en English

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How can I be sure that AdSimulo gives the correct results?

AdSimulo was conceived, designed and written by a team of designers, consultants and programmers from Movveo (an independent lift consultancy established in 1976 when it was founded by Mike Godwin and Dr George Barney and which carried out the first ever computer simulations of lift systems at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology). Movveo has a 40 year track record of innovating in lift design and has been responsible for the design of lift systems in award winning buildings around the world including the Shard in London, CCTV HQ in Beijing and the Burj Mohammed Bin Rashid Tower in Abu Dhabi.

In 2007 Movveo’s team carried out pioneering work in collaboration with Kingston University in London through a government funded “knowledge transfer partnership” (KTP) scheme to deliver the world’s first on-line “expert system” for lift design.

Adsimulo has been tested extensively by Movveo and has been used exclusively by their firm internationally since 2013. If you compare AdSimulo’s results with those from any other reliable calculation program or simulation method, you should get similar results.

Who else uses AdSimulo?

Lots of building design professionals. To quote M. Jean-Francois Lambert, Director of Building Services Design at Bouygues Construction in Paris who has been a paying user of AdSimulo for two years, he found the software “enjoyable” and also says “I have no word for it: incredible, fantastic, fabulous, … you name it!” and, finally, “The automatic report in “Word” format killed me!”.

What user support is provided?

The price of AdSimulo includes one year’s unlimited support by phone and e-mail. There are extensive video tutorials provided on our website to guide the new user and to address frequently asked questions and design situations.

Customer service: support@adsimulo.com
Sales: sales@adsimulo.com

Live chat is also available 9:00-17:00 UK time.

Is my data secure?

AdSimulo is using the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to provide the latest encryption technology to secure your data communication. On the server side, your data are safe with a full authentication system based on ASP.NET solutions with encrypted password. All project data are backed up every 24 hours and users can download all project information, solutions, reports, BIM models, video footage etc whenever they desire.

Currently, we are not sending your data to any external cloud – we are using a cluster of our own company servers that are fully secured both logically and physically. We may move on to a public cloud-based services if the demand exceeds our hosting capabilities – if this happens we will be using AWS (Amazon Web Services), which are renowned for the efficiency and security guaranteed by Amazon.

If no solutions have been found, please see below for possible reasons:

  1. Loading on arrival or loading on departure are below minimum loading criteria.  Lifts may not be loaded enough because building population is too low for designed number of lifts or capacities. Lowering lift capacities or expected minimum loading criteria may help with finding solutions.
  2. Exceeded average waiting time criteria. Increasing number of lifts, speeds or capacities should lower waiting times.
  3. Only one floor zone with top floor is simulated. Lift travel time to the top floor exceeds required maximum transit time. Increasing maximum transit time or adding higher speeds should allow lifts to get to the top floor in required time.
What is an AdSimulo Subscription?

An AdSimulo Subscription is a purchasing option that allows you to license AdSimulo application on a term basis to meet a variety of business needs and budget considerations. Multi-month and annual options offer cost savings for long-term software needs and monthly subscriptions are a short-term option for project-based work or hiring temporary staff.

Do I need to download and install anything after purchase?

AdSimulo is a web application which supports all major web browsers – if you have a computer with Internet connection you can use it without installing any additional software. You may need other software packages in order to use results of your simulations, downloaded from our servers – for example you may need Microsoft Word to view and edit automatically generated simulation reports or a 3D CAD viewer or program, such as REVIT, to use our BIM output.

What happens to data stored in the server when contracts end?

Server storage continues until the end of the billing cycle. After the subscription contract ends, all data is maintained on our servers for one year, but you will need to renew your contract to access them. Inactive accounts will be deleted, with all data, after one year since the last day of the contract.

How do I access my project data if my subscription lapses?

You don’t have access until you renew your license. You must renew within 12 months – after one year of inactivity your project data will be deleted from our servers.

Where does the data created using subscription software reside?

All project data and files created with subscription software are saved on servers. You can download reports, BIM files and video footage, and if you store them locally, you can use them indefinitely.

How do I cancel a subscription?

You can end your subscription contract on the contract renewal date listed in your AdSimulo Account by changing your automatic renewal settings.

How can I use BIM and visualisation output?

Our novelty BIM (Building Information Model) output feature allows downloading files in IFC format. IFC – the Industry Foundation Class – which is now a well-established standard, based on the latest buildingSmart (formerly: IAI: International Alliance for Interoperability) IFC 2×3 and 4 data exchange standard, registered by ISO as an official International Standard ISO 16739:2013.  This is a platform neutral, open specification for BIM, compatible with all well-known BIM software used by architects and building designers such as Revit 2015 and all popular viewers (DDS CAD Viewer 8.0, Solibri Viewer 9.5, Tekla BIMSight). We recommend a free DDS CAD Viewer (http://www.dds-cad.net/downloads/dds-cad-viewer/) to quickly browse the BIM files.

You can also download the visualisation footage in MP4 format, which is supported by all popular video players as well as websites such as YouTube or Vimeo.

What are hardware requirements for using AdSimulo?

AdSimulo is a web application, so nearly any computer connected to Internet should be capable to run our software. All intensive processing is performed on our servers, and results are sent directly to your browser. For best results, always use the latest version of your HTML 5 compatible browser, for example Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 9 or higher), Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari (version 3.1 or higher). Internet connection with at least 512kbps capacity is recommended to watch the online video footage, for all other system functions most standard connection speeds will be sufficient.