Driving Compliance and Future Learning
with Totara LMS
THE COMPANY
EH Smith is a long-established builders’ merchant employing around 500 people across 11 branches and several specialist showrooms. With locations primarily across the Midlands and South East, including branches in Hertfordshire, Essex and two brick showroom in central London & Birmingham, the organisation supports a diverse workforce spanning branch teams, drivers, head office and yard colleagues.
THE CHALLENGE
To strengthen compliance training and create a foundation for wider colleague development, EH Smith, led internally by the People Team looked to implement a learning platform. The focus, to help the business standardise training, improve visibility of learning activity and provide a scalable foundation for future learning initiatives.
Before introducing the new platform, EH Smith had limited structured digital learning in place.
The organisation had experimented with online learning previously, but utilisation was low. However, the need for a more consistent and manageable approach to training became clear.
The primary drivers for the new learning platform were:
- Ensuring mandatory compliance training was completed consistently across the business
- Creating an auditable record of learning activity
- Providing a scalable system capable of supporting future internal training initiatives
- Giving managers visibility of team training progress
With colleagues spread across multiple locations and job roles, the business needed a system that was easy to use, flexible and manageable by a small internal team.
THE SOLUTION
The initial rollout focused on structured compliance training, ensuring all colleagues complete a set of essential courses relevant to their role.
Examples include:
- Health and safety training
- Workplace compliance topics
- Cybersecurity awareness (for colleagues using company email systems)
Courses are grouped into certifications, ensuring colleagues complete required learning and repeat it at the appropriate renewal intervals.
The system also allows EH Smith to target learning to specific roles, ensuring that colleagues only see training relevant to their job function.
IMPLEMENTATION
Working closely with the Cortexa support team, EH Smith was able to efficiently configure the platform, structure learning programmes and launch the initial compliance courses.
Key elements of the rollout included:
- Setting up the organisation structure across branches and departments
- Creating manager hierarchies so leaders can monitor their teams
- Launching the first wave of mandatory compliance courses
- Developing manager dashboards with embedded reports to track training completion
Despite being managed largely by one internal lead, the implementation progressed smoothly with strong support from the Cortexa team.
THE RESULT
The platform has already delivered measurable benefits across the organisation.
One of the most significant indicators of success has been high completion rates across mandatory courses, demonstrating that colleagues can easily access the system and complete training.
Key outcomes include:
- Rapid adoption across a 500-person workforce
- 99% of people have accessed the Learning Portal and used it
- Completion rates for the first 3 courses launched currently sit at 100%, 97% and 96%
- Improved visibility of learning progress for managers
- A centralised system capable of supporting future training initiatives
The ability for managers to log in and immediately see their team’s outstanding training requirements has also simplified oversight of compliance across branches.
LOOKING AHEAD
While compliance training was the primary driver for the project, EH Smith is now planning to expand the platform to support broader learning and development initiatives.
Future plans include:
- Developing internal management training programmes
- Recording short learning sessions and leadership guidance
- Delivering digital onboarding and company induction through the platform
- Providing a central hub for sharing “the EH Smith way” of managing people and processes
By combining mandatory training with optional development resources, the business aims to create a sustainable culture of continuous learning across the organisation.
“From the very beginning of the project through to launch, the Cortexa team were incredibly supportive. During the setup phase in particular, the time and effort they invested made a real difference. Everything was explained clearly and simply, which helped us feel confident about each step of the process.
The implementation plan they created worked really well, breaking the project into manageable stages so we could focus on the right topics at the right time. That structure made the whole journey feel straightforward and well organised.
What really stood out, though, was the responsiveness and helpfulness of the team. Whenever we had questions, encountered an issue, or wanted to tweak something, they were quick to respond and always willing to help. At no point, from our initial conversations right through to launch, did we feel stuck or unsupported. Sam and Alex in particular were fantastic to work with. Their expertise, patience and commitment ensured we were able to take the project from a standing start to a successful launch with complete confidence. It’s been a genuinely positive experience working with people who are so focused on making the project succeed.”
BMF
Viessmann
Scottish Prison Service