Oracle Learning users: what do you like/dislike about this LMS?
We are considering a switch from Cornerstone/Saba to Oracle Learning because we use Oracle HRIS. I need to know if we’re making a good choice or a big mistake. I’m struggling to find information, so anything you have to offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Megan, I've used OLC for almost 5 years in two companies. There are pros and cons; it's important to have a good implementation partner, an Oracle success manager, and a great LMS administrator within your HRIS team with coding capabilities :-) These groups would enable you to have a better outcome.
Oracle is new to learning management systems, and you may miss some simple functionalities with cornerstone/Saba. After 1.5 years of using OLC, we could not have a smooth user experience, from catalog search to course navigation, especially when you have a course with multiple modules/activities. Join their customer connect, search for Learn, and see how many daily questions and issues come out.
If I want to be honest, I'll say if you're going to use it, you can keep it as your backend data repository since it's linked to your HCM, but keep your current LMS as the face not to upset your employees. Again, this is our team's experience, and there might be some success stories that I love to hear and see what we are doing wrong! or how we can improve ours.
Maryam, first I want to thank you for your thoughtful response. I appreciate the recommendations and have a few follow up questions that I'm hoping you would be willing to answer:
1) Are you saying you still don't have a smooth user experience or have you figured out a way to make it a smooth experience?
2) When you say to use it as a backup repository, can you explain what that means?
3) Did you have a good implementation partner for Oracle that you would recommend? Or is there an implementation partner that you would caution against?
4) I was in another forum and some users said Oracle Learning created a ton of manual workarounds, including with reporting. Is that your experience as well?
5) You mentioned that Oracle had some pros. I would love to hear some of yours (unfortunately, I've only come across cons in my research)
Maryam, first I want to thank you for your thoughtful response. I appreciate the recommendations and have a few follow up questions that I'm hoping you would be willing to answer:
1) Are you saying you still don't have a smooth user experience or have you figured out a way to make it a smooth experience? [MS] We don't have a smooth UX
2) When you say to use it as a backup repository, can you explain what that means? [MS] Let's schedule a call so I can explain it better.
3) Did you have a good implementation partner for Oracle that you would recommend? Or is there an implementation partner that you would caution against? [MS] I was really impressed with Baker tilly and our SME, Brian Manthei.
4) I was in another forum and some users said Oracle Learning created a ton of manual workarounds, including with reporting. Is that your experience as well? [MS] Yes, you really need to customize the off the shelf LMS to make it work for your business.
5) You mentioned that Oracle had some pros. I would love to hear some of yours (unfortunately, I've only come across cons in my research) [MS] I was trying to be polite LOL (kidding) the fact that all the data resides within the same system (HCM) and you don't need to connect them together like importing learner's data... and if it's configured correctly, the OTBI reporting capability can help you build dashobards.
We went from Cornerstone to Oracle and I don't recommend it. Currently, I am here looking for some answers as to why my courses are completing in Oracle or why when a learner revisits it isn't holding that they were there the first time, even though the course did complete.
We used all the bells and whistles in Cornerstone, and I can say it is hard to step backward. I attended a customer presentation today where they highlighted new features and they were ones that I don't remember Cornerstone ever not having, like being able to control the order that someone takes the courses in a curriculum.
You also ask in response to another question, does oracle create a lot of manual workarounds. Our world went from automated to manual, everything is a workaround. But an exceptionally large loss for us was email. In Cornerstone we had tons of custom emails, and it was easy to edit one for an assignment on the fly. In Oracle they call emails alerts, and they are programmed in, so we now have just a few generic ones.
4 Replies
Hi Megan, I've used OLC for almost 5 years in two companies. There are pros and cons; it's important to have a good implementation partner, an Oracle success manager, and a great LMS administrator within your HRIS team with coding capabilities :-) These groups would enable you to have a better outcome.
Oracle is new to learning management systems, and you may miss some simple functionalities with cornerstone/Saba. After 1.5 years of using OLC, we could not have a smooth user experience, from catalog search to course navigation, especially when you have a course with multiple modules/activities. Join their customer connect, search for Learn, and see how many daily questions and issues come out.
If I want to be honest, I'll say if you're going to use it, you can keep it as your backend data repository since it's linked to your HCM, but keep your current LMS as the face not to upset your employees. Again, this is our team's experience, and there might be some success stories that I love to hear and see what we are doing wrong! or how we can improve ours.
Maryam, first I want to thank you for your thoughtful response. I appreciate the recommendations and have a few follow up questions that I'm hoping you would be willing to answer:
1) Are you saying you still don't have a smooth user experience or have you figured out a way to make it a smooth experience?
2) When you say to use it as a backup repository, can you explain what that means?
3) Did you have a good implementation partner for Oracle that you would recommend? Or is there an implementation partner that you would caution against?
4) I was in another forum and some users said Oracle Learning created a ton of manual workarounds, including with reporting. Is that your experience as well?
5) You mentioned that Oracle had some pros. I would love to hear some of yours (unfortunately, I've only come across cons in my research)
Again, I appreciate all of your help with this!
Megan
We went from Cornerstone to Oracle and I don't recommend it. Currently, I am here looking for some answers as to why my courses are completing in Oracle or why when a learner revisits it isn't holding that they were there the first time, even though the course did complete.
We used all the bells and whistles in Cornerstone, and I can say it is hard to step backward. I attended a customer presentation today where they highlighted new features and they were ones that I don't remember Cornerstone ever not having, like being able to control the order that someone takes the courses in a curriculum.
You also ask in response to another question, does oracle create a lot of manual workarounds. Our world went from automated to manual, everything is a workaround. But an exceptionally large loss for us was email. In Cornerstone we had tons of custom emails, and it was easy to edit one for an assignment on the fly. In Oracle they call emails alerts, and they are programmed in, so we now have just a few generic ones.