An LMS (learning management system) delivers and tracks learning: online courses, SCORM modules, knowledge checks, completions and certificates. A TMS (training management system) runs the operation around training: the calendar, rooms, trainers, bookings, waiting lists, approvals, registers, budgets and compliance planning by job role. If all your training happens online, an LMS is usually enough. Once you run classroom, on-site or practical sessions, or have to prove renewals for every role, you need TMS features as well, ideally in the same system so each person has one training record.
This guide is for UK training managers, L&D leads and compliance teams choosing between them.
A quick note on the name: in logistics, TMS usually means a transport management system, software for planning loads and deliveries. In this guide TMS always means a training management system.
What is an LMS?
A learning management system is where people do their online learning and where the evidence of that learning is kept. A typical LMS lets you:
- host SCORM, xAPI and video courses, or write lessons inside the platform
- enrol people by team, site or job role and send reminders
- record completions, scores and pass or fail results
- issue certificates, with renewal dates for training that expires
- report on progress for managers and administrators
The LMS is built around the learner and the course. Its natural question is “has this person completed this course?”
What is a TMS?
A training management system runs the work that sits behind training, much of which never happens on a screen. A TMS typically covers:
- a training calendar with sessions by room and by trainer, so clashes show before they happen
- bookings, waiting lists and withdrawals, with a place passed to the next person in line
- manager approval of booking requests and of training done elsewhere
- registers taken on the day, with attendance recorded against each person
- a compliance matrix showing which courses each job role needs and how often
- training budgets, spend with outside suppliers and how people rated their courses
- reports and audit evidence for any date range
The TMS is built around the training operation. Its natural questions are “who still needs this, when is the next session, who is delivering it and what did it cost?”
If you are still planning training in spreadsheets, shared calendars and email, you are running a TMS by hand.
LMS vs TMS: the main differences
| LMS | TMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Deliver and track learning | Plan, schedule and run training |
| Built around | The learner and the course | Sessions, resources and requirements |
| Type of training | Mostly online and self-paced | Classroom, on-site, practical and live online, plus outside courses |
| Main users | Learners, managers, LMS administrators | Training managers, trainers, line managers, compliance teams |
| What it records | Enrolments, progress, scores, completions, certificates | Bookings, attendance, approvals, costs, suppliers, requirements by role |
| Typical reports | Completion rates, overdue courses, scores | Session fill rates, budget against spend, gaps by role, audit packs |
| What a gap looks like | A course not started or not passed | A role without a required course, an expired renewal, an unbooked session |
In short, the LMS tracks what people learned and the TMS tracks the training that had to happen for that learning to take place.
Where do LMS and TMS features overlap?
The overlap is in the record. Both systems want to know whether someone has completed their training, both issue or store certificates, and both report on what is overdue.
That is where trouble starts when they are separate products. A trainer takes the register in the TMS, but the completion has to reach the LMS before the certificate is issued. A first aid certificate renews in the LMS, but the refresher session is booked in the TMS. Someone attends a course run by an outside supplier, and the certificate is emailed to a manager and saved in a folder that neither system can see.
Many organisations end up with two partial records joined by a spreadsheet. It works until someone asks for a complete answer, usually during an audit, an inspection or a client’s supplier review.
Do you need an LMS, a TMS or both?
Start from how your training is delivered and what you have to prove.
When an LMS on its own is enough
- nearly all your training is online and self-paced
- live sessions are occasional and easy to track by hand
- renewals are few, and nobody asks for evidence by job role
When you need TMS features as well
- you run classroom, on-site, practical or induction sessions every month
- rooms, trainers or equipment are booked and sometimes double-booked
- sessions fill up and people wait for a place, or managers must approve bookings
- people attend courses run by outside suppliers and their certificates must count
- you plan a training budget and want to know which suppliers were worth the money
- you have to show, by job role, who is trained, who is due and who has expired
Health and safety training is a common trigger. Under regulation 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers must give adequate health and safety training when people are recruited and when they face new or increased risks, and that training must be repeated periodically where appropriate. Tracking refreshers for each role, across classroom and online courses, is exactly the job a TMS does well. Our free mandatory training checker shows which UK training applies to your organisation.
Should the LMS and TMS be one system or two?
You can buy them separately and connect them, or choose one platform that does both.
Two separate systems can work if the connection between them is reliable. Ask which data passes across (attendance, completions, certificates, job roles), how often, in which direction, and who fixes it when a record fails to sync. Expect two contracts, two sets of logins to manage and two suppliers to involve when something goes wrong.
One combined platform avoids the join. A booking, the register on the day, the online module, the knowledge check and the certificate all land on the same record, so nothing has to be reconciled. For most in-house training teams this is simpler to run and easier to prove, provided the platform is good at both halves, so check it as carefully as two specialist products.
What to check in a combined LMS and TMS
Test each supplier against this list in a live demo, using your own courses, roles and a typical week of sessions.
- Training calendar. Day and week views, with room and trainer views that show clashes.
- Sessions in a room or online. Each session has a room or a meeting link, a trainer, a number of places and a setting for whether bookings need approval.
- Bookings and waiting lists. People book from their own learning page, and a cancelled place goes to the next person automatically.
- Registers that complete the record. Marking attendance should complete the session for everyone present, with no re-keying.
- Compliance matrix by job role. Rules for which courses each role needs and how often, and every person shown as valid, due, overdue or never done.
- Training done elsewhere. Outside courses logged with the provider, cost and certificate, approved by a manager, then counted on the record and in the budget.
- Learning content. SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, xAPI and video play inside the platform, with certificates that can be checked.
- Calendars and sign-in. A calendar feed that puts bookings and due dates into Outlook, Google or Apple Calendar, and single sign-on with Microsoft or Google work accounts.
- Audit evidence. A pack for any date range covering compliance by person, attendance, certificates and outside training, with the evidence files.
- Moving your history. Past completion records imported with their original dates, so renewal dates are right from the first day.
- Hosting and data. Where data and backups are held, and a data processing agreement under UK GDPR.
To turn this into a list you can send to suppliers, use our free LMS requirements checklist. It now includes a training management template, so you can mark each item as must, should or could have and download the questions as a spreadsheet. If you are also weighing up who should run the platform, our guide to white label LMS options compares buying, renting and building.
How the Capytech LMS and TMS works
The Capytech platform does both jobs in one system. The Capytech training management system handles the calendar, rooms, trainers, bookings, waiting lists, manager approvals, registers, the compliance and skills matrices, outside training, the budget and supplier ratings. The Capytech LMS delivers the online side: SCORM, xAPI, video and lessons written in the platform, knowledge checks, policies to sign and certificates with a check code.
For each person, live sessions appear as stops on their learning journey next to their online courses. Line managers see their own team as on track, at risk, overdue or done, approve requests from one queue and get a weekly digest. The audit pack for any date range takes one click and includes the evidence files. Our post on audit-ready training explains what a record an auditor can rely on looks like.
We set the platform up on your own domain in your branding, connect single sign-on and import your people and past training records with their original dates as part of a quoted migration. We quote a fixed price for an agreed scope and agree the delivery plan before any work starts. The platform is hosted in the UK on AWS in London with daily backups, and Capytech UK Ltd is Cyber Essentials certified. Eagle Eye Innovations runs its CAA-recognised drone pilot training on a branded Capytech LMS.
Frequently asked questions
In training, TMS stands for training management system: software that plans, schedules and records training, including sessions, rooms, trainers, bookings, budgets and compliance by job role. The same letters also mean transport management system in logistics, which is unrelated. If a supplier says TMS, check which one they mean.
Many LMSs can list a classroom session and let people enrol, but that is often where it stops. Check for room and trainer views, waiting lists, manager approvals and a register that completes the record when attendance is marked. If those are missing, the classroom side will still end up in a spreadsheet.
Not if your system has a compliance matrix. A training matrix spreadsheet has to be updated by hand every time someone joins, changes role or completes a course, so it is often out of date when it matters. A compliance matrix in the platform is built from rules for each job role and from the training records themselves, so it is current every time you open it.
A training records system stores what has been done. A TMS also plans and runs what still needs to happen: it books the sessions, manages places and approvals, takes the register and shows the gaps by role before they become overdue. Most TMSs include training records, but not every records system can run training.
Usually, if the two can exchange data reliably. Ask which records pass between them, how often and in which direction, and test it with real attendance and completions before you commit. If your current LMS is due for renewal, compare the cost and effort of connecting two systems with moving to one platform that does both.
Run every training session from one system
The Capytech LMS and TMS puts the calendar, bookings, registers, compliance matrix and online courses on one record per person, hosted in the UK.