Getting Ready for Your Scoping Call

Updated November 13, 2026 22:09

Thank you for choosing Absorb. Your scoping call is the first step in your implementation, and this article explains what the call covers, who to invite, and how to prepare. Your Implementation Project Manager (IPM) leads the call, joined by your Account Executive and your Account Manager, who will be your business contact from here on. If your plan includes services that require technical support, a member of our Technical Services team also joins. We record our calls so nothing gets missed.

If your plan includes services that connect Absorb to your other systems or bring data into it, such as integrations, data feeds, Single Sign-On (SSO), or a migration from another learning management system (LMS), see the Integrations: Overview article to help your technical team prepare.

For broader guidance on preparing your organization and project team for implementation, see How to Prepare for a Successful Onboarding.

Why We're Meeting

You shared a lot with us while choosing Absorb, and your Account Executive has passed it all on to us, so you won't be starting over.

On the call, we'll play back what we've heard so you can confirm it or tell us what's changed. Then we'll fill in the details together to help you set up Absorb to meet your needs. Together, this becomes your Scope of Work: the plan we follow through implementation, and the measures we use to confirm your project is complete.

What We'll Cover

The scoping call covers the following topics:

Topic	What We'll Talk About
Introductions	Your Absorb team (including how specialists are assigned, if applicable), and who to contact from today onward.
What We've Heard	A recap of what we gathered during the sales process, for you to confirm.
Your Goals	What success looks like at launch and in the long term.
Requirements and Services	Your content, Learner management, data, and reporting, plus each of the services in your plan.
Your Portal and Timeline	Your Portal URL, target launch date, and the dates that matter to you.
How You'll Graduate	The scoped exit criteria that confirm your implementation is complete.
Next Steps	Your Scope of Work, then your kick-off call.

Call Length

Depending on the services in your plan, your scoping call may run up to 90 minutes or be split into two shorter sessions.

Who to Invite

Having the right people on each call means fewer follow-ups and a faster start. Depending on the size of your organization and the complexity of your project, consider the following people for your project team. One person can cover more than one role.

Role	Why We Need Them	Scoping Call	Kick-Off Call
Project Lead	Owns the project day to day, and signs off on your Scope of Work.	Required	Required
Executive Sponsor	Sets priorities and confirms how you'll measure success.	Recommended	Recommended
System Admin	Will set up and manage Absorb.	Recommended	Required
Content Owner	Knows what Courses you have and how they're built.	Recommended	Optional
Marketing Contact	Makes sure your Portal's branding aligns with your corporate brand guidelines, and supplies logos, mock-ups, and images.	Recommended	Optional
Human Resources (HR) or People Data Owner	Knows where Learner records live and what they hold.	If connecting an HR system or user feed	If in scope
IT or Identity Contact	Can answer SSO, domain, and security questions.	If SSO or a custom domain is in scope	If in scope
Developer or Integration Contact	Can speak to application programming interfaces (APIs), data feeds, and connected systems, as applicable.	If integrations or data feeds are in scope	If in scope
Data Migration Contact	Knows your current LMS and what history must come over.	If migrating from another LMS	If in scope
Reporting Contact	Will use advanced reports.	If advanced reporting is in scope	Optional
Billing Contact	Manages invoices and payments, and reconciles E-Commerce sales, if in scope.	Optional	Optional
Contractors or Third Parties	Any external partner who owns one of the roles above.	If they own a role above	If they own a role above

Technical Contacts

If your plan includes integrations, data services, or SSO, the technical contacts above provide the information we need to design your timeline. If they can't join the scoping call, share the questions under Preparing for Integrations and Data Services, later in this article, with them beforehand so you can bring their answers.

Questions to Think About

These are the kinds of questions we'll explore together. You don't need to have all the answers now. Your IPM will help you work through them on the call and throughout your project, and we'll share best practices as we go. Anything we can't settle on the call becomes an open item in your Scope of Work. Reviewing the questions now helps you identify who to ask on your team ahead of time.

Your Goals and Timeline

These questions help define what success looks like and when your Portal needs to be ready:

What does a successful launch look like, and how will you measure it?
When would you like your first Learners in Absorb?
Are there dates that matter, such as your current LMS contract ending, a compliance deadline, or a busy period to avoid?
Will you launch to everyone at once, or start with a pilot group?

Your Learners and User Management

These questions help us understand who will use Absorb and how they will access it:

Who are your Learners, roughly how many will you have at launch, and where are they located?
How will user accounts be created: SSO, an HR system integration, or manually?
What information should be in each Learner's profile? These details drive automatic enrollments and report filters.
How will Learners get to Absorb: SSO, a link on your intranet or website, or something else?
Who will your Absorb Admins be, and what will each of them need access to?
Will different audiences, such as regions, business units, or customers, need different branding or dashboards?

Your Course Content

These questions help us plan how your Courses will be delivered and brought into Absorb:

What will you offer: self-paced Online Courses, Instructor Led Courses (virtual or in person), or Curricula that can combine both?
Do you have existing content to bring over? If so, in what formats (for example, Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) or Experience API (xAPI) files, videos, PDFs, or slides)?
Will you create your own content? If so, how: Absorb Create, another authoring tool, video, or documents?

Your Reporting

These questions help us understand the data you need from Absorb:

Which reports do you rely on today, or wish you had, and who uses them?
Are there reporting hierarchies or structures that need to be built in Absorb?
Will you use a business intelligence tool, or need to combine learning data with other business data?

Your LMS Ecosystem

These questions help us understand how Absorb fits alongside your other systems.

For details on default and custom Portal addresses, see Changing a Portal URL.

What URL would you like your Learners to use?
Which systems need to connect to Absorb? For each one, what's the business reason, and what data needs to move back and forth?
If you're moving from another LMS, what history must come over, and how far back?

Security, Compliance, and Your IT Team

These questions help us identify technical and compliance requirements early:

Where must your data be hosted, and are there privacy rules such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), accessibility standards, or record-retention requirements to meet?
If you're using your own domain, who can make Domain Name System (DNS) changes? Should Absorb emails come from your email domain?
Do firewalls or email filters need Absorb added to an allow list?
Are there change freezes, holidays, or other periods when your technical team isn't available?

The following articles provide background on these topics:

Preparing for Integrations and Data Services

If your plan includes integrations, data feeds, SSO, or a data migration, this section is for you and your technical team. These services take the most coordination, and they're where good preparation saves the most time. If you can't answer everything yet, bring what information you can for the questions below. Anything we can't settle on the scoping call becomes an open item, and your Data Integration Specialist will go deeper with your technical team.

Your Data Integration Specialist

Projects that include technical services are supported by a Data Integration Specialist:

Data Integration Specialists are assigned based on your project's technical requirements and complexity.
Your specialist is introduced ahead of the relevant integration activities, and helps scope and support the execution of your integrations.
Your IPM remains your main point of contact throughout.

For Each System That Connects to Absorb

Talk these questions through with the person who manages each system, such as your human resources information system (HRIS), customer relationship management (CRM), or identity provider administrator. Our sales team may already have some of this information from your team, so on the call we'll focus on confirming the details with you.

Question	Why It Matters
Which system is it, and who manages it?	We'll need their time during setup and testing.
Why are you connecting it?	The business reason shapes what data moves, and how often.
What data moves, and in which direction?	For example, Users, Departments, Enrollments, or completions, moving into Absorb, out of it, or both.
How often does it need to move?	Whether data moves in real time, daily, or weekly changes the approach.
Which system is the source of truth for each type of data?	Avoids conflicting records when data lives in more than one place.
What unique ID identifies each person across your systems?	Keeps records matched across SSO, imports, and connectors.
Can your system send files, or connect through an API?	Determines how the connection is built.
Does the connecting system have a test or sandbox environment?	Lets us test safely before anything touches production.

Single Sign-On

For background, see An Introduction to Single Sign-On and External Learners & Single Sign-On (SSO). Along with the questions in the table above, clarify the following:

Should accounts be created when Learners first log in, or set up ahead of time?
Will anyone not use SSO, such as contractors or external Learners? How will they log in?

Migrating Existing Data

If you're moving from another LMS, consider the following:

What must come over: Learners, completions and Transcripts, Certificates, Course content, or other records?
How far back does your history need to go?
Can your team export the data yourselves, and in what format?
Roughly how many content files and learning records are there, and what types?
Are there known data quality issues, such as duplicate accounts or incomplete records?

What Your Technical Team Should Have on Hand

Gathering the following items ahead of time helps your technical team prepare:

A list of the systems that will connect to Absorb, with a contact for each.
The field names from your HR system or user list. Share column headers or test data only, and no real personal data until we've agreed how to share it securely.
Any documentation for the systems you're connecting, such as API guides.
A sample export from your current LMS, if you're migrating, using test or anonymized data.
Your security review or IT approval requirements, and their typical timing.

After Your Scoping Call

After the call, your project moves through the following steps:

Step	Milestone	What Happens
1	Scope of Work Sent	Your IPM sends you your Scope of Work and the call presentation.
2	Review and Sign-Off	Your project lead reviews the Scope of Work and provides written acknowledgment.
3	Kick-Off Booked	Once the Scope of Work is acknowledged, we book your kick-off call, where your implementation officially starts.
4	Project Plan Shared	At kick-off, you'll receive your full project plan, including the timing for each of your services.
5	Integration Support Begins	If your plan includes technical services, your IPM submits a Technical Services request, and your Data Integration Specialist is introduced ahead of the relevant activities. Data services are tested in a Sandbox Environment before they go live.

Integrations, migrations, and other technical services can extend your timeline. We build them into your project plan, so you'll know what to expect from the start.

Anything new after sign-off goes through a change request with your IPM, so your timeline stays protected.

To prepare for the sessions that follow, see How to Prepare for a Kick-Off Call.

Questions Before Your Call

If you have questions before your scoping call, reply to your scoping call invitation. We look forward to meeting you.