2 Registering a Course
If you wish to launch a new simulation, you must first register with us. You will need to do this only once.
To register, please go to www.capsim.com and click New Professors Only: Launch First Course. When the new page opens, please enter the requested information. Once your account is approved, you will be able to login to the site and launch a course.
To launch a course, login at www.capsim.com and click Launch a New Course in the left-hand menu.
Please review and agree to our terms of usage, which asks that you make sure all participants register on the Capsim site.
You can save some typing by selecting the information from a previous course. Otherwise, the Setup Wizard will help you quickly enter the needed information, which includes school name, campus location and course level. We also ask for the approximate number of participants and approximate start and stop time.
Exact participant count and course dates are not required.
Capstone is designed for more advanced participants. Foundation is designed for beginning participants, or for courses with limited time resources (see 1.1 Editions).
The Comp-XM Competency Exam will help demonstrate your participants' level of knowledge. Comp-XM can also be an effective resource for accreditation purposes. There is an extra fee for Comp-XM.
Adobe® Acrobat® PDF Textbooks tailored to Capstone and Foundation are available. Students will need to download these from our website. There is an extra fee for E-Texts.
Participants can quickly learn about the simulation via our color Team Member Guides. There are no additional fees for the Guides. Guides are available via three methods.
This method allows instructors to hand the Guides out in class. The Guides include registration information, the simulation documentation and an industry situation analysis which optionally can be done as an in-class assignment prior to participant registration.
This method requires participants to pay online with a credit card (checking account routing numbers can also be used if the bank is located in the United States).
Instructors can also have bookstores order the Guides. Guides sent to bookstores include a registration number that is entered by the participant into the Capsim website. This saves the trouble of receiving and bringing books to class. However, the bookstore will mark up the price. To order, bookstores in the U.S. or Canada should call 877-477-8787; all others call 1-847-501-2888.
Schools can also directly purchase registration numbers. To order from the U.S. or Canada, please call 877-477-8787; all others please call 1-847-501-2888.
Adobe® Acrobat® PDF and HTML versions of the Guides are also available to instructors and participants. This is perfect for online courses.
Instructors can select one of three "scenarios." The yearly growth rates and prime finance interest rates vary in each:
Capsim instructional materials do not telegraph to participants their scenario type nor details such as what year to expect a growth variance or recession. Participants only know about the growth rates and interest rates for the upcoming year as published in the Courier/FastTrack. The published rates hold true for the year; surprises can come the following year when the new rates are published.
For example, when the recession starts, participants know how much each segment is going to contract, but not when they will recover. It is up to each instructor to decide how much uncertainty their class can handle. For upperclassmen, graduates and corporate participants, a complete surprise may be appropriate. For underclassmen it may be appropriate to announce "warning signs of a recession" two years in advance so participants do not overspend on capacity.
The Standard, Growth and Recession scenarios can be customized. All the industries within each course (a course can have multiple industries) will face the same customized environment.
Customization options allow the creation of snowflake simulations from course to course, essentially the same, but looking different.
Customization options can create a unique twist but remain familiar to the instructor. Customization also reduces the ability of previous participants "coaching" current participants.
Once the courses are setup, scenarios and customizations cannot change. If a different scenario or customization scheme is needed, launch a new course then move your participants into it. Tournament instructors can use the Team Assignment feature to do this. (see 3.3.1 Team Assignment (Tournament Only)).
Participants will see the parameters of the selected scenario and customization in their Industry Conditions Report (see 4.7.1 Simulation Reports).
Capstone and Foundation have two modes of play, Tournament and Footrace.
If you wish a competitive atmosphere, where participant teams compete against one another, select Tournament.
If you wish to compare your companies across a level playing field, where each participant team competes against a common set of computer teams, select Footrace.
Instructors can specify whether:
Capstone and Foundation Tournament simulations can have a maximum of six participant companies per industry. Footrace simulations can have one to many hundred participant companies playing in individual sub-industries.
In Tournament, companies are run by participants or computer, or set to inactive. Each Tournament industry must have at least one participant and one computer company.
In Footrace, each sub-industry has a single participant company and at least one computer company. The remaining four companies can be set to computer or inactive.
Industries with inactive companies are disqualified from Top Ten Eligibility (see Top Ten and the Capsim Balanced Scorecard).
Each company can be run by as few as one or as many as eight participants. Most instructors choose to have three to six participants per company. This evenly distributes the workload and teaches group dynamics.
Tournament users with classes of 30 or fewer participants generally will need only one industry.
Tournament users with larger classes will need multiple industries. Assigning these industries under a single course allows the creation of a single schedule and a single set of optional assignments, such as homework or peer evaluations. If you have sections that need separate schedules, please create a separate course for each schedule. If you have a large course with a single schedule, assign all the industries under one course.
Participants are not assigned to companies at this time. See 3.3 Assigning Teams.
Additional Modules can be activated at this time. Instructors can also add or remove modules when Industries are restarted. See 3.4.3 Schedule Restart (Tournament) and 3.5.6 Restart Industries (Footrace Only).
The TQM (Total Quality Management)/Sustainability Module allows companies to invest in areas that produce administrative savings, reduce costs, increase demand or reduce time required for Research & Development projects. This gives companies the ability to invest in areas that complement their strategies. All TQM/Sustainability areas can affect Balanced Scorecard measurements (see Top Ten and the Capsim Balanced Scorecard). We recommend adding the TQM/Sustainability module to the simulation in Round 3 or 4. Starting TQM/Sustainability in Rounds 1 or 2 disqualifies the industry/industries from Top Ten Eligibility.
The Human Resources (HR) Module introduces opportunities to improve organizational learning and growth as measured in the Balance Scorecard, which is used by the Top Ten Rankings (see Top Ten and the Capsim Balanced Scorecard). We recommend adding the HR Module in Rounds 2 or 3. Starting HR in Round 1 disqualifies the industry/industries from Top Ten Eligibility.
The Advanced Marketing module explores the marketing mix through a variety of media and sales channels. Companies tune their promotion budget among five media (Print Media, Direct Mail, Web Media, Email and Trade Shows) and three sales channels (Outside Sales, Inside Sales and Distributors).
The Labor Negotiation module allows companies to control labor costs (at the risk of a strike) or impose higher labor costs on their competitors. Unlike the other modules, Labor Negotiations are scheduled for one or more rounds, for example, a single negotiation in Round 4 or two negotiations, the first in Round 3 and the second in Round 6.
Industry IDs are unique numbers that differentiate simulations. Each course has at least one Industry ID. Tournament courses will typically require one Industry ID for every 30 participants.
Footrace industry numbers will end with a suffix of _000. As each participant company forms, a sub-industry will be created and assigned a unique suffix, for example _123.
Please ask your participants to register in the "master" Footrace industry with the _000 suffix.