Hundreds of authoring systems exist. There are authoring systems for home pages, databases, interactive multimedia, presentations, Computer-Based Training (CBT), and many other types of projects.
For example, dozens of interactive multimedia (IM) authoring systems exist. Most can handle standard user input elements such as button clicks, key presses and typed responses. IM systems are often suitable for creating projects such as business presentation slideshows, simple demo disks and perhaps even kiosks.
Like interactive multimedia projects, those that involve training also obtain such user input. But, typically, training projects must then study, scan, parse, analyze, judge and record that input. Most IM authoring systems were not designed with training in mind, and therefore offer limited or no support for such operations.
For training projects, you should look for a real CBT authoring system; it will have features that will make your job much easier. To help identify a real CBT authoring system, look for features such as: test question generation, response judging (exact match, spelling allowance, phonetic match, word search, anticipated incorrect), automatic scoring, feedback, user log on and log off with password, user bookmarks (so users can resume where they left off), user comments, network (LAN) support, user rostering. class scheduling; Computer-Managed Instruction (CMI) data collection, data analysis and report generation. You won't find many authoring systems that support all these features, but some do, and they'll save you time and money during development.
Try to find an authoring system that can do all these common CBT operations without requiring you to program. Programming has its place, but should not be necessary to accomplish common CBT operations. A real CBT authoring system will help maximize your productivity so that you can concentrate on your project's content.