FAQ
In the FAQ we answer frequently asked questions. For individual support enquiries, you can contact us here.
Licenses
The functional scope of a Company license is identical to the Business license with regard to model management, model editing, and simulation, which is why it has an identical price.
The Company license also provides the option to purchase additional licenses (full version or Player) which can then be provided to other users. The menu option “Team” is available with the Company license for this purpose. Additional licenses are always “floating” licenses. This means that an assigned license can be recalled at any time and assigned to another user.
If no additional licenses are purchased, a Company license is identical to a Business license. The same applies for an Education license, which only universities and educational institutions are permitted to use.
The simcision Player is a discounted simcision license which allows models to be analyzed and simulations to be executed as well as evaluated. With Player, only the areas “Analysis”, “Simulation”, and “Evaluation” are available. The areas “Interdependency network” and “Variables” are not accessible. A user with the Player license is therefore not be able to create his own models. However, if he has the right permissions for the model, he will be able to save executed simulations of shared models as a copy in his own models.
simcision Player can only be purchased as part of a Team license (Company and Education license) and made available to other users. If a very large number of Players is required (e.g. for training courses or lectures), additional license packages can also be negotiated in addition to Company and Education licenses.
When assigning Player licenses, note that they do not offer any protection for shared models. As soon as the user acquires another simcision license in addition to the Player license, he will also be able to access the areas “Interdependency network” and “Variables” for all models, provided it is an open simcision model. If you wish to protect your model against editing and further use, save it as a simulation game before you share it with other users.
The Personal license is aimed at private individuals and school or university students who utilize simcision exclusively for personal use. Models which are created with the Personal license cannot be used in customer projects, training courses, workshops, teaching etc.
For university students who wish to use simcision as part of a student research project or master’s thesis, a separate licensing agreement can be reached. Please contact us at simcision@icondu.de if interested.
When your license expires, you no longer have access to your models. However, they will initially remain saved and you can access them again as soon as you acquire a new license. You have 60 days to do so. After these 60 days, your account will be deleted together with your models.
For Business and Team licenses, it is also possible to export models before the license expires and to archive them as files. Exported models can be opened and edited again at any time with a valid simcision license.
As a web-based platform, simcision can be used independently of the operating system in the web browser. For this purpose, simcision was initially optimised for use in the browsers “Google Chrome” and “Firefox”. In other browsers there may be isolated performance and display errors, which are constantly being corrected.
In addition, the simcision App for Windows and Mac OS is available for free download. This enables users to create and edit models offline and offers automatic synchronization with the cloud to always have access to all models.
Collaboration
As soon as you acquire a Team license with additional licenses (full version or Player), you can manage these under the menu option “Team”. As long as you have not yet assigned all acquired licenses, you can invite persons into your simcision team via email using the “Assign license” button.
Team licenses are “floating” licenses. This means that an assigned license can be recalled at any time and assigned to another user. When a team member’s license is revoked, the relevant user can only access his own models if he himself acquires a simcision license. He has 60 days to do so before his account and models are deleted. As a team admin, you do not have access to your team members’ models.
You can share your models with other users at any time in the “My models” area. Please note that you can only share a model in the “Shared with me” area if you first copy it to your own models. You will need to possess the necessary permissions to do this.
To share a model, open its individual view using the “Manage” button. In the “Model shared with” section you can share the model with other users by pressing the “Share” button. To do so, please enter the e-mail address of the desired person. This person will then be notified of the shared model. If he is in possession of a valid simcision license, he can now access the shared model in the “Shared with me” section.
You have two options for sharing models. You can either share the model as a protected model or allow it to be edited. Protected models in the “Shared with me” area can be opened and any number of changes made to them. However, changes to the model cannot be saved. If you allow models to be edited, a copy of these models can be generated in the “My models” area, which can then be used and modified any number of times. However, the shared model itself cannot be modified or overwritten by other persons.
If you yourself make changes to a shared model, these are immediately visible to other users in the “Shared with me” area. If the model was already copied to the “My models” area, it will be an independent model that is not affected by the changes to the original model.
Model management
The simcision app, which can be used for free by all simcision users, allows models to be created and edited offline. The app offers automatic synchronization with the cloud so that you always have access to all models. However, synchronization with the cloud can be deactivated so that your models are only saved locally.
Models that are created online are automatically saved in the simcision cloud with end-to-end encryption, and can be further protected with an individual password.
Furthermore, with a Business or Team license, you can export and perform a local backup of your models at any time.
Your models are saved in the simcision cloud with end-to-end encryption. A Business or Team license also allows you to export your models at any time in an encrypted file format.
In addition, you can encrypt your models with an additional, individually assigned password. Models can then only be opened with this password. It is not possible to recover the password if it is lost.
When sharing models, you have the option of sharing your models for viewing only. This means that models cannot be copied or edited.
You can also publish a model as a simulation game. This means that the areas “Interdependency network” and “Variables” are locked and only simulations can be run – and also saved if this is enabled.
If a model is published as a simulation game, a copy of the model is generated in which the interdependency network and the variables can no longer be edited. In simulation game files, only the areas “Analysis”, “Simulation”, and “Evaluation” are available. If modifications are made to the original model, they will not apply to the simulation game. The model will then need to be published again as a simulation game. The process is comparable to saving a PowerPoint file as a PDF.
It is generally possible to create copies of simulation games in order to be able to save executed simulations. However, when creating a simulation game, an author is specified who also remains in copies of the simulation game and cannot be edited. This allows the origin of a simulation game to be traced back at any time.
Furthermore, via a supplementary contract, it is possible to package simulation games created in simcision as independent apps, thereby allowing users without a simcision account to access them as well (e.g. as a teaching instrument in a lecture). If you are interested, feel free to contact us at simcision@icondu.de.
To export a model, select the “Manage” button on the corresponding model. Provided you possess the permissions to perform an export, you can export the model here using the “Download” button. Model files have the extension “.model”, simulation games have the extension “.sim”. If you are currently editing the model, the export function is also located in the menu on the top right. Newly created models which do not yet have any content cannot be exported. Please save the model first and refresh the page.
Please note that you can only export models if you have a Business or Team license (Admin and full versions). If you have a Free, Personal, or Player license, the export function is not available.
In the “Sample models” section, you will find a number of examples for models and simulation games that were created with simcision. There are two basic types of sample models:
Open sample models can be copied to your own models, thereby serving as a template for your own models. This aims to make it easier for beginners to get started with modeling. You are the exclusive owner of models which you have created based on open sample models.
Protected sample models cannot be copied or edited. They serve exclusively to provide you with insight into the possibilities offered by simcision and help you get acquainted with its functional scope. If you are interested in creating a model based on a protected sample model, please send us an inquiry at simcision@icondu.de.
Modeling
The simcision method guides users through the model creation process in 8 steps. For more information on this, please visit the Method page. In addition, our Click guide (German) also explains the related features of the software.
Furthermore, you also have the option of extending your simcision license with a support package via a supplementary contract. We would then be glad to assist you with questions related to model development via e-mail or on the phone. Please understand that we are only able to process support inquiries within the framework of a supplementary contract.
In addition, we offer individual workshops on developing models jointly with your stakeholders. If you are interested, feel free to contact us at simcision@icondu.de.
Relationships which have not yet been assigned a magnitude are shown as a dotted line in the interdependency network, as no transmission of stimuli is taking place yet. This allows you to immediately identify which relationships you have not yet described in detail (magnitude and values curve).
Images within elements will be compressed to a maximum size of 600 x 600 px. Any aspect ratio can be chosen here.
The size of the background image depends on the screen resolution being used. On a full HD screen (1920 x 1080 px) in a maximized browser window, the space for the background image is approximately 1596 x 865 px in size. The scaling your background image to the elements can be defined via the “Center image” button. When you then scale the interdependency network, the background image will be adjusted together with the elements.