News story

Thomas Eggar partner with Kineo to deploy Totara Learning Management System

Brighton, UKLearning NewsKineo

Law firm, Thomas Eggar LLP has recently partnered with leading e-learning company Kineo to deploy Totara Learning Management System (LMS), the open source LMS developed by Kineo with its partners Catalyst and Flexible Learning (now Kineo Pacific).

Thomas Eggar (TE) joins a community of corporate clients including Vodafone, Sony and Tesco who have recognised the benefits of using a commercial product based on open source technology.  The firm’s LMS called the TE Academy Online offers staff a fully functioning system, managing all their e-Learning and face-to-face training at a fraction of the price of some systems.  Kineo worked closely with the TE team to develop single sign on, a fully functioning CPD module, a budgeting module to track spend and modifications to allow us to filter our users by role, office, department and many other criteria.

Ann Hemming, Consultant and Head of L&D and Knowledge Management at Thomas Eggar said on the LMS system: "The Academy Online allows TE staff to be creative by producing quizzes and automate feedback processes, as well as group training together into meaningful programs. This is really effective for rolling out risk and compliance programs and our nationally recognised, unique academy approach to training has really inspired our staff.  Totara also has all the social forums, RSS and discussions we need to allow for informal learning - and we have integrated it with Yammer".

Thomas Eggar has six offices, which means that development of online communications is essential in maintaining excellent communications and opportunities for learning. The Totara system helps TE by integrating all webinar content; the Lync communications suite and online meetings to provide a self-service system that can support a geographically dispersed workforce.

The next phase of the roll out will include development of the competency frameworks and individualised learning plans for staff - all part of the standard Totara package.

The LMS is hosted externally which means TE can offer their  staff,  trainers, alumni and new joiners access to the portal 24/7.

From a Knowledge Management (KM) perspective, the LMS is an essential part of the KM strategy as it allows the grouping together of know how and learning, giving the firm a full picture of the developing expertise of their staff.

Ann Hemming, continues, "I have worked with a number of LMS providers over the years and always had concerns that the systems weren't flexible enough to cope with the specific needs of law firms. Totara offers us all the benefits of joining a global user community who support the core open source technology, along with the advantages of having a responsive Kineo team who can tailor the latest developments to our specific needs.  The LMS is integrated with our HR, DMS and other core systems and has been very well received within the firm - raising the profile and awareness of all our training initiatives."

Stephen Walsh of Kineo commented “Thomas Eggar has shown that you can revolutionalise how the LMS works in the legal profession through the new TE Academy Online. Totara’s rich functionality and flexible design has enabled a customised solution for TE to create manage and learning resources, and promote and enable social and informal learning too. We at Kineo are delighted with the positive feedback from Thomas Eggar and the over 100 other Totara clients across a range of industries”.


About Thomas Eggar

Thomas Eggar LLP is a firm that seeks out creative business and legal solutions for commercial organisations and private individuals.

We take a refreshing approach to client relationships and have industry-specific expertise in Retail, Insurance, Finance, Manufacturing & Logistics, Sports & Leisure, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Media and Technology, as well as a nationally renowned, award winning Private Client practice.

By thinking differently and truly understanding our clients’ needs and their industry, we are able to deliver inspiring results.

Thomas Eggar is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and is Lexcel and Investors in People accredited.

Thomas Eggar LLP has over 500 people based in the South of England and is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales under registered number OC326278 whose registered office is at The Corn Exchange, Baffin's Lane, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1GE (VAT number 991259583).