TypingMaster's Ultimate Typing Coach for School/Business (Windows)
Network Installation and Administration Manual

Version 11.0; Copyright TypingMaster, Inc.

Contents

1. Introduction

Welcome to Typing Coach.

This powerful typing tutor enables easy instruction of the touch typing technique to a large amount of users in multiple groups.

The purpose of this manual is to guide you in the installation of the program on your site. It also explains the basic features of Typing Coach User Manager program (hereinafter Typing Coach Manager) which enables easy control and reporting of users in Typing Coach.

Typing Coach can store personal study data for thousands of users recognizing any user on any workstation in the network. The Manager also helps you to easily manage user records as groups and follow progress and test scores using a variety of reports, no matter how big and varied your groups are. You can also arrange fully customized typing tests for individual users or entire groups using texts of your own choice.

In the installation section of the manual (chapters 2 and 3), a short summary of the chapter is presented at the beginning of each chapter. The summary is followed by detailed instructions explaining the procedure. In the Typing Coach Manager section (chapter 4) all the main features of Typing Coach Manager are introduced along with some useful tips.

Please read this manual carefully before installing the program. This will help you avoid unnecessary problems during the installation and use of the program.

NOTE: Configuring the DataSync related technical features can be complicated. For the small size installations, it may be reasonable to install Typing Coach separately into each device without DataSync. In this case, the license key is entered into each Typing Coach manually from the About menu.

2. Installation and Data Sync

This part of the manual describes how to install Typing Coach's Ultimate Typing Coach and get it running smoothly on all the workstations.

NOTE: Its important to understand, that the study data is only synced between student workstations and teacher machine when the SYNC NOW buttons are clicked on Manager tool. By default the Dual Sync setting is disabled, this means that e.g. user accounts created in one student device do not appear on other student devices. If Dual Sync is enabled, student accounts also are synced to other student workstations.

2.1 Overview of the Installation Process

Here is a brief summary of the main stages of the installation:

1. Select the installation mode: Stand-alone or Centralized Management+Reporting with the Data Sync. To use Data Sync features, the local file server or a cloud drive is needed to host all the user study progress information. Usually the Data Sync location is a school file server (e.g. \\192.122.11.11\shared\typing) or any standard mounted cloud drive (c:\user\myself\clouddrive1), that both teacher and students can access.

2. Typing Coach is installed into Teacher's machine. One teacher machine can take care of reporting/configuring of multiple student machines.

3. The Licenses are entered to Typing Coach Manager and common settings for workstations are set.

4. The installation is completed on all the workstations (optionally connecting these to a same Data Sync location ).

2.2 Teacher Machine Installation

2.2.1 Preparations

To start the installation for Typing Coach, you must have the Ultimate version setup package for Typing Coach. This package is available as a download from our web site www.typingmaster.com.

Before you start installing Typing Coach on the teacher machine, you have to make sure that:

• A shared Data Sync folder for the installation of Typing Coach is available (usually the school file server or a cloud drive). Please ask your network admin to provide one. All the workstations must have access to this folder. The folder can be e.g. \\server\applications\typingmaster.
  
• Under this sync folder, there will be two folders, one folder for teacher configuration data and one folder for student reports. The person performing the installation (teacher) has the full rights to this shared folder and it's subfolders. The students need to have only read permissions on teacher folder and read+write permissions on students folder. If you are not sure whether you have the necessary rights, consult the network administrator of your organization for more details.

2.2.2 Installing Typing Coach on Teacher PC

In this chapter we will go through the installation of Typing Coach. The installation is quite straightforward and adheres to the usual procedures common to all installations of Windows programs.

NOTE: The real file server is required if using server UNC path. Windows Workstations have a major internal limit of 5 concurrent users.

Step by step:

To begin the installation on the Teacher computer:

1. Start the Typing Coach setup program by double clicking on the file typingmaster11ultimate.exe (or similar).
   
2. Click on 'Next' and read the License Agreement. Check 'I accept the agreement' to accept the terms of the agreement and click 'Next'.
   
3. If previous Typing Coach version is already installed on your server, you should install to same folder in order to keep the user data. 
   
4. Choose the destination directory for the installation. This is the directory Typing Coach will be installed to.
   

5. DATA LOCATION: You can configure Typing Coach to store study data to the user specific folders inside user profiles or the a shared folder.
   -If there are multiple students logging into different Windows computers in domain every time with their own login/profile, it's required to select Roaming user specific Appdata.
   -If every student always uses the same windows computer, it's possible to select Roaming or Non-Roaming user Appdata.
   -The Common Install Folder is a rarely needed option. It make's all user profiles in the device to see the list of all students.

6. DATA SYNC - CENTRALIZED REPORTING / MANAGEMENT
   If you want teacher to receive the data from the student devices, you need a file server or a cloud drive in your organization's network. In this case, choose yes to enable Sync and in the next step enter a UNC network path for the file server or a path to cloud drive in these 2 fields. The UNC path is in format \\SERVERNAME\FOLDER, for example \\FILESERVER\APPS\TMPro.

   Enter two different SYNC paths, one for students and one for teacher. these can be two folders inside a shared folder, or two different shares. Please ask your admin to configure the file access permissions so that only teacher can edit files in the Teacher Writable Sync folder, but students can read files from there, too. Read+Write permissions are needed for all students using the software for the Student Writable Sync folder.

7. The automatic SYNC occurs always when students launch their Typing Coach software. Students will receive settings sent from Teacher's Manager tool (via Teacher Writable Sync folder). After students close Typing Coach, their reports are sent to Student Writable SYNC folder for Teacher's Manager tool. By default the Dual Sync Common Setting is disabled, this means that e.g. user accounts created in one student device do not appear on other student devices. If Dual Sync is enabled, student accounts also are synced to other student workstations.

You have now completed the installation of Typing Coach. It is recommended that you give the program a trial run to make sure everything is working properly. Just click on Start > Typing Coach to start the program.

2.2.4 Inserting Licenses

Before installing Typing Coach to the workstations the licenses that you have purchased need to be inserted. You also have to specify those settings that apply to all workstation installations.

To insert licenses to your server:

1. Go to 'Start > Typing Coach > Typing Coach Manager'
   
2. Select the Licenses tab and click on 'View/Add Licenses'.
   
   
   
3. Enter your License ID and Product Key in the appropriate fields in the License window that opens

NOTE: If you get an error message saying that your License ID or Product Key was inserted incorrectly, please check that the ID and Key were entered exactly as they were in the email. Also note that the different product versions have different licenses

Please contact us at www.TypingMaster.com if you have any problems with License ID and/or Product Key.

Now the licenses are installed on your server. The Licenses menu will show information on your newly inserted license.

2.2.5 Configuring the Installation Settings

NOTE: Typing Coach is ready for use with the default settings.

To configure the settings common to all workstation installations of Typing Coach :

1. Start Typing Coach Manager
   
2. Select the 'Common Settings' tab.
   
   
   
   Here you can configure the basic policy for users and the workstation installations. To find out more about the Common Settings and how they affect user settings, go to chapter 4.2.
   NOTE: By default the Dual Sync setting is disabled, this means that e.g. user accounts created in one student device do not appear on other student devices. If Dual Sync is enabled, student accounts also are synced to other student workstations.
3. After changing the settings, click on 'Ok'.
   
4. Close Typing Coach Manager.

Now you have completed the preparations for workstation installations.

2.3 Workstation Installation

2.3.1 Overview

There are two ways of installing Typing Coach to a student devices.

Using normal setup:

You can install Typing Coach to workstations using the same setup program as above that installed Typing Coach to the teacher workstation. This method is recommended if there are just a few workstations. It also gives the administrator more control in defining the workstations that can have Typing Coach on them.

Using a Silent Setup:

If you have many workstations this type of install is recommended for schools and companies. You can select during the setup to install also silent setup tools.

2.3.2 Installation with setupper

Summary:

In this method of installation, please enter the same Data Sync entries to make the Centralized Management to work. Start software once to get the centralized settings and license from the Teacher Sync Folder.

Typing Coach is now installed on the workstation and it is ready for use. To install Typing Coach to other computers, just repeat the steps above on each workstation.

2.3.3 Installation Using Silent Setup

Summary:

This chapter will demonstrate how to install Typing Coach on workstations .

Also note that each time Typing Coach is started from a new workstation, one workstation license is used. This can lead to a shortage of workstation licenses when workstation licenses are being used. In that case, workstations have to be manually removed in the User Manager. The easier solution is to purchase concurrent licenses instead.

Details:

Copy the installer and TMNPATH.INI file to a shared folder that you can access, or optionally to the workstations. Execute TYPINGMASTER11INSTALLER.EXE /VERYSILENT /COMPONENTS="TypingMasterTypingTutor" The software is installed on background. Default settings are used, no data SYNC.
To perform a more advanced silent setup with custom configuration, please see the readme.txt in TypingMaster11/silent-setup folder that contains MSI installer wrapper and an example silent.inf file to customize the datasync settings.

2.3.4 Customize DataSync settings with Silent Setup .INF file

2.3.5 Silent Setup Command Line Switches

3. Uninstallation

Please use Add/Remove Programs from Windows Settings for uninstallation of TypingMaster from workstations . Uninstallation procedure varies depending on OS version.

You have now completed the uninstallation of a workstation.

If uninstallation fails, make sure there are no users using the application. You can confirm this by un-sharing the installation folder.

4. Typing Coach User Manager

This chapter will cover the features and use of Typing Coach User Manager.

Typing Coach User Manager is a powerful tool for course administrators. It can store personal study data of up to thousands of users recognizing any user on any workstation within the network. With the advanced Manager you can manage users as groups and follow their progress and test scores with a variety of reports that can be created very easily in just a matter of seconds. You can also arrange fully customized typing tests for individuals or one or more groups using texts of your own choice. Typing Coach User Manager gives the course administrator control over the way in which the lessons progress. You can, for example, select the courses to be studied, disable skipping lessons and lock lessons so that they must be completed before the user can move on.

4.1 Main Features

This chapter will introduce you to the main features of Typing Coach User Manager. You will be shown how to create and edit users, organize them into groups and print reports of their progress. The main features of setting typing tests and organizing your licenses are also explained.

Typing Coach User Manager is divided into six main sections: Users, Groups, Courses, Typing Tests, Licenses and Common Settings. Each of these sections can be reached by selecting the appropriate tab. The controls for each section are situated in the menu at the left side of the screen.

NOTE: After modifying user, group or common settings the users usually need to login again so that the new settings can take effect.

Also some settings require that the user must select the option after the change has been made. For example changing the time allocated for a test, exercise or course will only take effect if the user selects the option after the new time has been set.

4.1.1 Users

When you select the 'Users' tab in Typing Coach User Manager, you will see the users of Typing Coach in an alphabetical list with general information on each user. By default, all users are shown in the list. To view users in a specific group, select the group name from the drop-down list in the user menu. You can also choose to sort user list differently by clicking the corresponding column name.

The list of users shows the following information for each user:

• User name
  
• The group that this user belongs to. The default group for users is 'New Users'.
  
• The name of the course the user is currently studying
  
• Percentage completed of the current course
  
• The date and time Typing Coach was last used
  
• The number of times Typing Coach has been used
  
• The date the user was created
  

• Amount of completed Typing Tests
  

User Menu

The user menu offers many powerful tools for creating new users and editing the settings of old users.

All the options connected to a specific user are gathered under this menu. To modify the properties of a user, select the user from the list of users and then choose the action you wish to modify from the User Menu.

Here is a description of all the options in the user menu with tips for their use.

Choose Group

You can choose the group of users to be listed with this drop-down menu. This helps manage users especially if the userbase is very large.

View & Print Reports

These options let the administrator view and print a variety of reports on the progress of users.

User Tasks

These options let the administrator perform actions that affect the selected user.

Edit User(s)

These options let the administrator edit users in the user list.

4.1.2 Groups

When you select the 'Groups' tab in Typing Coach User Manager, you will see all the groups you have created, the amount of users in a group and the date the group was created.

Group Menu

The 'Groups' menu offers many powerful tools for creating and editing groups.

All the options connected to a group are gathered under this menu. To modify the settings of a group, select a group from the list of groups and then choose the setting you wish to modify from the Groups menu.

Here is a description of all the options in the Groups menu with tips for their use.

View & Print Reports

These options will enable the administrator to print out a variety of reports for the selected group

Group Tasks

These options let the administrator perform actions that affect all users in the selected group.

Edit Group

These options let the administrator edit groups.

4.1.3 Courses

When you select the 'Courses' tab in Typing Coach User Manager, you will see all the courses that have been installed in Typing Coach. The list shows the Name and Description of a particular course. The column 'Lessons' shows the amount of lessons and the lesson duration chosen for a course.

Course Tasks Menu

From the Course Tasks menu the administrator can change the settings, show/hide and mark the selected course as default.

Here is a description of all the options in the Course Tasks menu with tips for their use.

NOTE: Course settings are the same for all users and groups.

Course Tasks

Course Settings

Lesson Exam Settings

(available only in "Teacher led training" lesson mode)

4.1.4 Typing Tests

When you select the 'Typing Tests' tab in Typing Coach User Manager, you will see all the typing tests that have been installed in Typing Coach. The list shows the Name and Copyright of a particular text. The column 'Time (min.)' shows the default time selected for a particular text. The text (Lock) at the end of the time indicates that the default time has been locked.

Typing Test Menu

From the Typing Test menu the administrator can change the settings, edit and delete the selected text.

Here is a description of all the options in the Typing Test menu with tips for their use.

Test Tasks

Edit Test

Typing Test Settings

Requirements to Pass the Test

IMPORTANT: You should not use Minimum Net Speed and Minimum Gross Speed at the same time as these settings can conflict with each other.

NOTE: If passing limits are set for both speed and accuracy then the user must meet them both to pass the test.

4.1.5 Licenses

When you select the 'Licenses' tab in Typing Coach Manager, you will see all the workstation in network that have accessed Typing Coach.

The list shows the following information for all licenses:

• Workstation name
  
• Installation date
  
• Number of times the program has been used
  
• Date when program was last used and user name
  
• The user name of the person who installed the workstation license.
  

The information bar at the lower left corner of the window displays the number of licenses in use and the number of free licenses.

Concurrent Licenses: By clicking the workstation, you can see if it currently reserves an concurrent license.

Licenses Menu

The Licenses Menu shows the type of licenses inserted (workstation or concurrent), the total number of licenses, licenses used and the number of free licenses. In the licenses menu, the following options are available:

4.2 Common Settings

The first time you use Typing Coach User Manager will probably be after your server installation if you want to change the installation directory. However, you can control many more settings and options in Common Settings, which shall be explained in this chapter in detail.

Common Settings affect all workstation installations and users.

To access the 'Common Settings' start Typing Coach User Manager and select the tab 'Common Settings'.

NOTE: Pressing 'Cancel' instead of 'Save' undos the changes just made.

NOTE: The settings selected and locked in the Common Settings override the group settings (see 4.1.2).

Below is a list of all the settings and some information pertaining to their use.

User Default Settings

With these settings, the administrator is able to enforce a common policy for all users.

NOTE: The default settings can be also locked in order to force all users to have them in use.

Login Settings

Scroll down the screen to see Login Settings with which the administrator is able to define user login properties.

Typing Test Settings

These settings let the administrator restrict user privileges in the typing test section of Typing Coach.

Settings

Advanced Settings

4.3 Special Features

Typing Coach User Manager offers these special features which give more power to the administrator.

4.3.1 Real Time User Monitoring

Typing Coach supports real time monitoring of users. The administrator is able to monitor the users' progress while they are studying on their workstations. When the user is studying (or the Satellite is active), a lock will appear on top of the user icon in the user list.

When a user is locked, the administrator will not be able to change user properties or delete the user. The administrator can view a user's progress by selecting a report to be viewed. All exercises and tests that the user has completed will be displayed in the reports.

NOTE: The user list in the Users section of the Manager is updated only when Manager is started or Refresh button is clicked. Therefore, summary information displayed in the user list may not be up to date all the time when users are studying.

To view a user's current status, create a report on the user. This will display up-to-date information on the user.

4.3.2 Importing and Exporting users from/to CSV file

You can create new users for Typing Coach User Manager from an existing list. Information such as name, group and password can be taken from any .csv file (i.e. comma separated user list file), usually an Excel or database file. It is possible also to export names and general status of users to Comma Separated File (CSV).

To import users, start Typing Coach user Manager and select File > Import Users. This will bring up a new window.

Import only accepts CSV files so you need have saved the source file in CSV format in advance. To convert an Excel file to a CSV file, save the file again choosing 'File > Save As' and selecting 'CSV (comma delimited)' from the 'Save as Type' drop-down menu. Note that you should delete all heading and title information such as First name, Last name, Class etc., from the source file before importing information to Typing Coach. Otherwise you will have users like "Last name, First name" in the Typing Coach User Manager and need to remove those afterwards.

Once the Import screen is open, the screen is divided in two. The top half, or section 1, is dedicated to choosing the source file from which you want to import user information. Click on 'Open Data Source', browse and select the file you want to import and click on 'Open'. Typing Coach Import tool now shows the contents of the file you chose on the top-right-hand side of the screen as well as in the preview window below it. If you have chosen a wrong file, you can easily change your selection by clicking on 'Open Data Source' and choosing a different file.

The bottom half of the screen, or Section 2, is dedicated to modifying column information and completing the process. First have a look at the Preview window on the right and check that column headings are correct.

The default column headings in the preview window are 'First name', 'Last name', 'Class/Group' and 'Password'. If your source file has listed data in a different order or has more columns, you can now change the column headings accordingly. To change column headings, use the drop-down menus on the left-hand side. They are numbered from 1 to 6 referring to the respective columns in the Preview window and show the heading options from which you can choose. Select the ones that match your table and use 'n/a' if you do not want to import the information from some column(s).

Below the drop-down menus there is a box 'Create the Group/Class if missing', which is checked by default. When checked, the User Manager creates new groups by using the group names you have in the .csv file and places imported users automatically under these groups. If some users do not have group information, the User Manager places them under the default group set in the User Manager (usually 'New Users'). If you uncheck the box, the software tries to assign users to existing groups, but does not create new groups. For example, if in the source file you have some group names and in the User Manager groups with the same name, the software take the users from those groups and place in the matching group in the User Manager. All others users from your .csv file will be entered into the default group in the User Manager. You can then group the imported users manually afterwards with the Manager. Admittedly, the tool is a bit confusing if you uncheck the 'Create the Group/Class if missing'. We'll work on it to make it clearer.

Once everything is set to your satisfaction, click on 'Import Now'. The tool will now enter user information from the .csv file to Typing Coach User List.

Supported CSV Data Formats
This utility supports two most common industrial CSV formats, semicolon and comma separated ones.

1. Semicolon format (without quotes)

Example data:
user name;group;something;something

2. Comma separated list with quotes

Example data:
"user name","school group","anything","something"
The very first line of CSV file is used to detect if semicolon or comma should be used as a separator mark.

For example all the following data formats could be used:
"john smith","class 1","mypassword","+1 322 1239"
"john","smith","class 1","+1 322 1239","mypassword","teacher name"
"smith","john","+1 322 1239","mypassword","teacher name","class 1"
john;smith
john smith;group one

Note: If the new users are not shown on client computers, go to the Common Settings page and click on "Rebuild User Index" link on the left to fix the problem.

4.3.3 Multiple Typing Coach Installations

It is possible to use the same Typing Coach User Manager on the administrator's computer to control multiple versions of Typing Coach. This is helpful if you have Typing Coach installed on more than one server.

To control the database of a different installation of Typing Coach you will have to perform the following procedure:

1. Start Typing Coach Manager
   
2. Select File > Change Directory
   
3. The current installation directory of Typing Coach is shown. To edit the database of another Typing Coach installation, enter the complete path of the new directory in the space provided.
   
4. If you do not know the complete path, you can select 'Browse' and choose the installation directory from the directory tree.

4.3.4 Maintenance Tasks

From the Common Settings tab, administrator can complete some maintenance tasks.

Resetting scores in games
In school use, it is good to reset the top ten high scores from time to time. You can do this very easily by clicking Erase Game scores button.

Rebuilding Corrupted User Index
If the user list of Typing Coach user login page does not display the all names shown in the Manager for some reason, click the Rebuild User Index button. No data is lost, but the group index files ( .IDX) are created again to solve the problem.

5 Study Material Editor

The Typing Coach Study Material Editor (herein referred to as the Editor) is designed to help administrators and instructors to modify the existing courses in Typing Coach or to create new custom courses. The Editor is available when installed from the Setup.

Note: In the trial version, changes made with the Editor cannot be saved.

Different Exercise Types

Before you start modifying exercises, we recommend that you get to know the different exercise types of Typing Coach. Below is the list of the main drill types used in the latest version of Typing Coach. In addition to these, you can set the drill to be a game or a review session and can also insert message type events (Introduction Page) to the courses.

Note: To support older versions of Typing Coach, there are some other exercise types in the Editor. To make sure the exercises you create work in the latest version, we recommend using the exercise types listed below, the Introduction Page and Game events.

1. Key drill
   The key drills are designed to teach new key positions. They are combinations of 2 to 4 keys that can be set to be repeated by the program 1-4 times. Carriage return in the exercise file defines how many times the sequence is repeated. For example:
   - asdf asdf (program shows four letter sequence two times)
   - as df as df (program shows two letter sequences four times)
   
2. Word drill
   Word drills consist of words using the letters that have already been learned. Depending on the language version you are using, the appearance of word exercises may vary somewhat. However, the basic idea is the same, i.e. rows of either one or two words:
   - hello hello hello; or
   - here here there there; or
   - horse monkey horse monkey
   
3. Sentence drill
   The program shows one sentence per screen. If the sentence is longer, the program automatically wraps it on two lines. Carriage return marks the end of the sentence. Users are required to press Enter at the end of the sentence.
   - Jack is French.
   - Jill is English and comes from a town called Kettering.
   
   Sentence drills can be used without punctuation marks and capital letters if they have not yet been studied.
   
4. Paragraph drill
   Paragraph drills show a max. 5 line paragraph at a time. Paragraph drills can only be used after capital letters and period have been studied. The drill consists of several paragraphs that can be of different theme each or carry the same story line throughout the exercise. Sentences can flow freely from one row to another just like in any text.
   
5. Text drill
   Text drill shows about 15 lines of text at the time and there are no keyboard visuals to support the user.
   
6. Lesson Exam
   This drill type is the same format as the text drill. This should be used only as the lesson exam (last exercises in a lesson) with the teacher led courses. Using the Lesson Exam drill, the administrator can set passing limits to the exam in the Manager.
   

Making and Saving Changes

Once open, on the left-hand side of the screen you see all the available courses. Click the course to see the structure and settings for a course. You see immediately how many lessons there are and when different keys are introduced. The course and it’s exercises can be edited in the window on the right-hand side of the screen.

You can now browse through all exercises as well as messages by clicking them open with your mouse. Once an exercise is open in the edit window, you can make the changes you want. Some exercises are created dynamically and cannot be modified unless you click a button “Make a Drill Editable”.

The Editor automatically defines row length, font type and size for each exercise type, and adjusts the edit window width accordingly.

You can preview how the course works and see your changes by clicking the 'Preview' button on top.

When making changes or creating new material, the Editor only accepts keys that have been studied so far. If you try to enter a letter that has not been studied, it will not appear on screen and you hear a warning sound.  The new keys are shown on bottom of the edit window on the right-hand side. You can also choose to see a Virtual Keyboard that has both allowed and new keys marked by pressing Keys button on toolbar.

Save the exercise either by choosing 'File > Save changes' or by moving to another exercise and the program automatically asks you to save changes. Remember also to save changes if you made any changes to the course settings or course structure.

Once you have made all changes that you wanted to, we recommend that you use the 'Verify Study Material' tool of the Editor to quickly check that no exercises use keys that have not been introduced yet. Run the check especially if you have created some exercises using a text editor and copy-pasted them into the Editor. To run the check, choose 'Tools> Verify Study Material’.

From Tools menu, choose “Run Typing Master” and complete once the exercises you have modified to see that they work properly.

Advanced tools in the Editor

New Course: You can start building a new custom course by choosing File > New Course

Update Review Wizard Database: If you have removed words from a course or added a lot of new material to a course, you may want to rebuild the database that gives words to the dynamic reviews. To do that, select Tools > Update Review Wizard Database.

Export Lesson Plan: If you would like to print out a detailed list of lessons and exercises in a course, you can do that by selecting Tools > Export Lesson Plan