Cornerstone LMS
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4,2 /5 (136 reviews) Write a Review!Simply Awful
Pros
Not a lot to be honest. If you have to pick something, it would be their reporting 2.0 tool. When it doesn't freeze or error out, it is simple to use.
Cons
Where to start? Here are just a few highlights:
- The worst customer service I'd ever experience working with a vendor.
- They take days to reply to emails, same for technical support tickets, even when they are labeled as a high priority.
- When you call the support line, their reps are customer service agents who are just reading the same outdated info you find on their documentation online, so useless.
-If you need to escalate the issue, prepare to wait 2 days for a reply, the first reply will always be a question about something you already explained on the initial ticket. Then you'll be waiting at least another 48 hrs for an update on their "investigation."
- Their compatibility with iPads has become very bad. Since 13.1 came out, we've had nothing but problems with files not loading, 404 errors, server errors, and to make matter worse, expect to wait a week or more to be told, there is nothing they can do.
- If you have to set permissions at different levels, good luck figuring out how the hundreds of individual permissions interconnect and how they are dependent on each other. Their own training team can't help you with this area. So if you plan to create any custom permissions that fall outside the few standard positions they have already created, good luck, prepare to spend weeks testing settings.
- They refused a 1-year extension and said that they wouldn't consider anything less than 2 and that there would be a significant price increase for less than 3.
CSOD Getting Better Every Year!
We are very happy with the applicatoin. We have been with Cornerstone for over 3 years now and signed a new contract for another 5 years. The support we get from them is excellent and would not look elsewhere.
Pros
Constant improvement (quaterly) is something I really like about this application. Users do not complain about it, which is a huge plus for us supporting the app in our organization. The application is big and there is always something new to learn or better way of doing things.
Cons
There is not much that I can say negative about the application. One thing that I would like to change is character count when creating groups. It might seem small for some organization admins, but for us its a important as our groups can be very large. It is frustrating when creating a group and you are unable to save it because you succeeded the character limit. Not a deal breaker but for sure an annoyance that can perhaps be fixed in the next releases.
A powerful LMS with lots of integration points, catalogue customisation but room to improve
We are providing training to thousands of external users. We have a second implementation for internal users. The platform is far easier to handle/use outside of an eXe environment - if they could assist with end to end tracking of browsing > purchase, it would level the playing field.
Pros
The catalogue is very customisable, there are countless fields that can be changed to cater for nearly all use case scenarios.
e-Learning tracking generally works as expected.
WebEx/VILT integration is good.
A fairly high degree of customisation is available for web pages/custom pages etc.
Cons
We've been bounced between several GPS reps in recent years, some of whom have been more committed to our cause than others.
When we have downtime, particularly in an eXe environment, it feels like our concerns just drop into a queue even if users are unable to register/make payment.
Some areas of the platform are in desperate need of improvement (e.g. Certifications). When you raise these, you are encouraged to file a thread in the Success Centre, but you end up just replying to yourself or other frustrated users.
Best LMS/LXP out there
Excellent- we are consistently improving automation and reporting, and continue to win national training awards with CSOD in the background.
Pros
I have been in the HRIS world for awhile, and touched many different products. CSOD has been one of the best, the logic and function makes sense, it is intuitive, and the improvements always bring excitement and enthusiasm to the group.
Looking for amazing dynamic software - that can handle either a push or a pull type learning experience, you have found it.
Cons
GPS - struggles. Developers tend to QC live with the early adopter and client community... they are truly Agile in that sense.
GPS is undergoing change, and it has improved drastically in the past 2 years- there is a lot of work left to do.
Growing and Innovating
It has transformed our Learning and Development department and we'd be lost without it.
Pros
I've been using Cornerstone for 4+ years and in that time they have grown by leaps and bounds - as a company and as a software solution. I like they they are innovative and updating the softward to meet our needs.
Cons
That you cannot edit groups. We create many groups for our assignments and there needs a way to be able to edit them.
Awesome LMS and Company--definitely a leader in the business
One of the things that helped Cornerstone stand out from other LMS vendors was the company itself. Their culture was very similar to our own company culture, which was a plus. However, I think we were most impressed with their communication, support, and resources. Once we decided to go with Cornerstone, we were given ample time to learn how to administer the LMS and test things in a pilot environment before moving to production. Even 1 year later, we are still checking in quarterly with our support specialist, Jamie. In addition to our support specialist, there are tons of resources in the Cornerstone community--help topics, discussion groups, webinars, and release emails that tell us about new features that roll out every quarter. You definitely don't feel like you're alone when you go with Cornerstone--they have an excellent product and excellent support.
It also looks very user friendly! I love the Cornerstone branding and colors.
As with any LMS, there's a lot to learn and manage--so the ramp-up does take a lot of time. I still feel like there's a lot for me to learn in just the Learning Cloud! Our team has also tried to figure out a couple of workarounds for certain issues, like SCORM 2004 reporting. There was a custom report we wanted to create, but could not do within the current platform. Turns out, there are some things that require an additional back-end cost.
If you're looking at different LMS companies, definitely have a pretty detailed idea of the types of things you want to do in the LMS, so you can figure out if it's possible in the Cornerstone platform. Have some goals in mind and make sure they align with what Cornerstone can do.
2-years strong
We converted from hosting our own LMS to the CSOD cloud-based solution a little over 2-years ago. Let me say, the conversion was painful! Not necessarily a result of CSOD, but a result of moving data from one system to another. Now that we have been using the system for 2 years, I can say they all "sell" you similar ways of doing things. Proxies; groups; learning plans; transcripts; oh my! The list goes on and on
CSOD pitched the best product based on our use cases and our needs. We did come to find out that perception is not always reality. Meaning, they will tell you (and show you) there is a way to accomplish that scenario, but it is not always that straight forward once the system is yours to implement.
To summarize my thoughts, here are a list of my pros and cons...
Pros:
They communicate changes for upcoming releases relatively well
You can network with other clients
You are assigned a client success manager (we have had several; some good and some mediocre)
The company makes system changes based on customer requests
You can create complex curricula in a easy to follow player
The interface is customizable
You can review a course
Cons:
We have had features turned on without requesting it
There is often a sow turn-around on support issues
Code changes often cause strange things to occur could they QA better?
It is difficult to assign training through My Team if you have indirect reports
Reporting is overwhelming and there are so many options to create one; they are almost impossible to run if you are not an admin of the system
The course reviews are buried
Full of Features to Streamline Your Business
Pros
There are a ton of features to help streamline your business processes. The reports feature is one that we use frequently. Our employees enjoy CyberU, the training course catalog, and find it helpful to have so many options at their fingertips.
Cons
Trying to figure out exactly how to do what you want to do is not easy. The videos offered that are intended to help you learn the functionality are not really helpful. They are very cut and dry and don't offer many scenarios. The help feature in the Cornerstone Support Center is nice, but you have to be very specific when searching for your topic, or you won't find your answer, even if it's there.
Decent Product
Pros
Product does what it says well. CSOD does a good job of consistently rolling out bug fixes when issues do arise, and has a solid road map of product improvements.
Cons
Nuances in different areas of the system don't make sense sometimes, but that is to be expected with any software packages.
Awful LMS
Pros
Security, is almost impossible to hack with the spaghetti and awful code it has.
Cons
Simply put, is the worst LMS I ever tried.
- Very, very sluggish, in time response and workflow.
- Not intuitive, every time we make a course, we also need to make a PDF manual for the users, unbelievable.
- Full of bugs, the tool is unpredictable, we launch a course, and if many users report a problem there is no way to fix, we need to make a new course with a different ID, even if the admin test the course, there is no way to make changes after it.
- Complete lack of plugins or extra functionalities.
Maybe it would be a very good LMS if we were in 2005, but right now, we have much better options.
Does what it needs us to do - some challenges
Pros
For us, it was good because we did not have an LMS prior to implementing Cornerstone. It allows us to have employees sign up for instructor-led training online, add the completed course to their transcript, track attendance, etc. It also provides a library of online learning options, which range in quality from unusable to decent.
Cons
So many challenges with creating automatic assignments for training and other required assignments, like with new hires.
Cornerstone Came Through!
Pros
I really like how easy this software is to search for courses, upload a course and maintain progress.
Cons
I dislike how many steps you have to take to upload any PPT course, how you can't pull specific engagement reports without having Google Analytics, how oftentimes Office Hours is NO help, how we can't customize certain features.
Learning Transformation
Pros
Say goodbye to all those spreadsheets, hand written notes and calendar mess ups. Cornerstone has transformed learning and development in to the modern era by organizing information and simplifying processes. The byproduct of this is providing much more employee engagement than ever before.
Cons
Learning how to use the software can be very time consuming.
It is a clunky system for one that has a reputation for being a good Learning Management System.
Pros
The system offers many bells and whistles, such as Connect for collaboration. The problem is that nothing is very easy to use- the entire system is very clunky and not super intuitive for administrators. They do a better job for end users.
Cons
As a system administrator, I think it is clunky and not intuitive at all. there are many requirements to complete tasks such as setting up training classes that should be easier to accomplish.
Not bad - Some reporting concerns
Pros
The interface is fairly user-friendly and the help documents and navigation are set up well.
Cons
Seems like there are too many clicks for liking of our users. Also, we've noticed some reporting errors (a term I'll use loosely, considering we may not be super-users and are not understanding the reporting criteria/filters/etc...)
You can find more for cheaper
Pros
The software does exactly what it is supposed to do. It is effective at housing courses and rolling them out to learners.
Cons
This software is expensive. There are so many other options out there that are much more cost-effective. Once you pick an LMS it is hard to change down the road.
User and Administrative Friendly
We have worked with Cornerstone over the last 6 years and the adaptation of the LMS was easily streamlined and the services and support we received were excellent. CSOD has made great strides to listen to their clients and adapt the system to be easily customized but at the same time be a great out of the box product.
Pros
Globalization Friendly
Cons
Phasing out a lot of older products that require new purchases.
A lot of functionality; meets objectives of the organization
Pros
Reporting functionality
Ability to build curriculum off of individual videos.
Cons
It is extremely difficult to get tech support help.
Lack of training materials explaining software functionality.
Cornerstone On Demand
Our company has been using the service for approximately one year. I know it has great features and functionality but we are not utilizing them due to manpower issues.
Pros
great interface, nice reporting features
Cons
requires lots of admins
Decent product, but support was nonexistent
My former employer migrated to Cornerstone four years ago. I liken their product to being a customer of a cable company: once you are up and running, as long as nothing breaks or you don't need to change anything, the LMS itself is pretty good. However, if you need service, RUN AWAY. From our front-line client rep to our salesperson, CSOD staff either gave us the runaround or were totally unresponsive. There were times I literally could not get anyone to answer a question. Time and again, we were steered to the global support center (marginally helpful) or to the online knowledge base or user groups. Reps also kept 'office hours,' which were a joke ' log into a conference call and stand in line hoping to get your turn to ask a question before office hours ended. The most abysmal customer service I have ever encountered. It's a shame, as their product was generally good, with a nice, customizable interface and solid reporting capabilities. I called it the 'DIY LMS.' If we had not had a team member who was a pretty good self-taught IT geek, we would have been dead in the water. On balance, NOT recommended.
By far one of the best online LMS platforms with which I have ever worked
I have worked with some fairly cumbersome learning platforms before as well as those that are just plain hokey. This was smooth, easy to find when you had to "come back later" and well executed. I actually learned things that I still remember. I gave it 5 stars for Customer Service only because I assume that their CS would be as good as the rest of the site - actually I never needed to use their CS.
Also my fiancee, the Training Manager for a major international organization, raves about Cornerstone compared to their last platform.
LMS Software
I highly recommend the LMS platform of Cornerstone. The platform is robust and offers a multitude of functionality. You're able to track and enter training data, offer eLearning, conduct webinars, set up instructor-led trainings, send personalized, automated emails, and store valuable documents (among many other things) for employee within the LMS system. It is very intuitive system from both a user perspective and an administrative perspective. I've used another LMS and prefer Cornerstone when comparing the two. Highly recommend!
Excellent Product for Compliance Training and End user Experience
Module implemented 5 years ago and used
- to standarize how Learning is organized within company,
- to track and manage compliance trainings
- to provide a great end user experience (e-learning, self registration...)
Pros:
Compliance training tracking
End user Self registration
Specifics configurations within a SaaS system
Vendor support (e-learning, Continuous improvement vision, Client Success Manager really available)
Release each 3 months
Mobile/Tablet Access
Cons:
Need Reports/Analytics improvement
I am a technical analyst for client admin using Cornerstone OnDemand
The system is pretty straightforward and allows clients flexibility to customize the product to fit their needs.
Troubleshooting the portal is also straightforward and tools like online help and training on the product assist with helping the client.
The main obstacle I have experience is the response time for items that require assistance from Global Support. The response time and access to techs is not a strong point.
Great Integration
Pros
Intigrates with HR suite to provide a more relevant user experience. Trainings are customized to ever changing job duties and skill sets needed in the future.
Cons
administrative side can be tricky, but isn't it always? It's difficult to figure out how to get the most out of the HR systems integration.
Absolutely awful, once you sign that contract no one responds to you in a timeline manner. You get a lot of "that is how the system is built, can't help you" answers. They have a great sales team and awful everything else.