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YOUR IBM i TRAINING SOURCE

Manta Technologies Inc. - Option Overview

Option Overview

Package Options. After you have decided what training you need, you can sign up for the entire IBM i Training Library or whatever subset you desire. Your ordering options are described below.

Student Reference Guides. Student Reference Guides (SRGs) are available at no additional charge for all Manta series and stand-alone courses. Because the Student Reference Guides summarize all major topics, they make an excellent reference when students have finished their studies and are back on the job. Students can download the SRGs in PDF format from the Manta main menu.

Student Administration. Regardless of what you order, you will get access to the Manta Student Administration feature at no additional charge. With this feature, you can create individual student profiles for any number of students — even if you purchased only a single-user license.

In addition to the student's user identifier and password, the profile specifies the course menu that should be displayed for the student. By default, all students have access to all courses that you licensed. Alternatively, you can restrict which courses a student may access by creating a custom menu or selecting from a list of job-specific menus that Manta supplies.

The heart of the Student Administration feature are reports that you can use to determine the courses taken by each student, their progress in completing the courses you have assigned, and their results on the Competency Exams. Options are available to let you display the results in HTML or PDF format. You can also download the results for pasting into a spreadsheet or your corporate Learning Management System.

Finally, the Student Administration feature lets you check the status of your license(s) and the number of users who are currently signed in.

Multiple Users. Regardless of the product you order, your MantaNow license limits the number of students who can use the product concurrently.

Individuals and most small organizations prefer the single-user license. The single-user license does not limit the number of students who can use a product, only the number who can be using it at the same time. With formal scheduling (for example, by assigning a morning or an afternoon to each student), we find that up to ten students can share a single-user license.

If your organization prefers to train students in groups, rather than one at a time, consider a multiple-user license. Unlike the single-user license, the multiple-user license lets more than one student at a time use the same product.

You can move from a single-user license to a 5-user license by multiplying the single-user price by 1.5. For each user over 5, add 10% of the product price to the 5-user price.

Keep in mind that the price depends on the maximum number of concurrent users, not the total number of users. For example, if you want 50 students to take a course in a given week, a 10-student license should be sufficient.

The user limit applies to whatever product(s) you order within the IBM i Training Library. If you buy a one-user license for the entire library, for example, only one student can use the library at a time. To increase the number of students who can train simultaneously, you can move to a five-user license for the library or buy additional user capabilities for only those products used by multiple students. A popular combination is a single-user license for the library and a five-user license for the Program Development Combination Pack.

License Term. If you order online, you will first be prompted for the number of licensed users you wish to support. Then you will be asked whether you want a one-, two-, or three-year license term. If you are buying the training for yourself or for a single user, a one-year license should be sufficient.

We will automatically send you an invoice after 11 months, giving you the option of renewing for another year. The price for the second year will be one half of the current list price at that time. For the third and subsequent years, the renewal price is one fourth of the current list price. You can think of this as an ongoing maintenance fee, since you will automatically receive course updates while you license is active. Moreover, if we add a course to a series or combination pack that you purchased, it will appear in your menu automatically at no additional charge. Many Manta customers have been renewing their licenses for ten years or more, taking advantage of the reduced pricing to train their new employees and to let all existing employees refresh their skills at any time.

Rather than waiting for the annual renewal invoice, you can prepay for the second and third years. The Pricing tab for each product shows you the cost for any desired user level, the standard renewal prices, and your cost savings if you decide to prepay. Prepaying is particularly cost-effective if you purchase a product when it is on sale. The discount applies to your entire purchase, not just for the first year's license.