Sunset strategy for SF LMS Flash based content

[NI10]

Content

• What is Flash?


• Association between Flash and Successfactors


• Impact of Flash update on End Users


• What to do next?


• How to create Flash independent content
  -> Articulate
  -> Adobe


• FAQ on transition

What is Flash ?

• Flash is multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich Internet applications, desktop applications, mobile applications, mobile games and embedded web browser video players.


• Flash Player was developed by Adobe Systems and is used by browsers to access multimedia


• Chrome including other browsers has stopped supporting Flash based data therefore in order to provide customers a seamless flow, SF planned to remove its dependency on Flash as well

Association between Flash and Successfactors

• The current Learning Administration uses a framework called Flex which uses Flash therefore has a dependency on the Flash player to open its multimedia.


• Whenever you open the admin side of Learning management system, browser asks to enable Flash if not already enabled in Chrome.


• As of the H2 2020 release, SAP SuccessFactors Learning will remove Flash dependency. In admin side there will be no dependency on Flash and the system will load.

Impact of Flash update on End Users

• As the user side in LMS is not Flash dependent therefore the only impact that end users will face is launching content.


• If the content is Flash based then browser will not load the content and therefore there is a possibility that content will not launch or might throw some unexpected errors.


• As a result users will not be able to complete learnings and launch courses that are Flash based(SCORM).


• All the existing content that is not Flash based needs no update or change.

What to do next?

• If you are using Articulate Storyline : make sure that content zip file contains story_html5.html file, this ensures that content can run without flash.


• If you are using Adobe captivate : extract the zip file and search for .swf files, these files needs to be removed as these are flash based.

These activities should be performed by content developers

How to create Flash independent content?

Updating your eLearning courses to HTML5 will mean either:

• A quick republishing of the courses with a new output option selected,

or

• A complete redesign of the courses to suit HTML5

Even if all you need to do is change over to a new output format, you can only do that if you have      access to the original project file. Storyline calls its project files coursetitle.story, while Captivate      calls theirs: coursetitle.cptx.

 

--> Articulate Storyline

• Select the publish option in the ribbon shown. Check the box beside "include HTML5 output". As you can see in the image, you can choose HTML5, Flash or a combination of the two.


• Go through your publishing steps as per usual to export a SCORM zip package with HTML5 as the output format.
  

--> Adobe Captivate

• Click on File > Publish Settings. Under the Quiz, settings fill in your reporting settings by clicking the checkbox to enable reporting and choose the SCORM type (1.2 for LearnUpon users).


• Click on File > Publish. Choose the output format. Check the box for HTML5

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. My LMS content is using Flash, does that mean that it will be updated to not use Flash with the SAP SuccessFactors Learning update (H2 2020)?
A. No. Content is created outside of the SuccessFactors application thus it is your responsibility to identify and update the content to no longer depend on Flash.

Q. When is Flash being deprecated?
A. Adobe, the maker of Flash, has stated that by end of 2020 it will no longer be supported.


Q. Does end of Flash support mean that it will no longer work post 2020?
A. Not exactly. Adobe will no longer update Flash on any bugs, defects, security flaws, etc. but it is up to the vendor such as the web browser company to decide when to remove any code that uses Flash.

Q.What are the Conversion Strategies Available?
A. The 4 ‘Rs – Record, Republish, Rebuild, Redesign.

Q. Should I check with my IT team about anything regarding Flash deprecation?
A. Yes. Your IT team may remove Flash from the workstations prior to 2020 depending on your company's security team. Your IT team, if managing the updates of the web browsers, might also not push out the web browser update which remove Flash dependency.

 

Conclusion

Now you have all your courses that are Flash independent and therefore when the browsers and applications stop supporting Flash based content there will be no issue faced by users in order to launch those courses.