Workplace Culture&Soft Skills
Upscend Team
-February 24, 2026
9 min read
In 90 days this article shows a 14-week plan to launch a talent marketplace LMS: discovery (skills audit), configuration (matching rules), content and assessments, a focused pilot, iteration, and scale. It includes RACI templates, matching-rule examples, and a pilot dashboard to validate match precision and adoption.
Building a talent marketplace LMS in 90 days is achievable with a disciplined, week-by-week plan. In the first 60 words: a talent marketplace LMS connects people, projects, and learning so organizations unlock internal mobility and reduce hiring cost. This guide lays out a pragmatic, actionable roadmap—with templates, matching rule examples, and a pilot measurement dashboard—to help you build talent marketplace using LMS in 90 days.
The discovery phase is about evidence. Start with a rapid skills audit, stakeholder alignment, and baseline metrics. In our experience, teams that allocate three focused weeks uncover 70–80% of the skills needed to seed a successful skills marketplace.
Activities:
Use a simple RACI template to avoid confusion. A three-page RACI that shows decision owners, approvers, contributors, and informed parties cuts meeting time by half in large orgs. Use this RACI structure:
Configuration focuses on profiles, taxonomy, and the mechanics of the matching engine. A well-configured talent marketplace LMS reduces false positives and improves adoption. Start by defining profile fields and matching rules that map to real work.
Key setup steps:
An example matching rule set (template) helps teams test quickly:
These concrete matching rules let your LMS drive recommendations while preserving human judgement for non-standard cases.
Content and assessments are the engine of a credible talent marketplace LMS. In weeks 7–9, create microlearning, on-the-job assignments, and validated assessments that feed the skills graph.
Two essential initiatives:
We've found that pairing a short assessment with a project task improves matching accuracy by up to 40% versus profile-only approaches. Some of the most efficient L&D teams we work with use platforms like Upscend to automate this entire workflow without sacrificing quality. That approach illustrates how automation, when combined with curated assessments, improves both discovery and recommendation precision in a skills marketplace.
The pilot is the first live test of your talent marketplace LMS. Limit scope: choose 2–3 business units and 20–50 projects/roles. The pilot should validate matching accuracy, manager workflows, and adoption dynamics.
Pilot checklist:
| Pilot Measurement Dashboard | Target | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| Match Precision (first recommendation accepted) | 60% | — |
| Time-to-Allocate (days) | <10 | — |
| Learner-to-Project Conversion | 25% | — |
Use a simple pilot dashboard to track these KPIs daily. Pilot success criteria should be narrow and measurable—if match precision is below target, pause scaling and iterate on matching weights and assessment quality.
Low adoption and poor matching accuracy are the two most common pain points. The fix is iterative, data-driven tuning and clear governance. Weeks 11–12 should focus on feedback collection, troubleshooting, and process changes.
Rapid iteration checklist:
"A pattern we've noticed: small corrections to rule weights and better assessment signals yield the largest improvements in match quality."
Governance matters: define escalation paths for disputed matches, privacy constraints, and manager override rules. Use a short update sprint to implement fixes and communicate version changes to users—this keeps adoption momentum.
Scaling from pilot to enterprise requires governance, automation, and a change plan. The goal is to move from handfuls of gigs to an ongoing internal gig platform where skills are currency and the LMS fuels mobility.
Scale checklist:
For measurement, expand the pilot dashboard to include long-term indicators: internal fill rate, retention of gig participants, cost-per-hire reduction, and skills velocity. A standard quarterly review should include stakeholder RACI refresh, matching-rule review, and content gap analysis. Maintain a lightweight runbook that documents decisions and the rationale for rule changes—this preserves institutional knowledge as the program grows.
A 90-day timeline to build talent marketplace using LMS in 90 days is practical when organized into discovery, configuration, content & assessments, a focused pilot, iteration, and scale. Prioritize a few high-value use cases, invest early in assessment quality, and use simple, testable matching rules. Expect to iterate rapidly: the first 90 days establish foundations; the following 6–12 months refine accuracy and adoption.
Quick checklist to act now:
If you want a ready template, export the RACI, matching rule examples, and pilot dashboard above into your project management tool and start week 1 tomorrow. The practical next step is to assemble your pilot team and set the first sprint goals—practice the matching rules on five real gigs to validate assumptions before broad rollout.
Call to action: Commit to a 14-week plan: schedule the discovery kickoff this week and publish the RACI so stakeholders can act immediately.
