Trial
How does the 14-day trial work?
Simply contact us to request a copy of the system you are interested
in. For businesses and public sector bodies in the UK we will
send you a full working copy completely free of charge. The
system will run on a single PC for a single registered user
and an administrator for 14 days. During that time you may use
the system as you wish. At the end of the trial period simply
contact us for an upgrade to either the networked or the standalone
version.
There seems to be a lot of features
here. Can someone give me a guided tour?
Yes, contact us during the your trial period and one of our
consultants will take you through the features. It can take
over an hour, so it's best to make an appointment and we will
call you back.
Purchase
I've used the system on a trial
basis and want to purchase. How do I go ahead?
Enter the system as an administrator and select licensing. Make
a note, or print-off, your user licence key. Forward this key
to us along with your licence requirements including duration,
number of users, and type of licence required (local network,
internet-based or standalone) and, subject to credit/payment,
we will send you a licence upgrade key.
Enter this key in the appropriate box on the licensing screen
for your system and it will automatically upgrade. If you are
upgrading from stand-alone to networked, the system will copy
folders and files to the relevant location(s) on the network
server automatically.
What's the difference between
network and stand-alone?
The trial version we offer is a stand-alone system that works
on a single PC. If you upgrade to a networked version, each
client PC will automatically download new training material
from the network server and upload user results to that server.
In this way an administrator can edit material for an entire
business or department and view results for all users from a
local network PC, or via an internet connection to the server.
Do I have to purchase the system
or can I rent?
The system may be rented on an annual basis for networked systems
with a minimum number of users (10 or 20 depending on the product).
In this case an upgrade patch will be provided (if applicable)
when your licence is renewed. You may elect to upgrade from
an annual licence to outright purchase at any time. For large
numbers of users we offer shorter rental periods, contact us
for details.
What support do we get with a
new system?
We provide free, comprehensive telephone and email support for
two months after system purchase. Ongoing technical support
and training consultancy (e.g. for updating content) contracts
are available.
Some of our users want to log-on
via the Internet, how do they do that?
In some instances, for example home workers or people working
from laptops on the move, users may wish to use a machine that
has an Internet link to the main server. In this case the system
will automatically detect that there is no local network link
and (where the server Internet address has been entered) connect
via the Internet. Content modification via the Internet is done
using the built-in administration facilities.
Some of our users want to complete
their training at a remote location on a dial-up Internet connection
with limited bandwidth. How does the system cope with this?
Because Amtek Learning Systems use forward and store technology
they are ideal for this type of use. At log-on the system will
activate the dial-up modem and download any new training material
from the server. Once this is completed the system will ask
the user if they wish to disconnect the modem, freeing up the
phone line. At the end of the training session the system will
ask to send data back to the server by reconnecting through
the dial-up modem. If the user doesn't want to connect, the
system will wait until the next log-on to the server when it
will upload the user history.
We don't have a suitable server
in-house and want our users to connect via the Internet, how
can the system accommodate that?
We can easily arrange a hosting service for you. Alternatively
you may prefer to upload content to your own web space using
the built-in tools. The system includes all the tools necessary
to administer the system and edit the content via the Internet.
Operation
How do I update the training material?
Content editing tools are fully integrated with the management
system. They do not require any specialist skills, you can cut
and paste from other applications, browse in a standard window
to pick up new audio, images or pdf files. Images and audio
files must be of certain common specifications stated in the
application and in the supporting documentation.
Do I need specialist skills to
modify learning content?
No specialist skills are needed, the system is designed for
use by trainers and on-screen instructions are included on every
editing screen. If required we can help you prepare pdf files,
sound files or image files to the format required.
How do I prepare sound files to
incorporate into the system?
The system includes functions to record your own using a microphone,
or browse to a .wav file. You may reset to the default file
for any practice item. If the sound files you have (e.g. telephone
recordings) need to be edited, we have a service to do this.
How do I incorporate text into
the system?
To enter text into practice scenarios or knowledge base pages
you can either type the content in directly, or copy and paste
from any other application on your PC, for example a word processor.
How do I incorporate my pdf data
sheets into the system?
Within some training sections, and most pages in the knowledge
base, you can make links to pdf documents. To do this there
is a built-in browse facility in the administrator's content
editing tool-set. Simple browse to and select the document required.
The system will automatically copy it to a central repository
from where it will be downloaded by client machines where required.
If your organization does not have the facility to create pdf
documents, Amtek has a service to do this for you.
We want to create tests for our
learners and then review their results. How do we do this?
Tests are easily created within the knowledge base section of
the program. You can create a range of multiple choice questions,
incorporating illustrations and pictures where required. Once
these are published the system will automatically track user
performance, down to individual question level. Individual learner
results are displayed in the 'user details' section of the built-in
management system. More detailed information can be displayed
in (for example) Excel spreadsheets linked to the system database
to give automated updates.
We want to modify the training
content to suit our business but don't have the resources to
do so. Can you help us?
Yes, contact us and one of our consultants will be pleased to
put together a proposal for the development of content for your
business.
Is there any reference material
that tells us how the system works?
A comprehensive manual is included on each demo/installation
CD.\
Is a training course available?
Yes. Our standard training course last for half a day and covers
all the basic functions of the system. It can be delivered in
the training room at our offices, or at your premises. Contact
us for price and availability.
How do I review learner performance?
The built-in management system allows administrators to view
user details including dates and duration of uses, practice
and test scores, user recordings (where included) and sections
completed.
I'm concerned that learners may
spend too much time in one session and so diminish the effectiveness
of the course. What safeguards are there against this?
The system tracks the time that users have been logged on. After
one hour (and each hour after that) a warning appears advising
learners to take a break.
Video
Why does the system include video?
Our research and experience tells us that this is the media
format that learners like best. It's also the most memorable,
particularly when combined with other on-screen triggers and
interactive exercises. We've chosen to use high quality video
because we believe that using it in the media mix delivers the
most effective training.
Suppose that I don't want any
video content?
We will be pleased to prepare a non-video version to meet your
requirements, replacing video with still images or illustrations,
with or without voice over. Contact us for a proposal.
How is the video delivered?
Video playback is through Windows Media Player, as included
with most versions of the Windows operating system. The video
files may be played from the CD supplied or may be copied onto
a local hard drive.
Can we change the video to include
our organization specific content?
We have produced many video-based titles for our clients. We
will be pleased to discuss the options for incorporating existing
or new video content into your system to give a customised solution.
Customisation
How do I incorporate my organization's
logo?
The standard system includes facilities to incorporate your
logo. The logo must be in a suitable format and, if required,
we can format a copy of your logo to the required specification.
You can also opt to have no logo by selecting the blank logo
image.
How do I change the colour of
the system to match my logo?
The standard system includes facilities to match any on-screen
colour. To get a precise match find out what RGB value is used
in your corporate scheme. Simply type this value into the graphics
editing tool, and the colour will be edited to match.
We want to use our own custom
risk assessment with the Amtek system. How do we do that?
We can create a customised risk assessment with questions, illustrations
and text content to meet your specification.
We want to include links to web
addresses and contact details including email links and phone
numbers for our own specialists, but we know that these are
likely to change. How can we do this?
All Amtek generic systems include facilities to enter and edit
contact details for user support and specialist contacts. All
of these are fully editable by an administrator, so it's easy
to change them when, for example, your personnel change. If
more than the standard allocation of contact links are required,
we can create a custom system with further editable contact
links.
Implementation
How do I upgrade my system?
First decide on the type of upgrade (local network, Internet-based
or standalone) you need, the user numbers required and the duration
of the licence. We publish a fixed scale of costs for standard
upgrades, if the option you require is not there then contact
us for a quotation. Forward your current user licence key to
us and (subject to credit/payment) we will send you a licence
upgrade key. When you enter your licence upgrade key into the
system it will upgrade automatically. Please note that a new
user licence key is generated after each upgrade, so we must
have the current key to successfully upgrade the system.
Suppose I only need this for a
limited period?
For larger installations we offer a short time period network
licence, allowing full network use of the system.
Why do you include locations and
departments?
By specifying department and location for a user, the system
allows administration of users by these categories. It also
allows the master administrator to allocate administration rights
to users in order to share the administration workload with
local administrators. The local administrators will only be
able to work with the domains (departments or locations) that
they have been allocated.
Our organization doesn't use the
terms 'departments' or 'locations'. What do we do?
Amtek can easily amend these terms to suit your organization,
just let us know.
How do I add new users to the
system?
There are two means of creating new users for the system, both
are built-in to Amtek's standard systems. Firstly, users can
self-register by clicking on 'new user' and entering their details
at log-on, this feature can be switched off by the master administrator.
Secondly an administrator can create new users either individually,
or by importing them from a suitable tab-separated text file.
How do new users log-on to the
system?
If required, new users can self-register. Alternatively new
users can be added by administrators, and then automatically
emailed notification of their place in the system.
How do I notify new-starts of
their place on the programme?
When an administrator creates new users those users are automatically
emailed with their system password. After first log-on a user
can edit their password as required.
We have newcomers to our organization
every day. How do I automate adding them to the system?
We can write an interface which imports new users from the appropriate
personnel database, as a customisation extra.
We don't want to allow self-registration.
What do we do?
This feature can be switched off by the master administrator.
We want the unique identifier
for users to be named according to our company policy. How do
we change that?
The master administrator can change the name of the 'user id'
shown at new user log-on etc. as required. Typical id's are
national insurance number or company id.
Our users want to set their own
passwords. Can they do that?
When an administrator creates users, random passwords are created.
When a user logs-on he is offered an option to 'change details',
this includes password. Alternatively an administrator can set
the password for users.
One of our users has forgotten
their password, what do I do?
Log-on as an administrator, go to user administration and look
up the relevant user, the password is shown.
I've got a message that says that
there are no more licences available. What do I do?
Once your system is fully loaded with the maximum number of
users that may register, the addition of new users is prevented.
To add further users, contact us for a licence upgrade.
Our contact centre has ninety
five employees, but we have a high turnover of staff. What sort
of licence to you recommend?
Amtek's licences are by concurrent users. This means that the
licence purchased is for the number of employees who will be
registered on the system at any one time. We do not charge for
each user who has ever logged on to the system or on a pay-per-use
basis. This means that for the example quoted we would recommend
a 100 user licence. When an employee leaves the organization
they can be deleted from the system, so freeing up a space for
a new user. For safety training systems we recommend that users
remain on the system permanently to give an audit history.
I have 10 users on my system who
have left the organization and I want to remove them. What do
I do?
Assuming that you do not wish to keep those users' training
records in the system, simply log-on as an administrator, select
the users and then delete them. We recommend that users of safety
systems remain on the system permanently in order that records
are available for audit and review purposes, for example in
case a claim is made against your organization.
We've changed our company structure,
how do I reallocate existing users to a new department or location?
There are simple-to-use tools within the system that allow you
to do this.
We have over 1000 products and
we want to include training on all of them in the knowledge
base. Can the system deal with this?
There is a limit to the number of items that may be added to
a standard knowledge base. However in a customised version we
can easily, and very cost effectively, include additional knowledge
base sections, giving the potential to include information and
testing on thousands of items.
We want to include learner assessment
tests with the training package. Can the system accommodate
this?
Yes. The knowledge base questions within Amtek's generic systems
include a restriction tool that allows administrators to give
a set of questions either 'visit once and then lock' status,
or 'allow unlimited attempts' status. Once a set of questions
has been locked a user cannot access them again until the administrator
unlocks them.
We want to incorporate different
exercises for each of the different departments/locations we
have, how do we do this?
Amtek systems are built on an open architecture which allows
the creation of 'spawns' of the content, giving the potential
for dozens of versions of the training material. In practice
the limit is likely to be the availability of resources to edit,
administrate and manage the material. Contact us for a proposal
for a customised solution and licensing cost model.
We want to manage the training
for a large number of people. How does the system cope with
this?
The standard systems include the management tools to do this.
You can allocate administrators to manage individual department
or locations as required. These local administrators can only
track and monitor the users allocated to them. They can also
listen to their audio recordings (where appropriate) and communicate
by email. A powerful search engine allows search by name, course
status, date of last access etc.
We have the Amtek risk assessment
module. How is the administration of this managed?
The standard system for risk assessment modules includes a search
by assessment status and date. The system is based on the Amtek
built-in learning management system.
We want to do the risk assessment
throughout our organization, but that includes some low specification
PCs. How do we manage that?
Amtek learning systems utilise multimedia for the most effective
results in developing learner performance. We believe that this
is key to providing the best training. Clearly a risk assessment
must be carried out whilst at the workstation in question, which
may not have multimedia capabilities. The Amtek system enables
this by allowing learners to train at a multimedia PC and, having
completed their training, email their workstation with a link
to the risk assessment. The risk assessment can be hosted on
the same server as the training content and access to it will
require only a basic level PC with network/Internet capabilities.
Technical
What are the minimum specifications
of client and server machines?
Standalone:
Operating system: Windows 98 SE/NT4 Service Pack6/ME/2000/XP
Pro/Home
Processor: Pentium II 333MHz or above RAM: 64MB
Hard disk: 50MB more if video playback from hard drive is required
Display: 16 bit colour Resolution: 800X600 (SVGA)
Audio: 16 bit
Required: Windows Media Player (7.1 + recommended)
Required: Adobe Acrobat Reader
4x CD-ROM drive
Printer for knowledge base printing
Other: loudspeakers, mouse, microphone for recording
Network server:
Windows Internet Information Service 4, support for asp scripts
ODBC driver for MS Access database
Processor: Pentium III 800MHz RAM: 128MB
Hard disk 100MB
Network: TCP/IP
Network client, training product:
As for standalone version
PLUS network connection (TCP/IP) OR modem link
A user that is not editing content requires a 56kbps link only
Minimum recommended speed for content editing
via the Internet: 512kbps
Client must have ftp access permissions to the server for content
editing via the Internet
Network client, risk assessment product:
Operating system: Windows 98 SE/NT4 Service Pack4/ME/2000/XP
Pro/Home
Required: Windows Internet Explorer 4 or above, Netscape 4 or
above.
Network connection to server or access to web-hosted site.
Our client PCs don't have CD-ROM
drives, how do we install?
The simplest way of doing this is to copy the contents of the
CD onto any machine on the network that the client PCs can access,
and then run the client installer program from there.
What do we need to do to set up
a network server?
For a typical Windows 2000/2003 server (other operating systems
are suitable) running Internet Information Services 4 + you
will need to do the following: 1. Enter the upgrade key into
the system, the system will then copy all the required files
to the appropriate locations. 2. Set web sharing permissions
on the folder holding the system database. 3. Set up a system
Data Source Name (DSN) for the relevant database(s) with the
correct name(s). Full details are given in the installation
instructions and the system manual supplied with each product.
Are clear instructions available
on how to install the network system including setting up database
drivers and DSNs?
Yes. There is a comprehensive manual that includes step-by-step
guides and images of the screens involved in installation of
local network and Internet-based systems.
What do we need to do to set up
a network client?
Run the system installer for the client and then either a) enter
the server network address manually or b) copy the server network
address file to the program folder. That's it. We will be pleased
to attend on site and supervise the installation.
Can Amtek host an Internet-based
system for me?
Yes. We will provide you with an annual hosting package quotation
and then set-up and manage installation on one of our web-servers.
For many customers this is the preferred option as all that
is then required from the user is to set up the network client
PCs/laptops, as described above.
Can Amtek install the intranet-based
system for me?
Yes. We will provide you with a server and client PC checklist
before we visit. The list will describe the features that must
be in place before we can install. Once prepared it should take
less than an hour to set up the server, installing to client
PCs will depend on network structure and locations of client
machines.
What about installation for people
working in remote locations, field sales people or home workers?
The standard installation CD comes with all the software and
video material required to set up any client PC or laptop. All
that is required is to input the server network address. This
may be manually entered at installation or provided as a text
file copied to the required location. The system will automatically
connect via the Internet if this option is enabled.
We want to train a large number
of people. What are the implications for our network?
Because of the way that a standard Amtek learning system only
reads and writes information to a webserver at the start and
end of a training session the load on the webserver and network
traffic is kept to a minimum. All of the default content for
training is copied to the client machine hard drive during installation.
Once any new content has been downloaded to the client PC there
are only a few small text files to be exchanged at the start
and end of each log-on.
We want to move to a different
webserver, keeping our content and records intact. How do we
do that?
You will need to copy all the relevant files from the old webserver
to the new and set up your DSNs. Then simply place a redirect
txt file where the asp scripts were originally. Specifications
for this redirect file are given in the manual, or we can create
one for you. When a client PC logs on this file is recognised
and the client machine is redirected to the new webserver. For
subsequent log-ons the client remembers the new network address
and so once each existing client has visited the old network
address the redirect file may be removed. New clients should
be set up with the new address from installation.
Will we need to invest in a new
webserver to cope with the extra demand?
Probably not. Because Amtek systems use forward and store technology
the load on the webserver is very light.
What is a typical volume of network
traffic following user log-on?
It's difficult to say, as it depends on the content and type
of new material added since the last log-on for that particular
client PC. Following log-on the system checks local content
against that listed in the content database and will notify
the user if a download is required. The user can opt not to
download. When download is selected (or after the opt-out facility
has timed-out) the files will be downloaded. Files for download
will be; text added or amended, images added (small jpg, pct
or gif files only allowed), sound files added (wav format) or
pdfs added. All the default content remains stored on the client
PC and so will never require a subsequent download. Files uploaded
to the server give details of the user history, feedback and
action plan (where included), and (where included) new user
audio recordings (in wav format).
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