Creating the Viva Learning Connector for Oracle HCM Learning

Introduction

The universe is full of coincidences — and when coincidences meet insight, an idea is formed.

An idea, when crystalized, leads to an opportunity.

When an opportunity is seized upon, it leads to creation. sds

One such coincidence was the purchase of Viva Learning licenses by Persistent, while already being an existing customer of Oracle HCM Learning. Through this coincidence, Microsoft was able to see the insight of leveraging Persistent’s connector-building capability and bridging the two platforms. This sparked the idea of developing joint IP — the Viva Learning Connector for Oracle HCM Learning.

What is Viva Learning?

Viva Learning is a centralized learning hub in Microsoft Teams that lets customers seamlessly integrate learning and building skills into an employee’s day, by connecting to various LMS and third-party providers.

Providers establish these connections to connect Viva Learning and a specific LMS, leveraging the “Employee Learning” APIs provided by Microsoft Graph.

What is Oracle HCM Learning?

Oracle HCM (Human Capital Management) Learning is a module within Oracle’s comprehensive suite of cloud-based HR solutions. It is designed to manage and support an employee’s learning and development activities. The learning module enables businesses to offer, track, and manage employee training and development programs. The learning module enables learning management, course management, learning paths, skills and competencies, social learning and reporting and analytics.

What was the potential opportunity?

Industry benchmarks reveal that average course completion rates hover around 70%, with assessment scores and engagement metrics often falling short of desired levels. This highlights a significant gap that the Viva Learning Connector for Oracle HCM aims to bridge. By providing employees with a single pane view of assigned and recommended courses, the connector enhances their autonomy and compliance with mandatory trainings and upskilling opportunities.

Organizations frequently struggle with enforcing training programs, leading to incomplete courses and underdeveloped skills. Ensuring a positive employee experience is paramount to overcoming these challenges, as it directly influences training completion rates and overall engagement. The business benefits of this solution are substantial, including reduced breaches of trust and safety, a future-ready workforce, and more fulfilling career trajectories for employees. By grounding this solution within these metrics, organizations can better visualize the tangible improvements in productivity and employee satisfaction.

One of Viva Learning’s standout features is its ability to connect to various third-party LMS and content providers, helping organizations consolidate their training content in one place. Viva Learning offers several connectorsto popular learning systems, for more information visit the official Microsoft documentation for connectors.

Oracle HCM has an estimated market share of 7.53% in the human capital management market. This led to an untapped market potential where M365 customers were keen to aggregate courses created in Oracle HCM Learning on to the Viva Learning experience.

How does the connector reach the potential opportunity?

The Microsoft Graph Connector is used to synchronize data from Oracle HCM with Viva Learning by leveraging its ability to connect third-party data sources to Microsoft 365 applications. By integrating Oracle HCM with the Graph Connector, we can synchronize and import employee learning data, such as course enrolments, progress, and certifications, into Viva Learning. This can be done using a full or incremental synchronization.

This enables a unified experience where employees can access and track their learning activities from Oracle HCM directly within Viva Learning, Microsoft Teams and other M365 apps. The Graph Connector ensures that relevant Oracle HCM data, such as skills, competencies, and learning pathways, is consistently synchronized, enabling personalized learning recommendations, progress tracking, and seamless reporting. This integration enhances the learning experience by combining internal training data with external learning resources, all within the Microsoft ecosystem.

The Viva Learning Connector can be provided as a SaaS instance where the infrastructure and synchronization is managed by Persistent. The customer can also look at the option of hosting the Viva Learning connector on its own infrastructure under a BYOC agreement. In both instances, Persistent provides the initial setup and BAU support.

What data is synchronized?

As part of the initial setup and configuration, connectivity between the Viva Learning Connector is created with the customer’s Viva Learning and Oracle HCM instances. Once the setup and configuration are complete, the full and incremental synchronization runs are configured. These runs synchronize following data sets between the Viva Learning and Oracle HCM instances:

• All Courses defined in Oracle HCM, including:
  • New Courses
  • Achieved Courses
• All Course assignments associated with customer’s employees, including:
  • New assignments
  • Recommended assignments
  • In-Progress assignments
  • Completed assignments

Once the synchronization run is successful, an employee can view all available courses, assigned courses along with their current status.

How does synchronization work?

• Azure WebJob triggers the API-based “Oracle Provider” to initiate data sync
• Course content and activities are read from Oracle HCM cloud instance
• Course content and activities are ingested into Viva Learning, via Microsoft Graph API calls

Viva Learning Admin Portal:

The Viva Learning Admin Portal stands out as a powerful tool designed to streamline the integration of learning content from Oracle LMS into the customer’s Viva Learning ecosystem. Here’s a closer look at how this portal simplifies the workflow:

• Providing Access to Oracle Instance

  The journey begins with setting up the connector to access the Oracle instance. Customers are required to provide essential Oracle LMS details to sync courses seamlessly.

• Providing Admin Consent

  To ensure safe data handling, a consent flow is in place. This process requires a tenant admin to accept the request, granting permission to post content data to Viva Learning on behalf of the organization.

• Registration of the Provider

  The portal offers a user-friendly interface for customers to register their provider in Viva Learning. Additionally, it features an update registration option, ensuring that any changes can be easily managed.

• Starting the Sync

  With registration complete, the next step is to initiate the sync process. By clicking on “Get Registrations,” users can start syncing learning content and activities, ensuring that all relevant information is up-to-date and accessible.

Success Story

Our joint IP is already in use and delivering value. A leading international development organization sought to unify their extensive learning content, with Oracle HCM Learning holding a significant portion of their data. The Viva Learning Connector facilitated this integration, bringing more than 700,000 assignments into Viva Learning less than nine days. This seamless synchronization provided employees with a single pane view of all learning activities, enhancing their autonomy in managing mandatory trainings and upskilling opportunities. The unified platform improved engagement and compliance rates, supporting the organization’s mission by fostering a future-ready workforce and a culture of continuous learning.

Conclusion

This IP is a testimony to how Persistent-Microsoft partnership leverages complementary strengths to innovate solutions that address real-world challenges, ultimately fostering a more skilled, compliant, and future-ready workforce. The success of this connector underscores the potential for continued collaboration, paving the way for even greater advancements in employee learning and development.