How to access the control interface

As a System Administrator user, you can grant permissions to access the Control Interface by clicking the gear icon to go to the System setup area of your organization.

Next, you will:

1. Scroll to the Exams area.
2. Click Permissions. 
3. Click Edit and add an Administrator user to the Access Control Interface area by performing a search for the user. 
4. Click Save.

You will also decide if you are going to require learners to use a password to log into exams. Once these permissions are saved, the Administrator users in this area can configure and run exams. 

Layout buttons

At the top of the Control Interface screen, you will see the following buttons:

1. Floorplan Only – Selecting the Floorplan Only button shows a grid set up of rooms. 
2. Vertical Split – Selecting the Vertical Split button shows the floorplan on the left and a list of the rooms in the floorplan on the right. 
3. Horizontal Split – Selecting the Horizontal Split button shows the floorplan at the top of the screen and a list of the rooms in the floorplan at the bottom of the screen. 
4. List Only – Selecting the List Only button shows just a list of rooms. 

Lock symbol

A lock symbol appears when a room is started via an ad-hoc session or scheduled session and is in-use. The room will be locked in the exam system from interaction. 

How to use the control interface

To begin using the Control Interface, login as an Administrative User and click Control in the global navigation bar. This will open the main screen of the Control Interface and from this point, you will be able to configure the room to your liking.

Configuring a room

1. Click the kebab menu (3 dots) to the right of the room name that you will work in. This opens a form for setting up the room. 
2. Click Configure room. 
3. Fill out the form which contains the following options, and click Save. Click Save and next if you want to configure additional rooms.

• Course – A field through which the scenario's associated course is selected. This should be used whenever a scenario is associated with a course.
• Scenario - A list of available scenarios which contain an exam flow. If a course is selected, the list is filtered down to scenarios related to the course.
• Patient - A standardized patient is required. If none were configured for the Scenario you have chosen, you will click Click here to configure this scenario which will allow you to configure a Standardized patient.
• Color - An optional field used when filtering sets of rooms visible within the Control Interface. Colors can be used however your facility chooses but are often configured to match the case/scenario being run in the room. 

You can also customize which Control Interface columns are visible by clicking the gear icon and selecting from the dropdown list. These preferences are saved even if the User logs out.

Room without a configured SP 

Room with configured SP 

Note: If the Skip Configured Rooms option is checked, clicking Save and next will move you to the next non-configured room.

Running an exam session

Once a room has been configured, an administrator will need to initiate the start of an exam session by clicking Start Encounter. From that point on, much of the exam is controlled via the student and standardized patient (SP) using the exam flow previously set up by the administrator. 

When the encounter is started, the small gray circle icon will turn red when the room is recording. Additionally, the room will show one of three colors:

• Blue – Indicates the room is in the Pre-Encounter state.
• Red – Indicates the room is in the Encounter phase.
• Purple – Indicates the room is in post-Encounter state.

While the Exam session is running, administrators can click the video camera icon to access the Monitor Interface. From this interface, administrators can watch sessions run in real-time, annotate the sessions, and complete live evaluations.

Monitor interfaces don’t have to be dedicated workstations and can be accessed from anywhere within the SimCapture Central network. Learner and standardized patient (SP) workstations are dedicated computers used only during an exam flow session.

Troubleshooting

For help with troubleshooting, see SimCapture Enterprise with Exam System: Control interface troubleshooting.