What is our primary use case?
This is the e-learning platform we use to launch compliance training.
What is most valuable?
It is a one-stop-shop solution, where you can actually log in using your Windows username and password, and the single sign-on can be configured with this LMS.
Since the system uses the same credentials, you can be automatically logged in to your Cornerstone platform, where you can see the training sessions that are assigned to you.
As a technical lead, I can see the report of each team member's performance.
From recruiting to termination, everything can be handled with this system. The user information from the company's database can be automatically fed into this system using APIs, and all of the information is in real-time. Thus, if an employee is terminated it will automatically close the account in the Cornerstone platform. Similarly, if someone is hired, they will automatically get access within one day because everything is linked. As everything is automated, the manual admin tasks are fewer.
Another valuable feature is the ability to purchase courses. For example, there are training sessions that have courses associated with it. There is a shopping cart that you can use to individually purchase courses by using your credit/debit card or coupons. The Cornerstone system will send the cost to the ERP system within the company, that is, the outbound database. This means that you can assign courses to this platform and even carry out the transactions within this system.
This platform follows GDPR rules, which means that this system has its dedicated legal entity fields that can be anonymized based on requirements. For example, in Germany you cannot store data for more than five years. In this case, we can configure the system in such a way that all of the German employees' data after resignation are removed from the platform within five years.
From a functional perspective, it is perfect because it has a strong structure and design.
What needs improvement?
Even though the system has a number of features, design wise the user interface is a little bit complicated. It is hard for the user to navigate properly. Because the system has so many features, it has a lot of tabs and links. Sometimes, people get confused as to where to go and search.
Also, the user interface is not that great compared to that of other platforms. From a learner's interface point of view, it has limitations on the design side.
The certification in Cornerstone is very basic. It has a strong foundation, and you can configure it however you want to, but the template or the user interface for configuring a certificate or how the user gets a certificate needs to be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using it for more than a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is highly stable. The server won't go down easily because they have dedicated databases and data warehouses in different countries. This means that even though one system is down, it'll automatically connect to another data warehouse in a different country. Thus, the solution is highly available, and there won't be any issues connecting to the system.
How are customer service and support?
We contacted technical support only during implementation. They have a very good process for handling tickets. There is a dedicated portal for raising any concerns or requests and a private wiki site as well, where you can find most answers.
For a company, there are only one or two persons who can raise a ticket with them. You will get a reply from them within a day. It's a good service and is an organized way of solving issues.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup will easily take around two to three months.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would rate the price at four on a scale from one to five because it's a very expensive product.
It's expensive because the demand is high, and it's a very popular platform as well because it is used by many multinational companies.
What other advice do I have?
If your requirements are for launching e-learning or training sessions, then I would not recommend this solution. There are simpler platforms with very good user interfaces that are also cost effective.
However, if you need to track courses, assign job roles, do performance appraisals, perform recruiting functions, and configure your system with your company's ERP system and other active directories, then this solution will be a good fit.
It has been a very useful solution for us, and I would rate it at eight on a scale from one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure