You wouldn't move your entire office over a weekend without a plan, yet many organizations approach their LMS migration project with roughly the same level of preparation.

The result?

What should take months stretches into a year or more, budgets balloon, and teams burn out before the finish line.

Here's the reality: LMS migration timelines vary dramatically, from 8 weeks to over 18 months, depending on your approach, resources, and content complexity. Understanding what drives these differences helps you set realistic expectations and choose the strategy that fits your organization's needs.

The Traditional LMS Migration Timeline (Approximately 6-12 Months)

Image of a two people of asian and black descent mapping out a timeline.

What we’ve seen is many organizations using internal resources and/or a migration tool, plan for 6-12 months to migrate 100 courses to a new LMS.

Here's why this approach takes so long:

Planning & Preparation (2-3 months):

Teams audit existing content, evaluate new platforms, and build migration plans from scratch. Without established frameworks, this phase often uncovers surprises that require additional planning time.

Content Transfer (3-5 months):

Courses move one at a time or in small batches. Each course requires manual reformatting, link checking, and accessibility updates, work that compounds when you're migrating 50, 100, or 200+ courses.

Testing & Refinement (2-3 months):

Quality assurance happens after migration, revealing issues that require rework. Accessibility compliance, often treated as an afterthought, can add another 30-40% to the timeline when retrofitted.

Training & Launch (1-2 months):

User training, phased rollout, and stabilization extend the timeline further.

Think of traditional migration like renovating your house one room at a time while living in it. It works, but it's slow, disruptive, and you discover problems only after you've started.

What Factors Impact a Traditional LMS Migration Timeline?

A library of 25 simple text-based courses might migrate in 8-12 weeks. But 100 courses with embedded videos and third-party integrations? That's a different animal.

Here is a list of factors that may impact your timeline:

Technical Requirements

Basic platform migration, moving content from one LMS to another without customization proceeds faster than projects requiring custom branding, complex integrations (SSO, HRIS systems), or specialized functionality. Each custom integration typically adds 2-4 weeks to your timeline.

Resource Availability

The challenge is most migrations aren't anyone's full-time job. L&D teams juggle migration alongside regular responsibilities, which can double or triple project timelines. Dedicated resources whether internal or external consistently deliver faster results.

Accessibility Compliance

Organizations that treat accessibility as a final check-box add significant time. WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance isn't simple to retrofit. However, building accessibility into the migration process from day one actually accelerates timelines by preventing the rework cycle.

The Partnership Approach (Approximately 2-4 Months)

Some organizations complete comprehensive migrations in a fraction of the traditional timeline.

Western University's Continuing Studies, for example, migrated and modernized nearly 100 courses to D2L Brightspace in under 3 months, a project that would typically take 12+ months, if done manually with internal staff.

What makes accelerated timelines possible with a strategic partner?

Systematic Processes:

Instead of figuring out solutions course-by-course, accelerated migrations use proven frameworks and templates. It's like following a recipe instead of inventing one from scratch each time you cook.

Parallel Processing:

Rather than completing one phase before starting the next, experienced teams work simultaneously on platform configuration, content preparation, and quality assurance. This approach requires more coordination but delivers dramatically faster results.

Purpose-Built Tools:

Systems like eClarity Learning Design System enable version control, modular design, and consistent formatting which reduces the manual work that consumes traditional migration timelines.

Built-In Quality:

When accessibility and instructional design best practices are embedded in the process rather than added later, you avoid the costly rework that extends timelines.

How to Work with Your Partner to Shorten Your Timeline (Without Sacrificing Quality)

Start with a thorough audit.

Most timeline overruns stem from discovering content issues mid-project. Knowing exactly what you're migrating course volume, technical requirements, accessibility gaps prevents surprises that derail schedules. A comprehensive course library audit typically takes 2-4 weeks but can save months on the back end.

Migrate in strategic tiers.

You don't need to migrate everything simultaneously. Prioritize high-value courses, launch those first, and complete the remainder afterward. This approach delivers value faster and lets you refine processes based on early learnings.

Build accessibility in, not on.

Retrofitting WCAG compliance into legacy content can extend timelines by 40-60%. Organizations that address accessibility as part of the core migration process actually finish faster because they avoid the rework cycle.

Use proven frameworks.

Teams experienced in large-scale migrations compress timelines because they've already solved the problems you're about to encounter. Following a comprehensive migration checklist eliminates the trial-and-error that consumes time and budget.

Setting Realistic Expectations

If you're migrating fewer than 30 simple courses with internal resources, budget 3-4 months. For 50-100 courses with moderate complexity, expect 4-6 months using traditional approaches or 2-3 months with systematic methods and dedicated resources. Libraries exceeding 100 courses typically require 6-12 months internally or 3-4 months with experienced partners.

The difference between a 12-month ordeal and a 3-month transformation isn't just about working faster, it's about working smarter with proven systems, dedicated focus, and the expertise to navigate complexity without getting stuck.

FAQs: LMS Migration Timeline

For small libraries (under 20 courses) with simple content and dedicated resources, 6-8 weeks is achievable. Larger or more complex libraries need additional time to ensure quality a
The most common culprits: incomplete content audits, accessibility retrofitting, resource conflicts when migration isn't anyone's primary responsibility, and technical compatibility issues discovered mid-project.
Tier-based migration reduces risk and delivers value faster. Migrate high-priority courses first, gather feedback, refine your approach, then complete the remaining library.
With phased rollout, pilot users typically access priority courses within 6-8 weeks. Full library access generally comes 10-16 weeks from project start, depending on your approach.

KnowledgeNow has helped organizations migrate nearly 100 courses in under 3 months with full accessibility compliance and modern, engaging design. Explore our LMS migration services to see if they are a right fit for your organization’s needs.

How Long Does an LMS Migration Take?