Absorb's self-serve CSV tool can create new enrollments, but it does not import completion records, scores, or historical training history, that requires Absorb's paid Historical Data Import service. SCORM, AICC, and Tin Can content generally repackages cleanly, except Multi-SCO packages and any SCORM package referencing external content URLs, both need rework before they'll run.
This is the single most common surprise in an Absorb migration, and it catches teams who assume "CSV import" means "everything moves." Absorb's self-serve Import Enrollments tool creates new enrollments for online courses and curricula, full stop. It does not carry over completion records, quiz scores, or historical training history from the old system. Teams that plan a migration around the self-serve tool alone discover this gap after cutover, when a compliance audit or a manager asks why two years of completion data is missing.
The actual path for historical data is Absorb's Historical Data Import, a paid service delivered by their Professional Services and Data Integrations team. It starts with a scoping call to confirm what's moving and how your CSVs need to be structured, and their standard migration package covers roughly 15 hours of their team's time for up to 2,000 content files, plus a small allowance for post-implementation change requests. That's a reasonable scope for a straightforward catalog; larger or messier data sets need more planning than the standard package assumes.
Absorb imports third-party courses authored in SCORM, AICC, or Tin Can (xAPI) formats as new online courses or added learning objects, so standards-compliant content from almost any prior LMS has a path in. Two specific things don't work: Multi-SCO SCORM packages aren't supported, and a SCORM package that references an external content URL rather than bundling everything inside the zip will break on import. Both are common in older or hastily-built course libraries, and both need to be identified and repackaged, as single-SCO, fully self-contained files, before they're uploaded, not discovered as a failed import mid-migration.
Integrations, HRIS-driven user provisioning, syncing with a CRM, or connecting a content library, run through the Absorb Integration API, a REST interface using standard HTTP methods and JSON payloads. It requires subscribing to the API service on top of your Absorb plan, and building a sync that actually holds up in production (handling edge cases like terminated employees or org restructures) is real integration engineering, not a settings toggle.
Absorb's own Professional Services package, roughly 15 hours of their team's time for up to 2,000 content files, fits a small, clean catalog with modest historical data. Once SCORM repackaging, a custom Integration API build, or a full instructional rebuild enters the picture, 4 to 8 weeks is realistic for a mid-size deployment. Larger organizations with multiple business units, heavy customization, or compliance-critical historical records should plan for longer, with data validation as the actual bottleneck, not the technical import steps.
Planning a move? Our guide on migrating an LMS without losing completion records covers the platform-agnostic version of this process in more depth.
Book a 20-minute call and walk through your content library and historical data. We'll tell you honestly what transfers cleanly and what needs Absorb's paid import.
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