A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software application which permits administration, documentation, tracking, development, reporting, of online e-learning content. LMS needs to provide enormous flexibility and fine-grained level of control for administrator, trainers, course developers, and students alike. The needs for each course and each institute are different and LMS much fulfill all their requirements. The best-known LMS are blackboard (formerly Web-CT) and Moodle. Blackboard is a licensed software while Moodle is open source.

Some of the common features desirable in an LMS include:

- managing users, roles, instructors, courses, reports
- managing calendars, timings, deadlines
- communication between administrators, instructors, and students
- managing scores, grades, transcripts, etc.
- allowing different types of media: video, audio, text, html, pdf, quizes, custom content, etc.
- enrollment and access control features
- integration with other systems
- curriculum related features
- grouping