Cornerstone customer success packages are the support tiers that accompany a Cornerstone subscription, and each carries a service level agreement (SLA). Cornerstone lists them on a service level agreements page, with a PDF for each package and for several product lines.[1] The PDFs state no date, but the file names for the package SLAs contain 2024.
Editions
Each package states the benefits Cornerstone provides: application functionality guidance, application issue management, service request management, and 24/7 access to the Knowledge Base and the Cornerstone Success Center.[2][3] The packages differ in the following support features.
| Feature | Included | Choice | Preferred | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live phone support | For critical issues in normal business hours, Monday to Friday | 24/7 for S1/S2 incidents; business-hours phone support | 24/7/365 | 24/7/365 |
| Named Lead Administrators | Up to 4 | Up to 5 | Up to 6 | Up to 10 |
| Case handling | Self-service case tools | Self-service case tools | Cases reviewed by senior specialists | Prioritized case handling, named Designated Support Agent |
| Scorecard | None listed | None listed | Quarterly support performance scorecard | Quarterly scorecard delivered by the agent |
| Release weekend support | None listed | None listed | None listed | Live support during release weekend |
| SLA | Standard | Standard | Standard | Enhanced |
[2][4][5][3] See Cornerstone Included Customer Success Package, Cornerstone Choice Customer Success Package, Cornerstone Preferred Customer Success Package and Cornerstone Elite Customer Success Package and the rules Included package gives live phone support for critical issues and 4 named administrators, Choice package adds 24/7 emergency phone support and 5 named administrators, Preferred package gives 24/7/365 phone support and 6 named administrators and Elite package adds a named Designated Support Agent and 10 named administrators. Each PDF adds a footnote that package features “may be subject to change or enhancement over time, though overall support will remain at least substantially equivalent.”[2]
Metrics
The one unit of measure in these packages is the Named Lead Administrator: the number of individual administrators who may contact Cornerstone Global Product Support. The Included package allows up to 4, Choice up to 5, Preferred up to 6 and Elite up to 10.[2][4][5][3] Live phone support is available to administrators “that maintain their training certifications.”[2] See Named Lead Administrator (customer success package). The Saba Included package and the SumTotal Elite package state the same caps of up to 4 and up to 10 administrators.[6][7] See Saba and SumTotal customer success packages use the same named administrator caps. A customer that has grown its administrator team should compare its headcount of certified administrators with the cap, because the text ties phone access to both certification and the cap.
Service level agreement terms
When the SLA applies
The SLA “does not become operative until Customer has signed off on Implementation, training is completed for all products purchased, and Customer’s portal is live on Cornerstone’s production environment,” and applies only to live portals.[2] See The SLA applies only after implementation sign-off, training and go-live.
Defects and resolution times
A Defect is “a technical defect with the Cornerstone application and/or those portions of software integrations within Cornerstone’s control,” and its severity is determined by Cornerstone.[2] Severity 1 means the Cornerstone URL produces no results or authorized users cannot log in after repeated attempts. Severity 2 means, for example, an entire application module such as Learning Cloud or Performance Cloud is inaccessible, no course is being delivered, or no report produces data.[2] The commitments differ by SLA.
| Item | Standard SLA | Enhanced SLA (Elite) |
|---|---|---|
| Initial notification | One hour by Incident Report | One hour |
| Status updates | Every two hours | Every two hours |
| Resolution, S1 | 12 hours | 8 hours |
| Resolution, S2 | 24 hours | 12 hours |
| Resolution, S3 priority 1 | 30 business days | 30 business days |
| Resolution, S3 priority 2 | 60 business days | 30 business days |
[2][3] See Standard SLA resolution targets are 12 hours for Severity 1 and 24 hours for Severity 2, Enhanced SLA resolution targets are 8 hours for Severity 1 and 12 hours for Severity 2 and Minor defect remedies need written notice and give a one-time credit. The remedy for a missed S1 or S2 resolution is, “as its sole and exclusive remedy,” a credit against the next invoice equal to 1/365th of the annual fees for Software for each calendar day or part of a day of non-compliance. For S3 priority 1 and 2 defects the customer must first give written notice and wait five business days, after which a one-time credit of the same size applies. Priority 3 issues carry no remedy.[2]
Availability
Cornerstone commits to “at least 99.5% availability per calendar month to Software,” excluding reasonable and scheduled maintenance, which usually occurs at or after 5:30pm US Pacific Standard Time on Fridays. For each 0.3% or portion below 99.5%, the customer receives a credit equal to 1/365th of annual Software fees, as the sole and exclusive remedy, and must submit a credit request within thirty days of the event, to which Cornerstone has five business days to respond.[2] See Software availability commitment is 99.5% per month with credits and a 30 day claim window. The same availability text appears in the Choice, Preferred, Elite, Saba and SumTotal documents retrieved.[4][5][3][6]
A worked reading follows. Because the credit unit is 1/365th of annual fees, a month with availability between 99.2% and 99.5% yields one unit, a credit of roughly a day’s fees, and the credit grows by one unit for each further 0.3%. This is arithmetic on the cited text, not a statement from Cornerstone.
Other terms
For Offline Player, support is limited to troubleshooting one model PC that meets Cornerstone’s minimum requirements, other machines may be supported “for an additional fee,” and only the current and immediately prior version are supported.[2] See Offline Player support is limited to one model PC. General queries receive a response within one business day.[2]
Other product SLAs
TalentLink
TalentLink’s SLA (version 6.5) sets availability at 99.9% of the Agreed Service Time per calendar month, measured by an external monitor on loading the login page, the management account and logout. Service credits are a percentage of the monthly subscription fee, from 3% for 99.8 to 99.89% up to 40% below 90%, and must be claimed within 60 days of notification of entitlement.[8] See TalentLink commits to 99.9% availability with credits claimed within 60 days. Support runs during Support Days and Hours, Monday to Friday 08:00 to 18:00 local time, for up to four named Customer contacts, in English, French and German.[8] See TalentLink support is limited to four named contacts and Named Customer contact (TalentLink support). Releases that may make the software unavailable need at least 30 days’ notice.[8]
Saba TalentSpace
The Saba TalentSpace SLA provides “99.3% Service Availability on a 24X7 basis” excluding scheduled outages, and credits of 5% for 99.0 to under 99.3%, 10% for 98.4 to under 99%, and 15% below 98.4%, measured against subscription fees as invoiced.[9] See Saba TalentSpace commits to 99.3% availability with percentage credits.
Programs
The packages and their SLAs are catalogued as Cornerstone customer success packages and Cornerstone Service Level Agreement and service credits. Cornerstone also describes Implementation Services and Ongoing Support & User Communities as separate service offers on its packages page.[10]
Out of scope
This article does not cover the Talespin SLA, which has its own availability target and one-year term, nor the Saba Talent Acquisition SLA. It does not state which package a customer holds, since that is set by its order. The PDFs carry no date, so a licence manager should confirm that the version in the customer’s agreement matches the current file.