Learning Locker, Veracity, Watershed or SCORM Cloud through a queue that retries, and optionally add statements the LMS writes about quizzes, exams and attendance.
REST API and webhooks
REST API v1 for users, enrollments, progress and certificates, plus signed webhooks for events such as enrollment, completion and certificate issue.
What happens after you upload a package
Format detection and safety checks
When a zip is uploaded, LMS Advisor looks for three files in a fixed order: cmi5.xml, then tincan.xml, then imsmanifest.xml. The order matters because Articulate’s cmi5 export also contains a tincan.xml, and launching it as plain xAPI would throw away its moveOn rules. Before anything is extracted, the archive is inspected. Entries that try to write outside the package folder are refused, server-side script files are blocked, and a package that unpacks to more than 2 GB is rejected.
SCORM tracking
The player provides the SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 runtime APIs, so nothing needs repackaging. A lesson completes when the package reports passed or completed. A failed status leaves the lesson open for another try, and progress comes from the package’s progress measure when it sends one. Bookmark and suspend data are saved, so a learner who closes the tab picks up where they stopped. One limit worth testing: the player launches the entry resource named in the manifest. If a SCORM 2004 package relies on multi-SCO sequencing and navigation rules, run it on a trial first.
The built-in LRS
xAPI packages receive the standard launch parameters and a token scoped to that learner and lesson. The LRS stores statements and activity state documents, and a completed or passed verb marks the lesson done. It covers what packages use while they run. It is not a general analytics store you query from a BI tool. If you need that, switch on forwarding and send a copy to the LRS your data team already uses.
Statements the LMS writes on its own
Packages are not the only source of xAPI data. Under Settings > Integrations you can opt in to statements generated by LMS Advisor itself, using the verbs completed, passed, failed, answered, attended and experienced. They cover lessons, courses, quizzes, exams, assignments, attendance and answers in interactive modules, and they go to the external LRS you set up for forwarding. A native quiz or a classroom check-in then sits in your LRS beside the Storyline modules. The built-in store is still not a reporting LRS, so this only helps if you have an external one.
cmi5 specifics
A cmi5 course can hold several assignable units. Each gets its own session, its moveOn rule (Passed, Completed, CompletedAndPassed, CompletedOrPassed or NotApplicable) and any masteryScore from the course structure. Waived units count as satisfied, and the lesson completes once every unit is satisfied.
LTI and forwarding in operation
For LTI you register each platform with its keys and deployment IDs, and launches from an unknown deployment are refused. Instructors use Deep Linking to pick a published course, exam or learning path, and scores return through Assignment and Grade Services. Grade passback and LRS forwarding are both queued and sent by cron, with up to five attempts at growing intervals, so a slow partner server never holds up a learner. On a self-hosted install, make sure those cron jobs are scheduled. A forwarding endpoint that fails 25 times in a row switches itself off until you fix it.
Moving a course to another install
A whole course can be exported as a .zip package that carries its media, captions, materials and interactive modules, then imported on another LMS Advisor install. SCORM packages are the exception: their files are not included in the zip, so keep the original exports and upload them again on the receiving side.
See Standards & Interoperability in a live demo
We will show it with your own scenario, answer the security questions and send a written quote after the call.
From authoring tool to tracked lesson
Publish from your tool
Export from Storyline, Rise, Captivate, iSpring, Lectora or any tool that outputs SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, xAPI or cmi5.
Add it as a lesson
Create a SCORM/xAPI lesson in the course builder and upload the zip. The format is detected for you.
Test as a learner
Open the course with a test account, finish the module, and check that completion and score land where you expect.
Connect other systems
Add an external LRS (and decide whether the LMS should send its own statements), register an LTI platform, or create API tokens and webhooks for the tools around your LMS.
Schedule the queues
On a self-hosted install, schedule the cron endpoints for LRS forwarding and LTI score passback.
Where teams rely on it
Moving a content library
Re-upload the original zips from your old LMS and they run as authored. Learner history does not travel inside a package, so export old records separately.
University and partner programs
A partner institution adds LMS Advisor as an LTI 1.3 tool, students launch from their usual course page, and marks appear in that gradebook.
Central learning data teams
Package statements are mirrored to the LRS where other learning data already lives, and with LMS statements on, quiz, exam, assignment and attendance records arrive there too.
Vendor compliance modules
Off-the-shelf SCORM modules bought from a content vendor sit next to your own courses and count toward the same course completion and certificate.
What you keep when you switch
- Existing packages run without being rebuilt
- xAPI data stays with you, with no separate LRS to license
- Learners launch from the platform they already use
- Grades reach partner gradebooks without copy and paste
- Other systems hear about enrollments and completions as they happen
Related capabilities
Standards questions we get asked
Do we need a separate LRS for xAPI?
Can the LMS send its own activity to our LRS as xAPI?
Which authoring tools work?
Is AICC or H5P supported?
Which platforms can launch LMS Advisor content over LTI?
Can LMS Advisor embed other vendors’ LTI tools?
What happens when a package reports “failed”?
How are webhooks secured?
Will learner history from our old LMS come across?
Can we move a course to another LMS Advisor install?
More features
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