It is no secret that Cornerstone OnDemand administrators are juggling many priorities as they try to fully optimize the platform for their users.
It can be overwhelming, stressful and leave one thinking, “If only there was more time.” While we can’t get you a 25th hour in the day, we’ve outlined some considerations below for saving time when it comes to managing your Cornerstone platform.
1. Build Your Product Knowledge
Proactively complete your system training. Whether at the start of a module implementation or before a product release, the Cornerstone Success Center (CSC) online training is your first line of defense. The upfront investment in this foundational knowledge will build your product knowledge and save you time in the long run. Frequently visiting the Cornerstone Success Center and staying up-to-date on new features could help you identify opportunities for optimization or add new functionality to your internal deployment plan, even if you aren’t planning to use the new features immediately. Cornerstone also offers Beta programs through their CSC where you can actively participate in the early stages of design and provide direct feedback to Cornerstone Product teams based on your experience.
2. Draw from the Insights of the Cornerstone Community
Before opening cases with Cornerstone’s Global Customer Support (GCS), do your research. Execute a search on your issue in Online Help, the Cornerstone Success Center, and Support Central (for knowledge articles). You would be surprised how much information is readily accessible. This will save you wait time with GCS.
3. Maintain Your System Documentation
One of the best ways to save time is to ensure your configuration workbooks do not become outdated. Information added should address important details for the reasons “why” decisions were made. Clients sometimes find it helpful to have organization-specific user guides or standard operating procedures to also identify the processes in use leveraging system configurations. Keeping these documents up-to-date will provide a quick reference and source of truth for knowledge transfer and business continuity in the future.
We often recommend clients update and re-visit their system documentation at the time of each Cornerstone release cycle (3x per year). This allows administrators to capture any changes resulting from the release, and update documentation from any changes to existing configurations that may have occurred since the last release. It is best practice to define governance around your system documentation approach, identify owner(s) (typically your system administrator), and store your documentation in a shared location where other key stakeholders can access when needed.
4. Pilot/Soft Launch Functionality
It may seem like you are delaying the start time for others, but soft launching with a subset of new functionality and/or to a smaller set of users allows your administrative team to build confidence and obtain valuable feedback that may otherwise result in laborious, costly redesigns. This technique can be utilized for entire system implementations or even when thinking about making updates to specific modules and processes. Ultimately, your time savings will come from faster company-wide adoption.
5. Understand Group Processing Options
Did you know you can request your Groups (used to create an organizational unit based on multiple criteria) to be processed up to four times a day? Open a ticket with GCS if this would help your specific organization obtain more real-time updates. Additionally, you can perform ad-hoc Group processing, if needed. You won’t find a button for this one, but if you click into the Group you would like to be processed and click “Save” without changing any criteria or performing any edits, it will trigger the Group to process within the next few minutes.
6. Employ Dynamic Assignment
Cornerstone offers Dynamic assignment options that process daily and on an ongoing basis for users who meet specific criteria. Lean into this option for Learning Assignments, Performance Reviews, Compensation Planning, and Succession Planning to avoid regenerating the same assignment when new users fall into the desired availability. For example, you may create a dynamic performance review assignment for any new hires who have been with your organization for 90-days or a dynamic learning assignment for individuals who are in a specific location and need training on a specific topic, like weather related safety.
7. Utilize Data Subsets for Reporting and Data Loads
Use a sample set of data to confirm reports are pulling information or your data is being loaded into the system, as desired. This will save you time and the headache of having to validate through hundreds of lines of data when an appropriate sample set could have caught the issue proactively.
Cornerstone functionality is robust, and the possibilities are vast when it comes to customizing the solution to meet your needs. Although significantly beneficial, this can be daunting and time-consuming for administrators. Leveraging these tips and time-saving hacks can help make your day-to-day work more manageable.
