Course Asset Intake and Scoping (Onboarding)
A checklist with 7 steps: Inventory every source asset the client already owns before proposing new production.
By InnovaAI ResearchPublished
What are the steps?
Course Asset Intake and Scoping (Onboarding)
- 01
Inventory every source asset the client already owns before proposing new production
Collect slide decks, recorded webinars, PDFs, and internal wikis. A PowerPoint-heavy library points toward an authoring path that converts existing decks into interactive modules rather than a rebuild from scratch.
- 02
Confirm the delivery target and compliance format in writing
Ask whether the course must report completion into an LMS. If yes, SCORM or xAPI output is a hard requirement and narrows the platform shortlist immediately.
- 03
Map the buyer, the learner, and the payer as three separate roles
A compliance officer who signs the retainer, an HR lead who assigns seats, and an employee who takes the module have different success criteria. Scope against all three or the first renewal conversation stalls.
- 04
Set the localization and accessibility scope at intake, not after build
Decide up front how many languages and whether captions, transcripts, and screen-reader paths are in scope. Retrofitting translation and accessibility into a finished course typically costs more than producing it correctly the first time.
- 05
Choose the hosting model and document who owns the account
Client-owned platform accounts reduce agency lock-in risk and make the eventual handoff cleaner. Agency-owned accounts are easier to bill against but create a dependency the client will eventually question.
- 06
Estimate seat count and update cadence to size the retainer
A 40-seat compliance module refreshed twice a year is a different commercial shape than a 5,000-seat onboarding library refreshed quarterly. Put the number in the proposal so scope creep has a reference point.
- 07
Record the client's in-house capability and timeline to self-serve
Note whether they have an instructional designer on staff and what tooling they already pay for. This sets realistic expectations about how long the retainer survives before the work moves inside.