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Fill’s Totara Learn integration into their CORE platform sparks learning transformation for a highly skilled workforce

FILL is a leading international mechanical engineering company that specializes in complex high-tech systems and individual solutions for the metal, synthetic materials and wood manufacturing industries. The Austrian company offers solutions for various industrial sectors such as the automotive, aerospace, sports and construction industries.

The Challenge

Before implementing Totara Learn, Fill faced challenges in maintaining workforce proficiency and enabling continuous professional development. While CORE smartwork, the company’s intranet, met many HR needs, the absence of e-learning compatibility was a crucial gap. The implementation of Totara presented a golden opportunity to seamlessly integrate robust e-learning solutions into their existing infrastructure.

The overall objectives of the implementation included:

  1. Fostering a Culture of Learning: By introducing e-learning, the aim was to cultivate a learning environment within the company and encourage employees to embrace this new approach.
  2. Enhancing Accessibility and Flexibility: Prioritizing the accessibility and flexibility of learning materials, especially for production staff, involved ensuring mobile compatibility for easy access on company-provided cell phones.
  3. Boosting Course Completion and User Engagement: The focus was on increasing completion rates and engagement levels by incorporating elements like gamification, interactive videos, and self-reflection exercises.
  4. Tailoring Training for Different Departments: Recognizing the varied training needs across departments, custom e-learning courses were developed to cater to specific requirements.
  5. Providing Managers with Learning Progress Insights: Managers sought visibility into their employees’ learning journeys, prompting efforts to provide progress overviews on the integrated platform’s homepage.
The Solution

Totara’s solution for Fill’s e-learning needs encompasses a comprehensive integration of Totara Learn with CORE smartwork, addressing various complexities to meet the company’s specific requirements.


The initial and vital step involved understanding Fill’s e-learning objectives, meticulously mapping out learning paths, and incorporating interactive elements. Ensuring compatibility with mobile devices is crucial for easy access, especially for production staff on the move.

The seamless integration of Fill’s corporate identity, CORE-system processes, and APIs, along with engaging gamification elements, interactive videos, and self-reflection exercises in Totara, ensures a cohesive user experience across platforms. This integration includes:

  • Seamless user interface between the two systems
  • Interactive header integration between CORE smartwork and Totara
  • Smooth user data transfer through Totara HR-Import’s GraphQL
  • Passive SSO with Totara’s SAML plugin
  • Completion data transfer between the two systems via GraphQL
  • Integrated notifications for both systems through email and directly in CORE

 

Meeting the needs of FILL’s extensive workforce, which consists of over a thousand employees, required scalable solutions for effective user management, course enrollment, and progress tracking. This approach ensures that each employee receives personalized learning experiences while also maintaining operational efficiency and ease of administration. Providing continuous support and maintenance is crucial to address the ever-evolving e-learning landscape.

This involves creating new courses and promptly responding to user feedback to continuously enhance the overall learning experience. The success of this integration hinges on the holistic strategy employed, encompassing both technical integration and tailored content delivery. By seamlessly merging Totara Learn with CORE smartwork and managing the solution as a unified cloud-based system, Fill can efficiently oversee its e-learning initiatives, cultivating a dynamic learning environment that empowers employees to acquire new skills and knowledge effectively.

The Result

The successful integration of Totara Learn with CORE smartwork has delivered exceptional outcomes, validated by positive reviews from learners and notable enhancements in Fill’s learning culture and educational achievements.


Learners have embraced the diverse learning formats enabled by Totara, from engaging gamification features and animations to interactive videos, bite-sized learning modules, and insightful self-reflection exercises. The feedback highlights their appreciation for the variety of content, structured approach and overall value provided by the courses.

The seamless access to learning materials on mobile devices, specifically through company-issued cell phones, has proven to be a game-changer for production staff, eliminating past accessibility barriers. This shift in the culture of learning is reflected in the significant increase in platform engagement. With 1064 active employees, Fill now proudly boasts a 100% user engagement rate—an accomplishment previously deemed unattainable without a well-defined e-learning strategy, meticulously crafted content and the seamless integration with their CORE smartwork solution.

An impressive average of 24 courses are successfully completed daily, reflecting a tenfold increase in daily learners over the last three months. This surge can be attributed to the introduction of more interactive content and the user-friendly nature of the platform, including low-threshold entry and timely reminders. The demand for further courses is growing among learners, with departments consistently requesting new e-learning opportunities to meet evolving training needs.

Managers have also expressed appreciation for the platform’s capability to showcase employees’ learning progress directly on their dashboard in Totara, facilitating enhanced monitoring and support. This integrated solution not only met Fill’s e-learning requirements but also sparked a significant shift in the learning culture, fostering increased engagement, satisfaction and ongoing advancement throughout the organization.

Following the successful implementation project with Fill, a standardized Totara TXP-CORE smartwork integration package was developed. This innovative package is now available for all CORE smartwork customers to seamlessly incorporate into their Academy platform, expanding the solution’s reach to a broader audience. This not only showcases the success of the collaboration with Fill but also underscores the flexibility and adaptability of Totara TXP, paving the way for enhanced learning experiences across various industries.

We didn’t just want a platform to provide learning content for our employees. Our goal was to take e-learning at Fill to a new level by addressing the needs of learners, enhancing the culture of learning, merging the platform almost seamlessly with our main system and demonstrating the possibilities that e-learning offers.
Melanie Brunner,
Human Resources Developer