Watch a short preview, then open each section to see exactly what you do, what you practice, and what you can take with you. We use Inventory Management Systems Fundamentals as the example. Every course follows the same path, with its own lessons, practice playground, and workbook.
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Inventory Management Systems Fundamentals
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Software Literacy Simplified
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Inventory Management Systems Fundamentals
SoftwareLit courses teach how business software works and how to evaluate, implement, and adopt it. This certificate recognizes completion of the course named above.
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Ashley M. Boucher
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Inside each section
A course has five sections. Select a section to see its lessons, what happens on each page, and anything you can export.
1Introduction2 lessons. Get oriented before you begin.
How to Navigate the Course Video, about 2 minutes
A short video tour of the controls you will use in every lesson, so nothing about the course itself gets in your way.
Find your way around. The course menu and its sections.
Move through a lesson. How to move between the pages of a lesson.
Use the built-in tools. Glossary, Listen, and Full screen.
Check and finish. How knowledge checks work, and how to finish each lesson with Complete & Continue.
Captions are on by default, and the full transcript is one click away.
Introduction Overview
A plain-language overview of what the course covers and what you will be able to do by the end. It explains how the course moves from understanding the software to applying what you learn, and lists the learning objectives you are working toward: explaining what the software is, connecting it to your own work, using it, and evaluating and comparing your options.
2Learn3 lessons. Understand the software, see it in real businesses, and connect it to your own work.PDF / PrintEmail it to me
Read 9 pages
The core ideas behind the software, written in plain language. Click any term to see its definition in the glossary, or use Listen to hear a page read aloud.
Introduction: what the lesson covers.
What is it?: a clear definition of the system.
What it manages: the records and capabilities it provides.
Stock flow: how it supports the flow of stock from purchasing to selling and counting.
Other software: where it fits in a larger software ecosystem.
Data accuracy: why the information needs to be accurate.
Security: how the information is protected.
How it connects: a short video showing how everything fits together.
Knowledge check: five questions to confirm what stuck.
Case Studies 5 pages
See three different businesses use the same kind of software to support three different processes. Each case opens up one step at a time: the situation, the challenge, the process, what the software could support, the new process, the result, and what the case teaches.
Overview: what to look for as you read.
Jenny, FreshBites Meal Prep: seeing stock and acting in time.
Geoff, Precision Auto Care: a shared stock record for the team.
Amara, Hearth & Wick: one stock count across every sales channel.
Which story is closest to yours?: compare the three and write down which one resonates.
Reflect 6 pages
Connect what you learned to your own work or business. There are no right or wrong answers, and your notes save automatically as you go.
Introduction: what you will map.
In your own words: explain what the system is and where it could fit in your work.
Map the flow: follow your stock, or your information, one step at a time.
Find the friction: mark where the process becomes difficult or breaks down.
Where it could help: pinpoint where the software could support each step.
Your notes: see your whole process, start to finish, in one place.
Export
Take your notes with you. Save your reflections, your information flow, and your friction and software notes as a PDF, or email them to yourself.
PDF / PrintEmail it to me
3Practice1 lesson. Step into a software system playground and use its most common features.
Practice 5 pages
This is the heart of the course. The playground is a working version of the software, set up for a small business, where you can view and use the features you just learned about. Nothing you do there affects a real system, so you can click, create, and make mistakes freely.
Get ready: meet the business you will be working for and what you are responsible for.
Take a quick tour: a short captioned video, with a transcript, that shows the playground before you try it.
Playground: follow a guided tour of eight challenges, or close it and explore on your own.
Knowledge check: ten questions, with an answer shown after each one.
What you practiced: a checklist that fills in as you work, such as finding a low-stock item, creating and sending a purchase order, and receiving a delivery. Go back to the playground any time to try what you missed.
In this example course, the playground is an inventory system. In every other course, it is the type of software that course teaches.
4Apply4 lessons. Evaluate your options and turn your decision into a plan you can use.PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
Use a Practice Business Choose your business
Choose the business you will work with for the rest of Apply: a practice business, or your own business or workplace. Everything you evaluate, plan, and prepare in the next lessons is built around the business you choose here.
Evaluate 5 pages
Learn to evaluate software, not just compare features. The goal is to find the option that fits your needs, your processes, your people, and your resources.
Overview: what evaluating really means.
A. Define your context: write down your requirements and constraints before you look at any product.
B. Compare and score three options: research each option, explore it through a free trial, demo, or tour, take notes, and score each one from 1 to 5 against the same seven categories: price, integration, ease of use, scalability, security and access, mobile experience, and support and training. Each category has questions to ask, plus a checklist of vendor signals to watch for.
C. Make your decision: document which option you chose, your biggest concern, and who else weighed in.
Plan and export: your whole evaluation at a glance, ready to save.
Export
Two kinds of export. First, a stakeholder input form for anyone who should weigh in before you decide: a fillable PDF for one person at a time, or an Excel workbook that compiles everyone's answers on one sheet. Second, your finished evaluation, including your context, comparison notes, scores, and decision.
PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
Implementation 7 pages
Turn your decision into action. Implementation is more than setting up an account: it means preparing the people, processes, data, and timeline around the new system.
Overview: what a successful implementation involves.
A. Assign your team: give every part of the work a clear owner.
B. Build your timeline: map the work from decision to go-live, with realistic dates and some buffer.
C. Plan your data migration: decide what information moves, what gets cleaned up, and what stays behind.
D. Identify and manage risks: prepare for what could get in the way, and decide how you will respond.
E. Go-live readiness checklist: confirm that the system, data, people, and support plan are ready.
Go live: your plan is ready to take with you.
Export
Take your implementation plan with you. Save your team assignments, timeline, data migration plan, risks, and readiness checklist.
PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
Go-Live & Monitoring 6 pages
Going live is the beginning of a new phase, not the end. You plan how to launch, how to measure results, and how to keep the software aligned with your business over time.
Overview: what happens after launch.
A. Choose your launch strategy: compare a Big Bang launch with a phased rollout.
B. Define success metrics: pick a handful of measures, capture a baseline before launch, and review them at 30, 60, and 90 days.
C. Track post-launch feedback: set up one simple place to collect issues, questions, and ideas.
D. Set up your quarterly review: schedule a recurring review every 90 days.
Putting it together: a repeatable process for selecting, implementing, and managing business software.
Export
Take your go-live and monitoring plan with you. Save your launch strategy, success metrics, feedback log, and quarterly review notes.
PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
5Complete1 lesson. Wrap up, take your workbook with you, and earn your certificate.PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
Wrap up and take it with you 1 page
Look back at what you did and capture it so you can use it beyond the course.
Rate your confidence. Tell us how confident you now feel with this type of software, from just starting to very confident.
Review your scorecard. See your progress on your software selection and your confidence rating.
Save your workbook. Everything you built in one place: your evaluation, implementation plan, and go-live notes.
Earn your certificate. Finish the course with a certificate of completion.
Export
Take your workbook with you. Your work does not have to stay in the course. Bring it to your next conversation with your team, stakeholders, or software vendors.
PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
What you can export
Your work is yours to keep.
Along the way you build a real workbook: your evaluation, your implementation plan, and your go-live and monitoring plan. Here is everything you can save.
Everything you can export, by section
Where
What you save
Formats
Learn: Reflect
Your reflections, your information flow, and your friction and software notes.
PDF / PrintEmail it to me
Apply: Evaluate
A stakeholder input form for others to fill in, and your finished evaluation with context, comparison notes, scores, and decision.
PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
Apply: Implementation
Team assignments, timeline, data migration plan, risks, and readiness checklist.
PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
Apply: Go-Live & Monitoring
Launch strategy, success metrics, feedback log, and quarterly review notes.
PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
Complete
Your full workbook: evaluation, implementation plan, and go-live notes. Plus a certificate of completion.
PDF / PrintEmail it to meExcel
PDF / PrintOpens your browser's print dialog. Choose "Save as PDF" to keep a copy.
Email it to meOpens your email app with your information already filled in.
ExcelDownloads a spreadsheet of your data. In the final workbook, it has a separate sheet for each part.
The curriculum
Software literacy, simplified.
Each course you just explored is one step in a larger program. It starts with the fundamentals and builds from there.
1
Start here, free
Business Software Fundamentals
Build your foundation: what software is, the key terms, and how the types of software fit together.
2
Foundations Series
Core Business Systems
10 courses on the systems almost every business runs on, such as customer records, people, finances, inventory, and payments.
3
Basics Series
Industry Software
16 courses for businesses that use software built for their industry, from restaurants to construction.
4
Next level
Software Management, Data, AI & Security
3 courses on managing software over time and 4 on data, AI, and security.
Most people are expected to use, choose, and manage software without ever being taught how it works. These are the skills every course is built to teach.
Software literacy is the foundation
Almost every part of a business now runs on software, yet knowing how to use one tool is not the same as knowing how to choose, set up, and manage the tools your organization needs. Software literacy is the ability to learn, evaluate, implement, and use software with confidence, whichever tool it happens to be.
Without it, software is often chosen on features or price alone, and tools can overlap without anyone noticing.
Without it, systems get set up but never fully adopted, and business information ends up stuck in one product.
With it, you ask better questions, make decisions you can explain, and keep your software working for the business over time.
Vetting and selecting vendors
The right software is the one that fits your needs, your processes, your people, and your budget, not the one with the longest feature list.
Define what you need first, before you look at any product.
Compare every option the same way: price, integration, ease of use, scalability, security and access, mobile experience, and support and training.
Test it for real with a trial, demo, or tour, using tasks from your own work.
Watch for signals that call for more questions: pressure to decide quickly, unexpected fees, unclear cancellation terms, unclear data export, or promises that are only verbal.
Implementing software well
A successful implementation is more than setting up an account. It prepares the people, processes, data, and timeline around the new system.
Give every part of the work a clear owner.
Build a realistic timeline, with room for the unexpected.
Decide what data moves, what gets cleaned up, and what stays behind.
Plan for risks and check readiness before you launch, then choose a launch approach that fits your team.
Routine software audits
Software gradually drifts out of step with the business. New team members, changing processes, new products or services, vendor updates, and shifting priorities can all change whether a tool still fits. Regular reviews catch small problems before they become large ones, without starting the selection process over.
Capture a baseline before launch, then review the same measures at 30, 60, and 90 days.
Keep feedback in one place, so patterns are easy to see.
Review every 90 days: Is it still used as intended? Is it supporting the processes it was chosen for? Are there issues to address? Has anything changed that calls for an adjustment?
Look across everything you use, not just one tool. The Software Lifecycle Management course covers how to guide software through its whole life, from selection to replacement or retirement.
Choosing, implementing, and reviewing software are skills that connect. SoftwareLit teaches all three, so every decision builds on the last.
Get started
Start with the fundamentals.
The free Business Software Fundamentals course builds your foundation and shows you which courses to take next.
