Saba TalentSpace vs. SumTotal Talent Development

I think it's a good platform for tracking and monitoring goals, feedback, and development. We don't use the 1:1 meeting feature, however, I can see how that would be valuable for many organizations. I do like that it is very customizable, however, that also presents problems in that sometimes forms and/or processes can be a bit challenging to create easily and quickly.

I personally, am not a fan of SumTotal. I have worked on several different HRIS and Payroll systems which outweigh all aspects of SumTotal (Lawson Interface Desktop, Ceridian Dayforce, ADP Enterprise, and Ultimate Software's UltiPro). As antiquated as Lawson felt, it had more functionality than SumTotal. Of course, all others I worked on were for the most part cloud based and had modern functionality to go with it.

Incentivized

• I think their Support Center is great! All of their Customer Service Representatives are knowledgeable, friendly, and able to troubleshoot any and all issues I've had in the past. I am very impressed with the breadth of knowledge that each representative has - every time I've called them, they were able to resolve my problem.
• Halogen's dashboard is very user-friendly. The dashboard allows the user to sort, filter, and manipulate data in order to create compelling reports.
• Version 18 of Halogen looks very sleek and is user-friendly. With simple instruction, employees are able to log in, enter their goals, and review their performance using the navigation menu on the left. Also from an administrator's perspective, it is very easy to navigate on the back-end.

Incentivized

• SumTotal has a very user friendly design, making it easy for non-programmers to configure their LMS interface, customize various environments for different groups, and to integrate numerous external web applications through iFraming, such as social media or news feeds. I was able to configure a custom environment for several different clients, making it feel like their own LMS, such as a custom color scheme and logos, custom widgets (which are section of any page), news feeds, training messages, and custom learning plans.

Incentivized

• When creating Evaluation Processes the limitations around the number of Goals that will push over to the form can be frustrating to some departments/positions. Only the first 10 will automatically come over.
• The ability to attach any Documents that you have saved within Halogen should have a way to link to any Feedback that is entered in through Feedback Central.
• The file size of and media that is attached to a Learning Activity or Path could be increased to accommodate more elaborate videos/presentations.

• JasperSoft Reporting - it is difficult to use and manage.
• Exams could be more robust. Offering alternate types of questions.
• Too many clicks on the administrator side. Adding new activities is not intuitive, you need to click through each section to determine what needs to be entered where. Would be better if it was guided for new activities, just prompting for 'required' fields.

Incentivized

At this point, I would also love to see what other systems have to offer. But we have gotten to a place in which our employee population understands the system, our HR Managers can all use the back end, and for the most part it works for our staff. I am always very pleased with Halogen's customer support, constant upgrades, and think the system is continuously improving and have been pleased-to-date.

I have transitioned from a position who supported the product to a position where I use the product. I continue to be impressed with the robustness of the product and how efficient it is. It is a user friendly software that can be used to navigate and accomplish tasks to meet organizational requirements.

Incentivized

Halogen is very intuitive and provides very clean work-space ... lots of white space and modern layouts. There is more than one way to accomplish your action, too!

I do not find SumTotal to be intuitive. I feel we need to adjust our needs to meet the functionality available in the tool.

Incentivized

We only purchased the appraisal module and without the other modules offered, you are really limited in what you can do and the process becomes much more involved with needing to maintain information across multiple platforms. We found that they charge for everything and call it "consulting." We poured so much money and time into a system that was just overkill for what we really needed.

Incentivized

We have our own IT support to assist in SumTotal issues, however, we have had to log in cases directly. Support is mediocre at best.

Incentivized

It is very easy to use and I can do my own programming instead of paying a technician and waiting sometimes days for them to program the changes.

Very easy to implement and Halogen has a well-trained implementation staff!

I have used other systems in the past and I like that Halogen provides everything in one space. I would like to see a more developed way to report training, not in the LMS, but I think that for the most part that Halogen is a robust system that is superior to its competition.

Incentivized

SumTotal Talent Development is a very competitive product. In my opinion SumTotal Talent Development is better than Freshteams, Darwinbox, but not as good as Skillate, SAP SuccessFactors. SAP SuccessFactors is enterprise grade and used only by large organizations and has too many modules and hence a tough learning curve. While SumTotal Talent Development has a small learning curve.

Incentivized

• Consistent goal setting and monthly 1:1 conversations across our entire company - especially as it relates to our sales teams. Consistent 1:1 dialogue and process has driven a more focused coaching conversation for a positive impact on our sales pipeline and close rate. This has been the biggest impact we have realized from the system.
• On-demand learning availability for all employees. We partnered with LinkedIn Learning for content that is easily searchable and viewable by all employees at any time through the Learning platform in Halogen. Employees engaging in learning activities has significantly increased.

Incentivized

• Clean front-end user interface for easier course catalog management.
• Reporting has been more difficult than previous LMS.
• Audience building has more variables making it more difficult to manage.
• Slower overall client turnaround due to admin side interface.

Incentivized