What's New for October '21

Safe Harbor Statement: Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other documents or public statements are not currently GENERALLY available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Cornerstone OnDemand applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available.

Select this link to download the complete release notes.

The following new features and enhancements are available for the October '21 release:

Careers Features

Feature Name Automatically Enabled? Description
Easily Access Check-Ins on Mobile Devices Yes With this enhancement, mobile users can use the new View Check-Ins link on the home page to access the people bar to select a person and view the appropriate check-in.
Enhancement to Check-Ins People Search Yes With this enhancement, the Include inactive users checkbox is removed and inactive people who had check-ins with the user are now included in the relevant search results.
Enhancement to Goal Visibility in Check-Ins Yes With this enhancement, check-Ins participants can now view other participant's goals in the Check-Ins Goal Panel if they have the “View Goals” permission and can already access the employee's goals through other product areas.

Content Anytime Features

Feature Name Description
Content Anytime - Q4 Updates

Refreshes to Content Anytime and À La Carte subscriptions occur monthly between the first and second Friday of each month. New titles are added to libraries monthly, and removals occur quarterly. Content Anytime subscribers automatically receive these subscription refreshes.

The target dates for Q3 refreshes are listed below. Please refer to the 2021 Content Refresh Schedule for the timing of refreshes for all of 2021.

  • October 1-8 (Additions only)
  • November 5-12 (Additions only)
  • December 3-10 (Additions and removals)

Core/General Features

Feature Name Automatically Enabled? Description
Capabilities Library and User Profile Bulk API Yes, when using Bulk API With the October ’21 Release, the same transactions, fields, and validations that exist with the Edge Import Capabilities Library and User Profile loads are now available as an API endpoint for custom integrations. Customers can retrieve the schema with request fields directly from the API. Transactions can be saved as “jobs” and are viewable through Edge Import.
Deprecation of Custom Reports in August 2022 Yes

As many of our customers have shared concerns about the upcoming deprecation of Custom Reports, Cornerstone has modified our Reporting 2.0 move-forward plans. Cornerstone understands that it may be a big shift for some organizations to migrate from Custom Reports to Reporting 2.0. As some organizations are also hit hard by COVID-19, we want to allow some extra time to get ready.
Deprecation of Learning Loads for Data Load Wizard (DLW) with the February '22 Release   Ability to perform learning data loads using Data Load Wizard will be deprecated with an end-of-life in the February ‘22 Release, defects will no longer be fixed, and DLW Learning Loads will no longer be visible or accessible in customer portals. DLW is a legacy data load tool which was built on older technology, is accessed using an older user interface, and experiences slow performance and limited load type support.
Deprecation of Reporting 2.0 Word and XML Export Formats with the May '22 Release Yes Word and XML report export formats are being deprecated with the May ’22 Release as part of the larger initiative to deprecate the use of SSRS. With the October ’21 Release, defects for these report formats that are not P1 will not be fixed. Customers exporting/downloading their Reporting 2.0 reports in Word and/or XML formats are encouraged to switch to any of the other available formats in advance of the May ‘22 deprecation.
Deprecation of Users and Organizational Unit (OU) Loads and Feeds for Data Load Wizard (DLW) with the May '22 Release   Ability to perform Users and OU data loads and feeds using Data Load Wizard (DLW) will be deprecated with an end-of-life in the May ‘22 Release. End-of-support will occur in the February ‘22 Release and support for defects related to DLW Users and OU loads and feeds will stop at this time.
Edge Import - Allow Import for Training Included in Certifications (ILT Transcript Load) Yes, when using Edge Import With this enhancement, if a training is part of a certification, it is supported when included in the ILT Transcript loads. Completed statuses add credit to learners’ certifications, and other statuses are also reflected in learners’ certifications.
Edge Import - Capabilities Library and User Profile Feeds Yes, when using Edge Import With this release, Edge Import now supports recurring feeds for Capabilities Library and User Profile loads. Customers who have a library of skills and employee profiles in another HR system and wish to synchronize this data with Cornerstone can now set up a recurring feed to process these loads on a schedule so they can leverage employee skills data for learning and development. Customers who are already using Edge Import to load their capabilities automatically get access to the feed functionality as well.
Edge Import - Employee & OU Loads Enhancements Yes, when using Edge Import This enhancement provides increased functionality to the Employee and OU loads to support a wider range of customer’s bulk upload needs.
Edge Import - Japanese Localization for Learning Loads Yes, when using Edge Import With the Oct '21 release, the Edge Import user interface (UI) for learning loads and feeds is localized for the Japanese language. Portals with the Japanese language pack installed in their portal will benefit from this enhancement.
Edge Import - Learning Feeds Yes, when using Edge Import With this release, Edge Import includes the ability for customers to set up and execute manual and automated feeds for importing learning data.
Edge Import - Learning Load Enhancement (ILT Events and ILT Sessions Loads) Yes, when using Edge Import With this enhancement, administrators can update the provider for existing events via the Edge Import ILT Events load when the Enable to change provider for events. (Will apply to Events created in the past.) option is selected in ILT Preferences. This enhancement also allows for provider selection when creating new sessions via the Edge Import ILT Sessions load if the Enable to select provider when creating sessions. option is selected in ILT Preferences.
Edge Import - Learning Load Enhancement (ILT Sessions and Session Parts Loads) Yes, when using Edge Import With this enhancement, a new configuration question, Should "system default" emails be sent for applicable sessions?, is available for ILT Sessions and Session Parts loads in Edge Imnport.
Edge Import - Learning Load Enhancement (Online Course Transcript and Material Transcript Loads) Yes, when using Edge Import With this enhancement, online course and material transcript records can be updated from “In progress” to “Complete” using Edge Import.
Edge Import - Learning Load Enhancement (Test Transcript Load) Yes, when using Edge Import With this enhancement, transcript records for Test loads can be uploaded using Edge Import when they are in a Registered status.
Edge Import - Learning Load Enhancements (Transcript Loads) Yes, when using Edge Import With the October '21 release, additional functionality has been added to Edge Import for Transcript loads to help improve the administrator experience.
Edge Import - New Learning Load Type (Evaluation Question Bank Load) Yes, when using Edge Import The new Evaluation Question Bank load for Edge Import allows customers to create new evaluation questions and update existing evaluation questions, which can be used in Evaluation Administration when creating evaluations. The data loaded will be visible in the portal’s question bank for evaluations, which is accessible via Evaluation Administration.
Edge Import - Performance Review Data Load Yes, when using Edge Import A new Edge Import data load is now available for performance reviews. This data load is a simple self-service solution for importing overall performance review scores and performance review PDFs. Organizations save time and effort by managing their own performance review data instead of relying on Cornerstone or Partner resources and custom projects.
Edge Import - Single Tile in Edge Marketplace for All Loads and Feeds Yes, when using Edge Import With this enhancement, all Edge Import product solutions have been consolidated into a single tile in the Edge Marketplace, which simplifies the Edge Import purchasing and enablement process for administrators. Now, customers can access the single Edge Import tile in the Edge Marketplace to initiate the purchase of all the available loads and feeds at one time.
Employee API v2 Constraints Yes, when using Employee API v2 This enhancement enables customers to begin to constrain Employee API v2 access in the API as it is in the user interface. This enables customers to use Cornerstone’s APIs in a more robust way, by enabling third-party integrators who are outside of their organization and should not otherwise have root access to all employee data, to be able to leverage the data they need for their solutions.
Fall 2021 - New Skills Graph Languages Yes With this enhancement, additional languages are now supported when searching for skills.
Improvements to Suggested Skills on Skills Profile Yes

With this release, the following enhancements are now included when suggesting skills on the Skills Profile:

  • The Suggested Skills algorithm is updated to return more related skills based on the skills the user has already added.
  • The Suggested Skills refresh frequency is increased from once per 24 hours to once per 15 minutes.
Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD) One-Click Single Sign-On (SSO) Enhancement Yes, when using the integration This enhancement streamlines the process of setting up the Microsoft Azure Active Directory One-Click Single Sign-on integration by automating the step in the enablement process to add a new claim. Prior to this enhancement, administrators had to manually map the unique identifiers when adding a new claim between Cornerstone OnDemand and Microsoft Azure. With this enhancement, after a token is generated, administrators can select which identifier to use for adding a new claim.
New Standard Report - Login Report Yes With this enhancement, a new Login Report is available in all portals as a standard report so that customers can report on which users have logged in to the portal and when. With this report, it is possible to report on who has logged in during a specific date range, their IP address, and details on how they logged in (e.g., SAML SSO). This report also enables organizations to report on logins that occurred prior to the release of this report.
New Standard Report - Proxy as User Report Yes With this enhancement, a new Proxy as User Report is available in all portals as a standard report so that customers can report on which users have proxied in, as what user, and when. This report also enables organizations to report on proxy as user events that occurred prior to the release of this report.
October '21 Language Pack Updates Yes

New updates to Cornerstone Language Packs and additional languages, are available with the October '21 Release. Please visit the October '21 Language Pack Updates posting in the Success Center to review the full list of changes and their targeted availability in stage and production environments.

This functionality is not available at the start of UAT.

Online Help Color Refresh Yes

With this enhancement, Cornerstone Online Help is updated with a new color scheme.

This functionality is not available during UAT.

Reporting 2.0 - Additional Fields Yes

Additions and updates are made to reporting fields with the October '21 release. See the following topics in Online Help for descriptions of the new fields:

  • New Reporting 2.0 Fields in Learning -
  • New Reporting 2.0 Fields in Performance -
RTDW Updates to Reporting API, RDW, and Data Exporter Yes Impacting only customers using Reporting API, Replicated Data Warehouse (RDW), Data Exporter API, and Data Exporter, the Real-Time Data Warehouse (RTDW) categories may be impacted, deprecated, or break applications, scripts, or functionalities that are based on earlier versions of RTDW objects.
Search the Skills Graph Yes With this enhancement, administrators can now search for any skill and import it into their organization’s Capabilities Library. When creating a skill, an auto-complete drop-down suggests skills from the Skills Graph and helps identify any duplicates that are already in the portal’s library. Once a skill is imported, the description is displayed as a preview and can be modified at any time for clarity or to align with an organization’s communication style. Administrators are free to ignore suggestions and can create custom skills.
Skill Feedback - Request Others to Rate Themselves + Other Enhancements Yes With this enhancement, the skills feedback experience is enhanced with new templates and updates to the feedback template administrator experience.
Transcript and Task API Constraints No, organizations must contact Global Customer Support This enhancement enables customers to constrain Transcript and Task API access in the API as it is in the system. This enables customers to use Cornerstone’s APIs in a more robust way, by enabling third-party integrators who are outside of their organization and should not otherwise have root access to all employee data, to be able to leverage the data they need for their solutions. Support for constraints should allow for tighter controls around employee data when using Transcript and Task API.
"User Skill" Fields in Data Exporter and Data Explorer API Yes, for organizations using Data Exporter or Data Exporter API With this enhancement, User Skill reporting fields made available in Reporting 2.0 are now available to use in the Data Exporter and Data Exporter API.

Cornerstone HR Features

Feature Name Automatically Enabled? Description
Workflow Engine (Early Adopter) N/A Workflow Engine is a new process orchestration platform that is the foundation for process management across all Cornerstone talent suites and external integrations.

Learning Features

Feature Name Automatically Enabled? Description
Ability to Resubmit a Stuck Roster Yes

With this enhancement, administrators and instructors can unstick a roster that has been stuck processing for more than 24 hours, via a new pop-up available on the Submit Roster page. The administrator or instructor can refresh the page using the pop-up and then resubmit the roster using the Submit button.
Accept Progress for Online Content Launched Externally Yes With this enhancement, all progress data for online content launched directly from an integrated provider's site is automatically recorded to the learner's Cornerstone transcript and within Cornerstone reporting functionality, just as if they had launched the course from within the Cornerstone system. The progress data will match the data provided by the content provider's site. Consequently, this enhancement allows for real-time progress data visibility in a single system of record.
Ability to Remove Training for Managers Yes With this enhancement, managers can be granted the ability to remove training they assigned to their employees from their employees' transcripts. These abilities are permission-based.
Audit Trail Enhancements (Early Adopter) Enabled by Request

In February 2020, Cornerstone released an audit trail solution for a limited number of customers. This solution added additional fields to training and transcript auditing and provided a PDF export solution to display these training and transcript audits.

With the October '21 release, this Early Adopter solution is being made available to more customers, with some feedback-based improvements. These audit trail enhancements, which allow administrators to track changes to training and transcripts via exportable reports, are beneficial to organizations in regulated industries where detailed training tracking is needed. Included with this enhancement:

  • Ability to track instructor-led training (ILT)
  • Ability to capture training active status changes in audit reports
  • Ensuring user information is consistent in reports
  • Ensuring changes in training active status appear consistently
Curriculum Versioning Enhancement - Removal of Appended Training Yes

With the Oct ’21 release, a new setting has been added to Curricula Preferences, allowing administrators to set the default action for child training versioned with append versioning, at the time of its removal from the curriculum structure. Administrators can either opt to keep the child training as standalone training on the learner’s transcript or remove it from the learner’s transcript. In addition, a toggle for this setting controls whether this default value can be overridden at the curricula level at the time of the training removal.
Deprecation of Learning Loads for Data Load Wizard (DLW) with the February '22 Release  

Ability to perform learning data loads using Data Load Wizard will be deprecated with an end-of-life in the February ‘22 Release, defects will no longer be fixed, and DLW Learning Loads will no longer be visible or accessible in customer portals. DLW is a legacy data load tool which was built on older technology, is accessed using an older user interface, and experiences slow performance and limited load type support.
Deprecation of the MS Lync Integration with the May '22 Release   Cornerstone is deprecating the Microsoft Lync Integration with the May ’22 Release. This integration is not currently available in Edge Marketplace and the Microsoft Lync product is no longer supported by Microsoft.
Improved Session Withdrawal Error Message  

With this enhancement, if the user clicks the WITHDRAW.SESSION.LINK tag after the session has already started, or when session withdrawal has been restricted by the administrator via the Restrict Withdraw from Session option in the session details, the user will be navigated to the Withdraw Registration page and see a warning message stating, "You cannot withdraw from this session because it has already started or because withdrawal is restricted by an administrator. Click Cancel to return to your transcript." The Submit button is hidden in these two circumstances, and the user can only click the Cancel button.
Learning Assessments for Learn App (Open Beta) Yes, with app update

Learning Assessments are a reimagining of the legacy Test Engine experience. The first phase of this multi-release project was introduced with the February ’20 Release, and Learning Assessments functionality has continued to evolve during subsequent releases.

Upon the release of this enhancement, learners can access and complete assessments via the Cornerstone Learn app.

Learning Assessments (Open Beta) Enhancements Yes, with app update

The expansion of the Learning Assessments open beta continues with the addition of assessment versioning. Assessments can now exist in the following three states:

  • Draft
  • Current Version
  • Older Version

Two types of changes can be made to current versions of assessments:

  • Textual (does not require new version)
  • Structural (requires new version)

In addition, a Question Bank for assessment questions will be made available, along with a Categories Home page. This functionality will allow administrators to create, manage, and categorize assessment questions which can be used in multiple assessments. This functionality will be made available during a post-release patch. Additional release documentation will be provided for these features at that time.
Maintain Completed Child Training Due Date During Curriculum Assignment Yes

With this enhancement, when a completed child training item is reassigned via another curriculum or via the same curriculum, it is restored to the user's transcript with the correct due date. Administrators can view the due dates of reassigned completed child training on users' transcripts and in reporting.
Metadata Preservation for Content Subscriptions and Integrations Yes

When an organization purchases a content subscription or integration, courses from the subscription or integration are automatically loaded into their portal via the Content Delivery System (CDS). These courses are added to the portal with pre-populated metadata, including the course title, description, and keywords. After a course has been loaded into a portal via the Content Delivery System, administrators can manually edit the course's metadata using the Course Catalog or Course Console. However, this capability can result in issues when content providers push metadata updates for their courses, as any metadata manually changed by an administrator will be overwritten by the automatic metadata updates from the provider.

With this enhancement, organizations can opt to have automatic metadata syncs from content providers blocked, which prevents manual metadata updates from being overwritten. Metadata update blocking is NOT turned on by default, but organizations can open a case to turn this feature on if they wish to protect their manually-updated metadata from being overwritten.

This functionality as been delayed to the May 2022 release.

Prevent Over Assignment of Versioned Curriculum Yes

This enhancement prevents the unintended overassignment of versioned materials and online courses in the following scenarios:

The material or online course was versioned, and the Assign To option is set to Users Assigned by Dynamic Assignment. Then:

  • The versioned material or online course was contained within a curriculum that was assigned to the learner in the past, but the material or online course is no longer part of that curriculum, and the learner has already completed the material or online course.
  • A child material or online course contained within multiple curricula is assigned to a learner via different assignment criteria and the learner completes both curricula. If the learner is removed from one of the assignment criteria and the child training is versioned, the learner receives both curricula even though they are not part of all the assignment criteria anymore.
Preventing Personal Identifiable Information (PII) Transfer to Content Anytime Providers Yes With this enhancement, any data fields containing personal identifiable information (PII) will be communicated to Content Anytime providers with masked values, to prevent personal identifiable information from being transferred to providers. This update helps to facilitate General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance when transferring personal data from EMEA to the United States.
Remove Self-Requested Training Yes

With this enhancement, learners can remove training items they self-requested from their transcripts using a new Remove option available on the Transcript page. Also with this enhancement, managers can be granted the ability to remove training they assigned to their employees from their employees' transcripts. These abilities are permission-based.
Reporting Fields - Learning Yes

With this enhancement, the following new Learning field is available in Reporting 2.0:

  • Training ID Common Across All Versions

Also with this enhancement, the following existing Learning field has been updated:

  • Transcript Delivery Method
Sanitizing HTML in Curriculum Fields Yes

To provide a more secure experience, Cornerstone has made changes to several curricula administration fields. These updates include the following:

  • HTML text will be encoded in fields that do not support HTML
  • Fields will be validated for potentially problematic JavaScript
Save Email Settings in Learning Assignment Drafts Yes

With this enhancement, when an administrator saves a learning assignment as a draft, any email settings configured for the draft assignment are saved. When the administrator edits the draft in the future, their email configurations will display in the same state they were saved in. The administrator can then continue editing the assignment's settings if desired and submit the assignment.
Standardize Curriculum Completion Date Logic Auto-Enabled with the October '21 Release Yes

With this enhancement, the logic for the designation of curriculum completion dates has been standardized across various training completion scenarios in the Learning Management System (LMS). The general rule is that the date of curriculum completion will be the date the user completed the last child training item within the curriculum.

With the October '21 release, all portals will have the standardized curriculum completion date logic automatically enabled.

Training Removal Tool Enhancements Yes

With the Oct '21 release, the following enhancements have been made to the Training Removal Tool:

  • Sessions can now be removed alongside their parent instructor-led training events
  • Users can be added to a training removal job via CSV upload
  • Previously-run training removal jobs are now grouped by job rather than by training
  • More transcript statuses are now available to select for a training removal job

Performance Features

Feature Name Automatically Enabled? Description
Observation Checklist Date Fields Displayed in User's Time Zone Yes

With this enhancement, the following Observation Checklists date fields are displayed in the time zone of the logged-in user when viewing these dates in a portal's UI:

  • Checklist Assignment Date
  • Checklist Completion Date
  • Checklist Validation Date
Reporting Fields – Observation Checklists Yes

With this enhancement, the following Observation Checklist date fields displayed in the time zone of the person running the report:

Reporting 2.0

  • Checklist Assignment Date
  • Checklist Completion Date
  • Checklist Validation Date

Standard Reports

  • Checklist Assignment Date
  • Checklist Completion Date
Performance Reviews – Task Search Enhancements Yes

With this enhancement, the Show completed and expired tasks check-box is replaced with the following filters:

  • Not Started
  • In Progress
  • Completed
  • Incomplete
  • Expired
Performance Reviews – Co-Planner Notification Enhancements Yes

With this enhancement, review co-planners assigned by an administrator will now receive an email notification when a task is assigned to them. For co-planners without access to email, tasks will now display "Co-planner" at the end of task name for easy identification.

Performance Reviews -Review Comments Character Limit Increased Yes

With this enhancement, the character limit for the Comments field in a performance review is increased from 10,000 to 30,000.00.

Recruiting Features

Feature Name Automatically Enabled? Description
CV-Library Apply Integration Available in Edge Marketplace

CV-Library has integrated with Cornerstone to provide customers with applicant details directly in their Cornerstone Recruiting system, ensuring recruiters never miss a prospective candidate. CV-Library’s ATS Apply automatically completes application forms and sends recruiters important candidate information, such as their curriculum vitae, directly from the candidate’s CV-Library account, which will be recorded against the job in Cornerstone and source-tracked as coming from CV-Library.

This feature was released as part of the 24 September 2021 patch. The tile was made available in Edge Marketplace on 27 September 2021.

Email on Manage Candidates (Early Adopter) Self-enabled via Feature Activation Preferences

The Email on Manage Candidates feature is now available in Production and Pilot environments. This feature was first announced in the July '21 release.

The additional availability of this feature was announced as part of the 24 September 2021 patch.

Hide Internal Employees in Candidate Search Yes With this enhancement, a Hide Internal Employees in Candidate Search Query option is added to the Compliance Preferences section in Requisition and Applicant Preferences. This option is unchecked by default. When checked, internal employees are excluded from the search in Candidate Search Query and the Internal Employees option is hidden in the User Types filter.