Transitioning to Cedar

These FAQs will be updated regularly, as more information becomes available. 

General

What is Cedar?

Cedar is Stanford's name for the new learning management system built on the Cornerstone platform, which will replace STARS.

Why is this change happening?

Replacing STARS is part of the university's Renew-Extend-Replace efforts to modernize administrative systems. Discovery identified more than 100 requirements and many pain points with the current system that Cornerstone was selected to address.

When will Cedar be live?

The new Cedar system will go live on Dec. 8, 2026. 

Why Cedar?

STARS users have been clear about what isn't working. During discovery, users identified more than 80 pain points, including: 

• Courses are hard to find unless you know the exact title or course code. 
• It's hard to see what you've completed, what's available, or how to drop a course. 
• The layout is cluttered and hard to navigate. 

As one user put it: "You cannot find anything unless you have the exact letters, dashes, numbers, words." 

With feedback from learners and learning administrators in hand, University IT worked with more than 20 stakeholders to define hundreds of requirements and evaluated several products on the market before choosing Cornerstone, the platform behind Cedar.

How will Cedar be different from STARS?

Cedar will introduce a new learning experience designed to make it easier to find, complete, and manage training. Some new capabilities will be available at launch, while other features will be introduced through future releases. 

Key features include: 

• Enhanced search functionality: Find courses and learning resources quickly. 
• Progress dashboards: Easily see your training progress, upcoming requirements, and completed courses. 
• Simplified navigation: Access learning resources through a more intuitive, user-friendly interface. 
• Auto-assignment: Support training requirements with automated course assignments.

Timing and cutover

Will there be downtime where no one can access training?

Yes. STARS will be offline for learners starting 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4, 2026, to allow sufficient time for cutover to Cedar, which will be live and available on Tuesday, Dec. 8. The two systems will not run in parallel. Training due during the cutover window should be completed before Dec. 4 or after Dec. 8.

What happens to the training that's in progress or assigned but not yet completed in STARS?

If you've started a self-paced online training in STARS, the progress will not carry over Cedar. Any training started in STARS must be completed by 5 p.m. on Dec. 4, or it will need to be restarted in Cedar. Learners should plan to finish open courses before that date. Managers should flag anyone with required training mid-course.

Registrations made before Dec. 4 for training scheduled to begin after the Dec. 8 Cedar launch will carry over with no action needed by learners.

Will completion records and training history migrate from STARS to Cedar?

Yes. Ten years of completed training history will be migrated into Cedar. One-time required training carries over regardless of when it was completed so no one has to repeat a requirement they had already met.

STARS will not be accessible after Cedar is live so no one will take or manage courses there. For training history older than 10 years, reports of a learner’s legacy training will be available.

I'm partway through a training or certification program that spans several months. Will I need to start over if I don't complete it by Dec. 8?

No. A certification tracks the status of each course within the program, so any completed courses (whether online or in person) will carry over. You can then continue where you left off in Cedar.

The important thing is to finish any individual self-paced online course* you've started by Dec. 4. Partial progress on these courses won't transfer to Cedar so you'll need to start the course over if you haven't finished it by then.

*A self-paced online course refers to a self-paced, web-based course that you launch and work through on your own, where the system tracks your progress as you go. In STARS, these generally have WEB in the title. Webinars and Zoom sessions are not considered "self-paced online" courses; they are scheduled sessions you attend.

Compliance and required training

Will I need to redo any compliance training because of the migration?

No. Completion records migrate, and no one repeats training solely because the system changed.

What happens to compliance deadlines that fall during the cutover period?

All training must be completed by Dec. 4. We will work with compliance requirement owners, including EH&S and the SHARE Title IX Office, on communications to their audiences so anyone with a deadline in that window knows to finish early.

Will HR and managers still be able to see whether their team completed required training?

Yes. Manager and HR visibility into team completion status continues in Cedar.

Learning management administration

Do course owners and LMS administrators need to do anything before go-live?

Yes. UIT is beginning direct outreach to stakeholders who currently administer, own, or support learning in STARS. What's required varies depending on your level of involvement in the system. At minimum, anyone who needs administrative access to Cedar must complete prerequisite training first. We'll share details on that in mid-October. We'll follow up directly with anything else specific to your role.

What happens to existing content and courses in STARS?

Course and enrollment data will migrate to Cedar, including any updates made through Nov. 20.

Should course owners pause building new content in STARS right now?

Keep building for now. The project team will advise course owners in mid-October on cutover steps and dates. Admins should plan to finish all their updates by no later than Nov. 20. This gives us ample time to bring all updates over during cutover. Anything created or changed after that date will not carry over to Cedar, so hold it and build it in Cedar after go-live.

Will the tools for building/managing courses work the same way in Cedar?

No. Cedar is our new learning management system built on the Cornerstone OnDemand platform, so the steps for building and managing courses will be different from STARS. However, admins will still be able to perform the same core tasks they do today. Course owners will be able to use the same authoring process/tools to create content, and learners will continue to have access to the same core functions.

My team, school, or unit doesn’t currently offer courses on STARS. Will we need to do any prep or training before go-live?

No. If your school or unit does not currently offer courses or trainings on STARS that you actively manage, you will not need to do anything before go-live.

My team, school, or unit currently offers courses on an external learning management system, not STARS. How can we set up learning pathways in Cedar?

The Dec. 8 Cedar launch will focus on migrating learning currently offered through STARS. Units that offer courses through other learning management systems will have an opportunity to set up learning pathways in Cedar in spring 2027. More information about the process and timeline will be shared as plans are finalized.

Links, access, and user experience

Will the URL or login process for accessing training change?

Yes, the access path will change. Once Cedar goes live, learners can reach it two ways: go directly to the Cedar website at [URL], or log into Axess and follow the Cedar link from there. We'll share the URL and switch date with all users before go-live.

What happens to existing bookmarks and links to STARS across websites, knowledge articles, and communications?

We're currently looking into ways to automate as much of this as we can for the express links that are out on campus. Many STARS links point to specific courses or pages deep in the system, and those won't have a one-to-one match in Cedar, so we're working through what can be redirected reliably and what can't.

In the coming weeks, we'll come back to content owners with what the automated approach covers and what will need updating by hand.

Will the day-to-day experience of finding and completing training be different for learners?

Cedar is expected to offer improved navigation, more user-friendly learning experiences, automated course assignments, and structured paths with progress tracking. We’ll provide more details on the key changes that learners should know soon. Need from UIT: specifics on what actually changes for a typical employee.

How will the new system support STAP payments?

Learners will continue to apply their STAP balance for learning items as they do today. After a learner requests to use their STAP funds, Cedar will confirm their STAP balance. This process may take up to 15 minutes. If sufficient funds are available, the learner will be automatically enrolled. If there is not enough STAP balance, the learner will receive a notification from the system, and the process to supplement with additional payment options remains the same as it is today.

Reporting and connected systems

Will Sequoia have a link to Cedar the way STARS currently does?

Yes, you'll be able to get to Cedar from both Sequoia and Axess portals.

Does this affect Sequoia or other systems that pull training/completion data?

The project team is working with systems that pull training/completion data from STARS and is developing integrations that will be used in Cedar.

Will schools and units still be able to run the reports they run today?

New reports will be available in Cedar. STARS reports will be retired.

Support

Who do employees or managers contact if they run into a problem in Cedar?

Employees and managers will submit a help ticket using the same process that is used today.