Dayforce vs. SumTotal (legacy)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Dayforce
Score 8.1 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Dayforce is a people platform that simplifies HR operations. As a unified HCMS, it delivers HR, payroll, benefits, workforce management, talent, and analytics—helping organizations boost productivity, stay compliant, and make smarter decisions with embedded intelligence and personalized experiences.N/A
SumTotal (legacy)
Score 7.9 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
The SumTotal Talent Expansion Suite included SumTotal (LMS), and was supported by Skillsoft since the October 2014 acquisition. Acquired by Cornerstone OnDemand in 2022, it is a legacy product, and Cornerstone recommends upgrading to their modern platform.N/A
Pricing
DayforceSumTotal (legacy)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DayforceSumTotal (legacy)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DayforceSumTotal (legacy)
Considered Both Products
Dayforce
SumTotal (legacy)
Chose SumTotal (legacy)
SumTotal does not stack up to any of the above HCM software.
Features
DayforceSumTotal (legacy)
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.1
602 Ratings
0% below category average
SumTotal (legacy)
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data8.6525 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history8.8559 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.8549 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.8.7553 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting7.0502 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management7.1548 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)7.5370 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.5
602 Ratings
4% above category average
SumTotal (legacy)
-
Ratings
Pay calculation9.0588 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors7.3295 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.9154 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.2475 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.0574 Ratings00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.4456 Ratings00 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.8309 Ratings00 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.7
547 Ratings
6% above category average
SumTotal (legacy)
-
Ratings
Approval workflow9.0515 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details8.7529 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.4434 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.2
615 Ratings
0% below category average
SumTotal (legacy)
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information8.6586 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information8.5599 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation7.7419 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition8.7219 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history7.7492 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.1
103 Ratings
2% above category average
SumTotal (legacy)
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets8.1103 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
6.5
601 Ratings
15% below category average
SumTotal (legacy)
-
Ratings
Report builder6.8592 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports6.7592 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data5.9416 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.5
394 Ratings
6% above category average
SumTotal (legacy)
8.2
2 Ratings
11% above category average
New hire portal8.8384 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Manager tracking tools8.2338 Ratings8.52 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.2
257 Ratings
2% above category average
SumTotal (legacy)
8.8
1 Ratings
19% above category average
Corporate goal setting7.6215 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Individual goal setting8.7236 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility8.1201 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Performance tracking8.4241 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.0
283 Ratings
1% above category average
SumTotal (legacy)
8.2
2 Ratings
19% above category average
Performance plans8.4262 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Performance improvement plans8.2225 Ratings7.52 Ratings
Review status tracking7.6265 Ratings7.92 Ratings
Review reminders8.1260 Ratings8.52 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.8234 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
7.9
131 Ratings
1% above category average
SumTotal (legacy)
7.0
1 Ratings
1% above category average
Create succession plans/pools8.9104 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Candidate ranking7.5113 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search7.4118 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Candidate development7.9106 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
8.8
302 Ratings
14% above category average
SumTotal (legacy)
7.8
2 Ratings
8% above category average
Job Requisition Management9.2284 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Company Website Posting9.2277 Ratings7.52 Ratings
Publish to Social Media8.5233 Ratings7.92 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting9.1265 Ratings8.52 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention7.4229 Ratings6.52 Ratings
Applicant Tracking9.1276 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts9.0272 Ratings8.52 Ratings
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Dayforce
-
Ratings
SumTotal (legacy)
6.5
1 Ratings
8% below category average
Course authoring00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Course catalog or library00 Ratings4.01 Ratings
Player/Portal00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Assignments00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Compliance management00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Learning administration00 Ratings4.01 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
DayforceSumTotal (legacy)
Small Businesses
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.4 out of 10
Paycor
Paycor
Score 7.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.7 out of 10
Engagedly
Engagedly
Score 8.6 out of 10
Enterprises
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
PeopleStrong
PeopleStrong
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DayforceSumTotal (legacy)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(640 ratings)
7.5
(9 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.8
(89 ratings)
6.0
(5 ratings)
Usability
4.3
(60 ratings)
2.0
(2 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.0
(13 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(66 ratings)
3.0
(2 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.0
(11 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(18 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.7
(44 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(13 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.3
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.9
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(18 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.9
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
DayforceSumTotal (legacy)
Likelihood to Recommend
Dayforce
I think Dayforce is a great option for a large and/or Global organization. I do not think it would be the best fit for a very small company or business. It really shines for enterprise organizations with multi-locations. While a small business could use it, I would say it has too many bells and whistles that might feel overwhelming to a smaller organization.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
Very good for learning and development and training of employees. For Applicant tracking, recuirement, onboarding, and enablement, I prefer SAP SuccessFactors or Skillate. I also found that the SumTotal app is not very friendly on android and crashes sometimes and it is not optimized for mobile. Hence I end up never using it.
Read full review
Pros
Dayforce
  • Payroll - it shows everything in real time and it runs quickly.
  • People - Having all employee details from the offer letter to W2 information in the same spot.
  • Dayforce Wallet: The on-demand feature is fully integrated with Timesheets and Payroll. What shows in one will be in the other.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
  • Assign complete learning plans to users so they don't have to spend time searching for courses.
  • Export learner's transcripts so managers can easily see their employee's progress.
  • Embed Social Media feeds that are relevant to their business.
Read full review
Cons
Dayforce
  • There have been a few instances of users being locked out of Ceridian due to recent upgrades. Not ideal when an employee wants to see their paystub and is suddenly have login issues.
  • Not the best for when an employee is transferred to another country as their employee number is locked to their SIN or SSN. And, we are required to create a new user record with a new employee number for the new country.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
  • Reporting
  • Mass importing of manual checks to be issued in California
  • Ability to fund pay cards immediately
  • Perform gross-up calculations within the payroll system automatically
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Dayforce
We are highly invested in Ceridian's Dayforce product. It give us the flexibility and scaling that our growing company needs. Its potential reaches beyond the basic HR functions to the decision making that our Management Team needs. Ceridian is always innovating the employee and employee experiences to offer cutting edge options.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
I have transitioned from a position who supported the product to a position where I use the product. I continue to be impressed with the robustness of the product and how efficient it is. It is a user friendly software that can be used to navigate and accomplish tasks to meet organizational requirements.
Read full review
Usability
Dayforce
I think it's very usable for the employee. I don't think it is as easy for the HR/PR admins - especially if there is an issue. There are so many setup screens that need to be looked at to try to figure out why payroll isn't calculating properly, hours aren't feeding over correctly, or benefits are not calculating properly. For the most part, they can't do their own troubleshooting. The same is true for the managers. Our managers find it cumbersome to go into make any schedule changes after the schedules have been generated.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
I do not find SumTotal to be intuitive. I feel we need to adjust our needs to meet the functionality available in the tool.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Dayforce
Dayforce's high availability ensures that our HR processes are supported around the clock, which is critical for a global organization like ours. The platform is cloud-based, offering reliable access from any location at any time, allowing our employees, managers, and HR teams to stay connected regardless of time zones or geographic locations. This level of availability ensures that payroll processing, employee self-service, and real-time data access continue uninterrupted, even during peak periods or unforeseen disruptions. The system’s robust infrastructure minimizes downtime, which is vital for operations that span multiple regions. Additionally, having a centralized platform that’s always available helps keep our teams aligned, ensures compliance, and facilitates timely decision-making across all our locations.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Performance
Dayforce
We haven't noticed any slow-down due to the integration of Dayforce WFM with our Ceridian HPL products (HRIS and Payroll). The new HTML view of the timesheets don't load as quickly as the old Silverlight view - however, we have gotten used to the change.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Dayforce
Most of the time the support is great; it's not always super efficient but I always get the help I need. Occasionally it takes a lot longer than we had hoped or get conflicting responses. We had one ticket recently where we were told we would have to pay the service team to support us on the project and then another person called the next day with the solution to our query and was able to find a solution easily. Generally, though, the response is great and they either walk me though how to do something via a Zoom Meeting or they email step-by-step instructions on how to do it and say if I have questions we can set up a meeting to discuss further.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
We have our own IT support to assist in SumTotal issues, however, we have had to log in cases directly. Support is mediocre at best.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Dayforce
Because the training we reviewed at Insights has changed how we use the system everyday. This is a key factor in our training.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Dayforce
The courses are very interactive and informative. There are classes for every topic, which allows you to make the most of the system. There are also some "go at your own pace" course which is a great option for a busy schedule.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Dayforce
Have a strong internal team. Communicate with your implementation team - they are there to make it work for you. Take the time to really think about how you want the system to work for you - in some cases, you may need to rethink your own business practices to see if you are working harder when the system could do it for you
Read full review
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Dayforce
I can't speak much to how it would be if we had all of these features separately since I started with Dayforce all being integrated and have no other experience, but having it all in one place has made the completion of all of these HR tasks seamless. We can direct all of our energies into the same system, and it makes it easier to field employee inquiries and to troubleshoot when we need to
Read full review
Discontinued Products
When I came to my company, they had been using a "light" LMS called Articulate. It was cheap and bare bones; i.e. not a lot of features, really just a platform to launch eLearning from and not real interface for student to utilize. When I began to overhaul the training department, this was one of the first things I changed. Articulate would only run courses built in their software, and the software was not 508 compliant. In addition, we had no ability to create learning plans, house transcripts, customize the interface, or manage the students. I made the choice to select and LMS that was a true LMS with all of the features that were critical to our clients' needs. Thus far, SumTotal has been able to support all of our needs, except one; mobile learning that is media rich
Read full review
Scalability
Dayforce
Overall, we are extremely happy with the Dayforce WFM module. Our biggest pain point is concerning the twice annual software upgrades - which is the only reason I haven't rated them as a '10'. Because every customer is configured differently, the upgrades can sometimes have adverse effects on our current configured policies/rules. And although they roll-out the upgraded version in a test environment several weeks before go-live, not all testing is accurate in that environment. Some issues do not present themselves until you are working with live punches.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Dayforce
  • Performance Reviews/Comp used to be handled via paper and tracking/reporting was a nightmare - having all of that in the system is so much more efficient and provides huge ROI
  • Our organization used to have big problems with hiring managers going rogue and hiring positions that aren't approved by Finance - we built an approval workflow in the system that triggers before any req is approved which has completely solved this problem
  • Dayforce Wallet has been a huge perk for our employees - it's heavily used and our crew love it
Read full review
Discontinued Products
  • Clean front-end user interface for easier course catalog management.
  • Reporting has been more difficult than previous LMS.
  • Audience building has more variables making it more difficult to manage.
  • Slower overall client turnaround due to admin side interface.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Dayforce Screenshots

Screenshot of Dayforce HubScreenshot of Human Resources (Position Management)Screenshot of Dayforce Reporting & AnalyticsScreenshot of People AnalyticsScreenshot of Dayforce HR Service DeliveryScreenshot of Dayforce Flex Work

SumTotal (legacy) Screenshots

Screenshot of SumTotal Learning Management: Deliver the learning your organization needs including skilling/upskilling/reskilling, career planning & development. All delivered with our engaging learner experience across all modalities (desktop, tablet & mobile) and in the flow of workScreenshot of SumTotal Onboarding: Foster learning before day one with our robust onboarding solution. Build culture, complete necessary paperwork and begin the path to productivity for all your new and returning employees.Screenshot of SumTotal Performance: Performance management that meets the needs of today’s forward-thinking organizations. Align the goals and performance of your entire workforce with those of the broader organization for better business outcomes.Screenshot of SumTotal Succession: Make succession planning an organizational strength. SumTotal allows you to better understand your workforce now and better plan for your future with our intuitive succession planning tools.Screenshot of SumTotal Recruiting: A modern recruiting solution that delivers a powerful candidate experience, recruiter productivity, job matching and internal mobility.Screenshot of SumTotal Compensation: SumTotal makes compensation planning easier and less time consuming. Build a pay for performance culture that meets your organizations goals and objectives while keeping you competitive in the ever-changing marketplace.