iTWO costX® Educational Licenses

iTWO costX® Educational Licenses

This document is intended to provide a technical description to system administrators and course
conveners wishing to use iTWO costX in their educational courses.

Overview
In iTWO costX, there are three different educational license types as follows:

License Types used in the computer labs at educational institutions (such as universities):
1. Institution License (also referred to as a University License).
2. Educational Network License (also referred to as a Network University License).

License Types used by students on their own computers:

3. Educational Standalone License (also referred to as a Student License).

From the user’s point of view, all three educational license types work in the same way. The
difference is in the license / activation system only. Since the IT and network infrastructure varies at
different educational institutions, RIB provides two options for license deployment in the computer
labs at the educational institutions. Each of the two options are discussed in more detail later in this
document.

All three educational license types require iTWO costX to run in standalone mode. There is no iTWO
costX server install required on either the lab workstations or student computers. All data is
therefore held in a local database on the computer that iTWO costX is installed on. In the case of the
Educational Network License only, a separate server acting as a Licensing Server for iTWO costX is
required but it should be installed separately to the lab workstations.

Data can be exported and imported between all three educational license types but cannot be
imported to a commercial licensed version of iTWO costX. To prevent free educational versions of
iTWO costX being used in a commercial environment, there are some restrictions to the software
when used with an educational license. The restrictions simply make the iTWO costX educational
version less desirable for commercial use while still being the best product for educational use.
Restrictions are detailed in the topic Educational Restrictions in iTWO costX.

Prerequisites
The standard iTWO costX client system requirements should be met.

The only additional requirement for the Institutional license is that the computers must have
permanent internet access because each time iTWO costX is started it needs to check it is entitled to
run.

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License Provision
For Students
To obtain an Educational Standalone License (Student License), students can simply apply online and
they are sent a serial number and a link to download the installer. Students may use the following
link to apply for an Educational Standalone License:

https://education.itwocostx.com/apply

Students must fill out the form fully and correctly and they must be studying an approved course.
Students must also use a student email address provided by their school / university.

For Universities
For licenses to be used at educational institutions such as universities, the RIB iTWO costX Sales &
Support team discusses the university’s requirements such as number of computers in the labs and
the numbers of users in the course as well as required deployment type (Institution License or
Educational Network License) . Once RIB has this information, they can determine how many
activations are required on the serial number, and it is then created and sent to the university
contact. If the university contact is not in the IT department, then they should send the serial number
and installation details to their IT so they can install.

Institution Licenses
The first option available to educational institutions for deployment of iTWO costX is the Institution
License.

An Institution license is a single serial number which is allowed to be activated multiple times. For
example, ‘University A’may be issued a single serial number which can be activated 50 times - on 50
different computers. This may be referred to as a 50 user license. The number of activations needed
for this type of license is equal to the number of unique computers it will be run on.

Each new computer that iTWO costX is activated on, will use up one license from the pool of 50. RIB’s
online activation system records the hardware of each computer that activates the license and it can
be renewed / reinstalled multiple times on the same hardware without using up an extra license. In
other words, reactivations on same hardware are allowed for Institution licenses.

Institution licenses do not require a Licensing Server to be installed, however all computers with
iTWO costX installed must have Internet access when iTWO costX is used.

Many universities use disk imaging software such as Ghost to prepare one image and then distribute
it out to various computers in the labs and the Institution license type fully supports this. The
Institution license type has in fact been designed to work at educational institutions where this kind
of thing is the norm.

Only once RIB's online activation server receives the maximum number of unique hardware
activations does it stop any new ones going through. Using the previous example of University A, the
51st computer to activate would be unsuccessful. It is therefore rare but occasionally the license limit
can be reached. If this happens, the error “Licence has exceeded maximum number of activations,

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please contact your system administrator.” will be shown when a new computer tries to activate. The
main reasons for this happening are:
a. Some of the hardware on a computer is different to the previous activations causing the
activation server to treat it as a different computer.
b. Installation by staff or students at home.
c. Simply installing on more computers than originally planned for.
d. Use of virtual desktops or other technology that dynamically generates new hardware
identifiers each time a user connects to the virtual machine.
To solve a. and b. above it is possible for RIB to reset the list of activated computers. This is known as
‘resetting the pool’, which clears the RIB activation server’s record of previously activated hardware
and (using the example of a 50 user license) it effectively allows 50 new activations to occur on the
first 50 computers to connect.

To solve c. above (if the university reaches the license limit of the pool) the university should contact
RIB iTWO costX Sales or Support to request an increase to the size of the license pool. For example,
the pool may be increased from 50 to 60.

To solve d. above, it is recommended to use the Educational Network license type instead of the
Institution license type.

There is no ability to transfer an Institution license to another computer but it isn’t necessary anyway.
iTWO costX can just be installed on the new computer and any data that needs to be kept can be
exported and imported.

To remove iTWO costX from a computer, just uninstall and when prompted, do not keep the
database. Export to EXF first if any data needs to be kept.

Educational Network Licenses

The second option available to educational institutions for deployment of iTWO costX is the
Educational Network License.

With the Educational Network License, the iTWO costX client is installed and set to run in standalone
mode. Instead of activating the license on the iTWO costX client computer or image, a registry key is
set which directs the iTWO costX client to get its license from a Licensing Server. Therefore a separate
server acting as a Licensing Server for iTWO costX is required. There is no iTWO costX server install
required on the lab workstations.

Educational Network Licenses are appropriate when Institution licenses do not suit the environment.
Some reasons this may be the case include:

a. Use of virtual desktops or other technology that dynamically generates new hardware
identifiers each time a user connects to the virtual machine.
b. Installation on all or many computers in the educational institution (e.g. many hundreds
or thousands of computers).

The number of activations needed for this type of license is equal to the peak number of users that
will concurrently use iTWO costX. Once that number is determined, the IT administrator of the
educational institution is given an Educational Network License for multiple users by RIB.
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On a separate server, the IT administrator installs iTWO costX server (which will act as the Licensing
Server) and activates the Educational Network License using iTWO costX server admin. Internet access
is required to activate the license.

The IT administrator then installs iTWO costX in their user environment. This may be done directly on
computers (silent installer available), as a published application (on thin client installations) or
installed on the master image (when deploying using disk imaging technology). The computers
running iTWO costX must be able to connect to iTWO costX server across the network.

When prompted for the Startup Mode during iTWO costX installation, choose
“Standalone/Educational”. After installation, the IT administrator must set a registry string value as
follows on the computers or master image containing iTWO costX. The registry string value to be
created is called "EducationalServer" and must be located within the HKLM\Software\Exactal\CostX
registry key. The "EducationalServer" registry string value must be set to the IP address or hostname
of the server with iTWO costX server installed.

When the student runs iTWO costX on the lab computers, the license is supplied from the nominated
iTWO costX server.

In the management screen in iTWO costX server admin, each student is identified by the Windows
computer name of the iTWO costX client workstation plus the Windows account login name of the
student.

NOTE: All data (projects / buildings / etc.) is saved to local database on the workstation where the
iTWO costX application runs. An iTWO costX Educational Network License cannot be used by iTWO
costX running as network client – it can only be used by iTWO costX Standalone instances running for
educational use.

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Students using iTWO costX in the Labs

iTWO costX must be installed with the Standalone option set to use an educational license (even in
the case of the Educational Network License. The iTWO costX installer automatically installs the
database onto the PC in C:\ProgramData\Exactal\CostX\Database. This database holds all the iTWO
costX data, and must be located on the local fixed drive (it cannot be located on a network drive).

Disk Image is cleared each session

Students will create a new building or import the iTWO costX building they are working on at the start
of their session in the university labs. If the disk image is cleared between users in the university
labs, students will need to remember to export their iTWO costX building they are working on before
logging off. The export file is in the form of an iTWO costX EXF file. This can be saved to a USB drive or
the user’s home drive if provided. The EXF file contains any drawings the user has been working on
(unless the user selected the option not to include them or they were inaccessible).

PC is left intact between user sessions

In some labs, the PC is not cleared in any way between users. In this case, as above, the user needs to
import when they start their session and export when they finish. They also need to remember to
delete their building from the iTWO costX database after they have exported, before ending their
session in the labs. If they don’t delete it, the building could be available to other students.

Some educational institutions have implemented processes to clear the database only as part of the
login script for the user, thus ensuring that the database does not contain other user's work. If the PC
is left intact between user sessions, automated database clearing is recommended.

Student’s workspace is maintained between sessions

In some configurations, the student’s individual workspace is maintained between sessions and
when they log on, they are able to continue from where they last were. In this case import and export
is only necessary when the student wishes to continue working on their project outside the labs and
deletion of their projects from the database is not necessary.

Students using iTWO costX at Home

Students can continue working on the building outside the labs on their own computer using the
Educational Standalone License (Student License). To transfer the work between the labs and home,
import and export is used. See the topic License Provision For Students for details about obtaining an
Educational Standalone License for home use.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Students must run the same version of iTWO costX on their computer as the
version in the labs to allow bi-directional import and export. Older versions can be imported to
newer versions but not vice versa.

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Changing an Educational License to a New Version of iTWO costX

End of the Educational Year
Educational licenses cannot be renewed when they expire at the end of the school year. They must
be installed to a new fresh database every year. This is one of the restrictions in place since the
software is free to the students and educational institution staff. The educational year in the
southern hemisphere is equal to the calendar year whereas in the northern hemisphere, it runs from
July to June. Please contact RIB if your educational year doesn’t fit into one of the above categories.

Therefore when preparing for the new educational year, the educational institution needs to
uninstall iTWO costX from any computer that it was installed on last year, and when prompted during
uninstall, do NOT keep the database. All the data on the computer including last year's license is
removed. Then the educational institution should install the latest version and when it starts it up, it
will prompt to activate iTWO costX with the new empty database.

If there is any data that was already exported to an EXF file during the semester last year, it can be
imported in to the new version.

New Version of iTWO costX

Educational licenses can’t be used in a version that is different to the original one – so 5.0 and 6.0 are
not compatible. In other words, Educational licenses can’t be ‘upgraded’to a new version. Therefore
if the educational institution wants to install a newer version, they need to remove the current iTWO
costX from the computers (including the data) and then install the new version and activate with a
new serial number.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

a. Changing version could then mean that the new version is incompatible with the students who
are running previous version on their own computers. For this reason, and the fact that the
license expires at the end of each educational year, it is recommended to change iTWO costX
versions only between educational years. Students should also be advised not to upgrade mid-
term if a new iTWO costX version is released, unless the University is also upgrading.

b. iTWO costX has an optional feature to check online for updates and will show a message in the
status bar if an update is available. The student can click the status bar to go to the download
page for the new version. To help avoid the potential issues with running different versions of
iTWO costX, it is recommended that the Check for Updates check box is not ticked under iTWO
costX Options -> General. University IT administrators can turn off this option for all Lab
computers using a registry setting. The registry DWORD value is called "CheckForUpdates" and
is located within the HKCU\Software\Exactal\CostX registry key. The "CheckForUpdates"
registry DWORD value must be set to ‘0’to turn it off. Changing it to ‘1’turns it on.

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Educational Restrictions in iTWO costX

General Restrictions
· Licenses expire after 1 year.
· Previous databases cannot be reactivated so students start again fresh each year.
· The warning ‘EDUCATIONAL VERSION – Not for commercial use’ is shown on the main
background.
· Multiple drawing and workbook tabs are not supported.
Restrictions on the number of entities
· Max no of Drawings 8
· Max no of Buildings 4 (see notes below)
1. Restriction applies to being able to open buildings not the no. you can have in the
database.
2. If there are up to 4 buildings in the database only then any of the 4 can be opened.
3. More than 4 buildings can be imported, however if there are more than 4 buildings in the
database, no buildings can be opened until some are deleted.
4. New buildings cannot be created if there are 4 (or more) buildings already. Deleting
buildings back to 3 will allow a new building to be added.
5. Number includes template buildings.
Projects
· New projects cannot be created.
· The Default Project can be used and is in the database at installation.
· Projects cannot be deleted either.
Reports
· Custom Reports are unavailable.
· Custom (System) reports can be generated unless they are subcontractor reports.
· Custom (System) reports cannot be copied or edited.
· Standard Reports contain watermark of ‘educational’.
· Standard Report headers show the RIB logo. The footer shows ‘EDUCATIONAL VERSION’.
· No reports of any type can be saved to files (e.g. PDF) using the built-in print to file system.
Subcontractor Comparisons
· Subcontractor Comparisons are not available in the Educational version.
· Exporting Subcontractor Trades to Tender is not available
Imports & Exports
· EXF exports can only be imported to another Student or University license.
· Workbooks cannot be exported to Buildsoft, Databuild, Excel, CITE, Tender EXF or Primavera.
· Imports from a CATO, CITE, Buildsoft Job, Buildsoft Price List or Buildsoft Codes are disabled.
· No exports to any external formats such as Excel and CSV.
· Exports to EXF are allowed still but carry the Educational Version marker.
Taking Data out to Excel
· The entire schedule cannot be copied to the clipboard. Individual rows, columns or cells can.
· Drag and Drop of Dimension Groups to Excel is disabled.
· Exporting Trades to Excel from a workbook is disabled.

Restricted - Not to be reproduced without the express written authority of RIB Technologies Pty Ltd
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