Important Information Before You Start

Access level required:  The Usage area is available only to System Administrator users .

What Is the Usage Area?

The Usage area in SimCapture reports shows how your simulation environment is being used over time . These reports focus on activity and engagement —such as sessions run, learner participation, recordings, annotations, and center presence—rather than grading or performance outcomes.

Usage reports are commonly used for:

• Program‑level utilization tracking
• Operational and capacity planning
• Leadership and ROI discussions
• Accreditation and reporting support

Important: Usage reports do not include grades, scores, or competency results. For performance or assessment data, use Evaluation or Performance reports instead.

How to Access Usage Reports

1. Select Reports from the global navigation bar.
2. Open the Usage section of the reporting dashboard.
3. Use available filters—such as Course, Participants, Organizations —to refine the data.
4. View quick statistics directly on screen or export detailed results to Excel for further analysis.

Each Usage report includes a title and subtitle to explain what is being measured and how the data is calculated.

Usage Report Sections Explained

Number of Sessions

What it measures
The total number of simulation sessions that occurred during a selected date range.

How it’s calculated
Each completed session is counted once within the selected time period.

Why this is useful

• Track overall simulation volume
• Identify usage trends over time
• Support staffing and scheduling decisions

Learner Contact Hours

What it measures
The total amount of learner engagement time in sessions.

How it’s calculated
Session length × number of participants.

Why this is useful

• Support accreditation and reporting requirements
• Demonstrate learner exposure and instructional hours
• Quantify program impact

Recorded Hours

What it measures
The total amount of time recorded across all sessions.

How it’s calculated
The sum of session durations within the selected date range

Why this is useful

• Understand recording system utilization
• Identify increases or decreases in recorded activity
• Support infrastructure and storage planning

Annotations

What it measures
How often annotations are used during recorded sessions.

What’s included

• Total number of annotations
• Percentage of sessions that include at least one Why this is useful
• Measure engagement during debriefing
• Understand how faculty and learners interact with recordings
• Identify opportunities to increase reflective learning

Center Sign‑In Hours

What it measures
The total amount of time users are signed in using Center Sign‑In .

Important distinction
Center Sign‑In hours are not linked to sessions or recordings. They reflect physical or virtual presence, not simulation activity.

Why this is useful

• Support facility and space utilization discussions
• Understand overall center usage independent of recorded simulations

SimCapture for Skills Usage

This section focuses on self‑directed and skills‑based practice sessions , which are reported separately from traditional scheduled simulations.

Session types include

• Peer‑to‑Peer
• Self‑Record
• Self‑Learning

These reports help administrators understand how learners engage in independent practice and skills development.

For detailed guidance, see: SimCapture Enterprise: Skills Utilization

Filters and Display Options

Most Usage reports support:

• Time‑based views: Days, Weeks, or Months
• Common date ranges: Last 30 Days, Last 90 Days, Year‑to‑Date, All‑Time, or Custom
• Contextual filters such as Course, Organization, Users, and Location (availability depends on the report)

When to Use the Usage Area

Use Usage reports when you need to understand:

• How frequently SimCapture is being used
• Where simulation activity is increasing or decreasing
• How learners and faculty engage with recordings and annotations
• How your center or program resources are being utilized

Need More Help?

If you need help exporting reports, applying filters, or interpreting Usage data, contact your System Administrator or the Laerdal Support team for assistance.