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Explainer 6 min read

What an LMS does that an ERP should not

Teaching and record-keeping are different jobs with different rhythms. Most integration pain comes from asking one system to do both, then reconciling the result twice a term.

A learning management system exists to run a course while it is being taught. An ERP exists to hold what the institution will still assert about that course in ten years. The first is a workshop, busy and provisional. The second is a register, quiet and final. Confusing them is why so many institutions end up with attendance in three places and a transcript nobody fully trusts.

The useful question is not which system is better. It is where the boundary sits, and which side of it each piece of data lives on permanently.

Two different rhythms

An LMS changes by the hour. A faculty member uploads a revised slide deck, extends a deadline by two days, reopens a quiz for one student who lost connectivity. None of that needs an approval chain, and none of it should generate an audit entry.

An ERP changes by exception. A final mark, a fee receipt, a section transfer. Each one needs a named actor, and several need an approver. Apply LMS speed to ERP data and you lose custody. Apply ERP governance to LMS data and faculty stop using the system by week three.

Where the seam belongs
LMS · THE WORKSHOP While it is taught Course content and reading lists Assignments and submissions Quizzes and formative feedback Discussion and announcements Draft grades and rubrics Session-level participation Changes hourly. No approval chain. THE SEAM Three things cross Enrolment, one way in Verified attendance Final marks, on submission ERP · THE REGISTER What is asserted after One student identity Enrolment and section of record Sealed marks and results Attendance of record Fees, concessions, receipts Transcripts and certificates Changes by exception. Approver named.

Six pieces of data, and where each belongs

The test is simple. Ask whether you would defend this figure to a regulator in five years. If yes, the ERP owns it and the LMS may display a copy. If no, the LMS owns it and the ERP should never see it.

Data Owner Why
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Attendance is the hard case

Attendance is where the boundary is most often drawn wrongly, because both systems have a legitimate claim. The LMS knows who opened the session. The ERP has to defend the eligibility decision that follows from it.

Keep two numbers, deliberately

Session participation stays in the LMS, where a faculty member can correct it during the week. Attendance of record is what the ERP holds after the correction window closes, and it is the only number a debarment or condonation decision may cite. Publish both, and label which is which.

Institutions that collapse these into one figure spend every eligibility appeal arguing about whether a login counted as a class.

Four integrations that always go wrong

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One seam, three payloads, one direction each. An integration you can describe in a sentence is one the next administrator can still maintain.

Draw the seam against your own LMS.

A consultant maps which figures cross, in which direction, and what stays where it is.