Item: Cornerstone OnDemand
Rating: 6
Author: Heather Hicks

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We primarily utilize Cornerstone for Learning and Tracking of Learning. All of our state government uses it as the primary LMS. It's always used for compliance tracking but also more recently we've been expanding it to include elective learning with a full library of courses.

Pros and Cons

A lot of companies use Cornerstone so there is a wide scope of users to refer to and learn from.
It tracks training and learning well.
Newer features are more user friendly.
Large base of resources and training to learn functionality.

Not always the most intuitive to use (recent updates have made some improvements to that).
Most updates are for end user so the admin side is a bit more clunky.
Previously service time has been slow (haven't had any recent issues).
This doesn't have an interactive or live meeting platform within it you need to purchase one to integrate.
There isn't a location to put vILT (virtual instructor led training) info such as a meeting link that you could copy and paste in. You have to have some integration and each cost money per year.
limited budgets for Cornerstone are not the best. They have so much functionality but each piece is an additional amount of money. We only have one.
The certifications do not function as they're supposed to. I was told by a rep not to use them.
Curriculum Reversioning has had improvements but still gets messy VERY quickly. I also don't like the extra step to access training if it's in a curriculum. There should be an expand right on the transcript page so it's all visible in one place.
Lacks built in Accessibility Features like an easy to use accommodation request for courses, captioning for videos (unless via YouTube and captioned on YouTube), Color settings for end users with low vision or color blindness.
Resources attached to trainings aren't obvious thus I have to also add them as materials and link to them.
Editing Transcripts or attendance is a pain, so if someone accidentally submits something it's a process to get it fixed.
Everything costs money. Want to update your home page? It's a ticket and $, want to let people launch a meeting, you need an integration that has an annual cost, it makes budget conscious organizations suffer.

Return on Investment

Meeting our need for Maintaining Compliance.
Increased Engagement - Work in Progress, it's a new initiative.
Professional Development, Clear Career Paths, and goals - Another thing we are working on rather slowly. We are a slow-moving entity.

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), Adobe Captivate, Adobe Connect, Microsoft Teams, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Skype for Business (formerly Lync), now part of Microsoft Teams

Product Configurability

I honestly wish there was more configurability. I like personalize learning and I think that it would be nice to choose more of the menu items and where and when they appear you could really create an experience. I believe there are more features we just haven't purchased that do enhance Cornerstone a little more.

Key Insights

Do you think Cornerstone OnDemand delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Cornerstone OnDemand's feature set?

Did Cornerstone OnDemand live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Cornerstone OnDemand go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Cornerstone OnDemand again?

Likelihood to Recommend

The learning assignment tool is well designed and functions well. It works well to implement and track training programs. I think in general (partial speculation as we don't have the HR pieces) it seems to do well with data and less on connectivity and interaction. We don't have forums or an interactive platform for students to meet. I also prefer easier to use gamification though they do have badges. It definitely manages data and holds all of our eLearnings. There is no way that I have found successfully to make a conference where you can choose only one session that occurs at a specific time including no good work around. In my opinion if you have the money for all the units and the add ins or have some team in house that can do that sort of thing it's a very thorough product, but without all the extras it's lacking.

Cornerstone - You get what you pay for.

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Cornerstone OnDemand