Learner analysis is a task undertaken by the instructional designer or developer during the planning of an e-learning project. Completing learner analysis is important because you need to understand who your learners are so that you can communicate with them effectively. Also, you should realize that you may have more than one type of learner.
In the project plan, you may be very informal and cursory or you may be formal and detailed, depending on your project needs. In both cases, learner analysis should be addressed in the e-learning project plan.
You won't need to do analysis when one has already been done or the learners and their needs are already so well understood that a separate analysis is not required. A good example of an informal e-learning analysis is the one conducted for an established public education class. The analysis of the students and their needs in the classroom has been taken care of by the governmental education department...