PiiQ by Cornerstone vs. Trainual

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PiiQ by Cornerstone
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Cornerstone’s PiiQ is an SMB offering formerly known as Sonar6. PiiQ is aimed at small-to-medium sized businesses and includes core learning management and performance management systems, including content creation, mobile accessibility, and in-product reporting.
$8
per user per month
Trainual
Score 9.7 out of 10
N/A
Trainual is a modern training manual for growing businesses. It provides one simple tool that aims to help users centralize processes and policies, automate onboarding and training, and build a foundation to scale faster. The vendor says Trainual is designed for small to medium sized businesses that are growing quickly and eager to document systems and processes, define step-by-step workflows, eliminate grey area between roles, and ensure that training happens consistently, every…
$119
per month
Pricing
PiiQ by CornerstoneTrainual
Editions & Modules
PiiQ Performance
$8.00
per user per month
PiiQ Learning + Content
$8.00
per user per month
PiiQ Learning + Content & Performance
$15.00
per user per month
Pro
$119
per month
Premium
$179
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PiiQ by CornerstoneTrainual
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup Fee$1,000 per installationNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PiiQ by CornerstoneTrainual
Considered Both Products
PiiQ by Cornerstone
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
We did not use any software before.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
We did review other systems when we purchased PiiQ but I don't know what these were due to the member of staff no longer being with the company, however, I do not that we chose PiiQ as it was simple to use and that it also had the Performance option available in addition to the …
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
Cornerstone was introduced into the company before I started and believe it was to ensure we are able to manage our team's performance.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
Workday Human Capital Management, Coresystems and Reflektive
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
Everyone of my vendors tries to do cross-over. My HRIS (ADP-TS) does performance and LMS. My training vendor (I am on the board of BizLibrary), has a performance management SAAS as well as the ability to integrate with other HRIS systems. SuccessFactors does all three. My …
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
We were engaged with Cornerstone through True Value. We did not look at any other products prior.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
I have not used any other online training tools. This is the first an only training software we have used at my current company. At my last company, we created our own customizable training or outsourced high-level management training.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
We have requested a demo of the LMS but haven't yet had a chance to look at this
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
ADP's performance management and one from another payroll system we were considering switching to, but ended up not going with.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
Most review packages I've used in the past have been attached to the HRIS or created in house.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
I have not used other products like PiiQ in the past.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
We have used Performance Impact, Sonar6, CSB and now PiiQ.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
PiiQ was well designed to help us address salaried staff retention and engagement. ADP's product wasn't as robust as we needed for our corporate staff. However, we decided to try out ADP for our nonexempt, hourly employee performance reviews. Whether we stay with ADP or roll …
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
PiiQ is very user-friendly.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
We reviewed around 5 different products and I don't have all that info off hand. PiiQ stood out in many ways do to price, customer service and user friendly.
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
Lesson.ly has been great to work with but it is a very clear and simple, user-friendly system that anyone can pick up with very little training as it is self-explanatory. It also has a great mobile interface and lots of different features that are easy to add for the admin but …
Chose PiiQ by Cornerstone
Success Factors: we thought they were good too, but were very expensive and overkill for what we wanted. It was not overly complicated but just too expensive. Taleo - We were in the midst of being acquired when we selected this tool. Our acquirer was at the time was on Taleo. …
Trainual
Chose Trainual
No comparison as it relates to many differences. You’re not able to create a portal or generate different classes to make the training fun like trainual it has been a lot easier for our team members to get caught up on any new products and other software that we used has not …
Chose Trainual
There were more user friendly features and a more streamline platform
Chose Trainual
Previously we created SOP's in Google Drive that we used for employee training but they were cumbersome to navigate through and were also in danger of getting deleted. They were plain Word documents and were not interesting to read. Trainual is SO much easier for new employees …
Chose Trainual
  • This is our first time using anything like this!
  • Previously we just wrote task items in shared Google documents. It was the best of what we could do at the time, but this is a whole different world, and we love it! Being able to integrate quizzes and photos and interactive video …
Features
PiiQ by CornerstoneTrainual
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
PiiQ by Cornerstone
6.6
Ratings
21% below category average
Trainual
9.4
Ratings
14% above category average
Course authoring6.00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Course catalog or library6.80 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Player/Portal6.80 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Learning content6.60 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Mobile friendly7.90 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications6.20 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Assignments6.70 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Compliance management5.80 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Learning administration6.60 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics6.90 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Social learning00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Best Alternatives
PiiQ by CornerstoneTrainual
Small Businesses
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.6 out of 10
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.6 out of 10
iSpring Learn
iSpring Learn
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Axonify
Axonify
Score 10.0 out of 10
Axonify
Axonify
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
PiiQ by CornerstoneTrainual
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(0 ratings)
9.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
3.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.2
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
PiiQ by CornerstoneTrainual
Likelihood to Recommend
Great for managing medium sized teams of people spread over geographically dispersed offices. Not so good for small teams (less than 15). Requires a degree of time and effort to set up correctly to provide useful data for management and a good experience for staff members, but once that effort has been made the results are great.
Read full review
Trainual is well suited for new hires. They can be introduced to our processes and products before testing and trying themselves. Trainual provides for a less jarring experience for anyone new to our team. Every time someone new starts it is imperative that they complete all the training modules within Trainual before doing some of the work themselves. It definitely allows for a smoother transition to the team and work life
Read full review
Pros
  • Excellent customer service - when all else is equal, customer service will win the day.
  • Ease of use helps us get everyone on board with the goals and ratings.
  • The analytics are helpful to senior managers - we can compare how managers rate as well as how employees perform.
Read full review
  • Makes it easy to edit text
  • Easily locate documentation
  • Easy to add pdf's and videos to manuals
  • Easy to create new topics and steps.
Read full review
Cons
  • Being able to select more than one person when approving goals.
  • Options to identify which people managers haven't approved goals, dine a review etc...rather then having to mimic each manager to see how they are going.
  • 360 Feedback to stakeholders outside the business.
  • Being able to remove a role that isn't being used in the organization anymore.
Read full review
  • The layout for all subjects is very overwhelming, and I'd love to be able to sort into folders or buckets.
  • I'd also like to be able to see all steps within ALL subjects in one area and be able to reorganize those with a simple drag and drop, instead of having to copy and paste text to move from one subject to another.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
It's not that CSB isn't a decent performance management system, but we have decided to go with just one vendor (Workday) for an HRIS/performance management/payroll system so we can directly relate pay to performance. We are more interested in having just one system that "talks" to the other pieces instead of having to work with several vendors. It reduces the hassle of having to communicate with different support teams, having different contracts, and so on.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
There are specific things within the goals and competencies that are user-friendly. For example, the rating slider isn't great in my opinion. You can slide in between ratings which can create some odd scoring (if you use scoring). It seems a better solution would be a drop down where you select your rating. There are also some glitches in the system and have been told Cornerstone is aware of them but are focused on delivering new features. There are workarounds, but that doesn't seem to be a great answer.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
So far 100%.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Performance
The saving process slows it down. It doesn’t auto save. If you leave a page, it will sometimes warn you, but not always. When you hit the save button, a window pops up that says creating/saving packets. It feels very archaic.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
My assistant could better address this issue. My perception is that there is not immediate assistance, and that there can be a wait for help. That is not a negative, just a perception. I have not used support in two years.
Read full review
During the entire sales process, the Trainual team was great to work with. After the sale, their onboard process was top notch as well and was very quick to answer any questions and actually were open to customizing the platform to meet our specific needs. They have been great this entire time.
Read full review
Online Training
We bought training provided by 3rd party – it was fabulous.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
I think we could have done a better job of rolling out the tool to our managers. We were under a tight timeline. In the training, we showed them everything and said go do it by this date. Looking back, I would have done it in pieces: for example, 2 weeks to write goals, 2 weeks to get sign-off from direct reports. I just let them go at it. Since then we’ve moved to agile development environment and are applying the technique to everything. In future would only do through change sprint. It is a big change I didn’t take it seriously enough.

I had a team of 3 project managing. You need a champion from every department to make sure you’re getting it right and to make sure what’s happening is communicated. It’s not something you can do without input from department heads
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
We did review other systems when we purchased PiiQ but I don't know what these were due to the member of staff no longer being with the company, however, I do not that we chose PiiQ as it was simple to use and that it also had the Performance option available in addition to the learning platform. we knew that this was something we wanted to have in the future which is why we purchased it.
Read full review
No comparison as it relates to many differences. You’re not able to create a portal or generate different classes to make the training fun like trainual it has been a lot easier for our team members to get caught up on any new products and other software that we used has not been able to compare with the ease of use.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Reviews are generally taking managers less time to prepare because the essential infrastructure is in place. Past reviews are easily retrievable for review if needed.
  • HR administration of the system takes less time than the previous version of Cornerstone (CSOD). HR is still responsible for training new users, but the built-in user guide is more thorough and easier to use.
  • We're starting to see - slowly but surely - more (and hopefully better) interaction between manager and employee.
Read full review
  • Trainual has very positively help us in on-boarding new employees! Everyone is provided the same information about company structure, mission, vision, etc.
  • Trainual has helped us solidify and keep consistent with our training of new employees. We are able to train people faster and they seem to be retaining the information better!
Read full review
ScreenShots

PiiQ by Cornerstone Screenshots

Screenshot of PiiQ Performance Employee ReviewScreenshot of PiiQ Learning on DevicesScreenshot of PiiQ Manager/Employee Check-insScreenshot of PiiQ 9-box Talent MatrixScreenshot of PiiQ Learning Publish New ContentScreenshot of PiiQ Learning Searchable Library & Self-registration