Licensing & pricing FAQ

The Frequently Asked Questions answered below attempt to answer some common queries regarding the detail of our licensing and pricing. The list is not exhaustive so please do not hesitate to contact us if your query isn't answered here.

General licensing

How is JCT Consultancy Software Licensed?

All our software products are licensed on a site licence basis with a range of sizes of site licence. Each site licence allows users to install one of our products onto a specified number of PCs on the site specified in the licence.

How is a site defined ?

A site is defined as a single geographic location in which the software is used, for example, a consultancy with a London office and a Glasgow Office would require two site licences one for each office. Where two or more offices exist in the same locality, whether each is a separate site is not always clear-cut but generally the rule is that each separate building is a separate site. This rule may not always strictly apply for example if a single department is simply split between two different buildings across the road from each other. If in doubt please contact us for advice to ensure you are correctly licensed.

Sites for the Unlimited Networked PCs licences are defined slightly differently as they depend on your organisation's network layout as well as the above geographic definition. More details of these licences are provided below.

My organisation owns a Four PC licence for a JCT product. Does this mean we can install the software on all our PCs as long as only four are using the software at once?

No, all our licences relate to the number of PCs on the site onto which our software is installed and available for use, not on the number which are being used at any one time. We have chosen this licensing model partly because it works well in non-networked environments of which many still exist in smaller offices, and partly because we feel it is a fair method of quantifying the level of usage of our software on a site. If a concurrent four user licence were to be offered this would obviously service a greater number of users and would therefore attract a higher price.

Can my organisation buy a Four PC site licence for my office and install the software on three PCs in this office and one in another office?

As the licence is a site licence all the PCs onto which the software is installed must be located on the site and cannot be 'loaned' to other offices. If the software is required in additional offices single PC site licences are available with multi-site discounts in most cases.

How do the licence conditions apply to laptops?

Laptop computers are slightly different from normal PCs due to their portable nature and have proved complex to licence and police in the past. We have tried to allow for the different usages of laptops within our pricing structure and have created additional flexibility by offering a range of licence types for laptops.

For a laptop which is predominantly based on one site the situation is straightforward. The laptop uses one of the site's licences. The licence conditions allow the laptop to be used at any location worldwide other than at another office of the same company, for example at a client's office or at an employee's home. This means that a four PC site licence cannot be used to install LinSig onto four laptops which are then used in four different company offices apparently avoiding the need to purchase four site licences. For sites with unlimited network licences (explained below) the laptop can be used disconnected from the network for up to seven days before needing to refresh its licence from the network.

If it is desired to permanently move a laptop to a different office of the company, the laptop would be removed from the site licence of its original site and added to the site licence of the new site, purchasing a new site licence if none previously existed at this new site.

For laptops which move between a company's offices a great deal, this can be inflexible and a new type of licence is offered to provide additional flexibility. This is the single PC multi-site Roaming Licence. This allows the software to be used on the laptop at any location including other offices of the company. It does not consume any site licence licences and does not need to be connected to its home site's network. This licence can in effect allow a key user to use JCT software in a number of company offices which have no site licences at all. Note that as the licence is not site based it does not contribute towards or receive multi-site discounts.

How is a Site defined for the Unlimited Networked PCs Licence?

An Unlimited Networked PCs Licence provides a licence for a central licence server which can be installed on any PC in the office. This then allows the software to run on any PC in the office which is on the same network without having to activate each PC individually. In technical terms for IT staff the 'network' in this context is defined as the IP network or subnet on which the licence server is located up to the first router encountered. If a network extends beyond the geographic site as defined above the unlimited networked PC Site Licence is limited to the geographic site. Laptops can be used disconnected from the network for up to seven days before needing to refresh their licence from the licence server.

What exactly is Product Activation, how does it work and why is it necessary?

Product activation is a mechanism which ensures only correctly licensed copies of our software can be installed and used. For example it prevents a single PC site licence being used to install software onto several PC in contravention of the site licence conditions. The system has been developed with a strong focus of making it as transparent and hassle free as possible for legitimate users whilst preventing illegal copies of our software from being used. The concept is the same as has become widespread in recent years in many well known software products such as Microsoft Windows XP and Office, AutoCAD, OSCADY and TRANSYT.

The product activation mechanism used in JCT Consultancy software is straightforward in concept. The process of installing software works as follows:

1. The software is installed from CD or download as normal.
2. When run for the first time the software announces it is un-activated and provides an opportunity to activate it as described below. If desired activation can be deferred until later however the software will run as a demonstration version only until activation is complete.
3. The software provides an installation ID code which is unique for the PC on which the software is being installed.
4. The Installation ID is sent via email or telephone to JCT Consultancy.
5. As soon as possible (often within one hour) an activation code is returned to the user. The user enters the activation code into the software.
6. The software is now fully licensed and can be used as normal.

Most updates to the software and permanent transfers to other computers in the future can be carried out without needing to manually contact JCT.

Different procedures apply for unlimited networked PCs Site Licences:

1. The software is installed from CD or download as normal.
2. A network administrator installs a JCT licence server onto a PC which will be on all of the time the software is needed.
3. All PCs which are on the same network and site as the server can use the software with no further need to activate each PC individually.

We regret having to use this procedure as even with the considerable effort we have gone to streamline the above it is still a hassle albeit we hope not a major one. However, we feel it became inevitable that we must introduce some mechanism of this nature due to a number of instances of large scale licence abuse which came to light over an extended period. We apologise to all those many users who have always been correctly licensed and hope our position is appreciated. We would of course welcome any comments on product activation and how it could be improved to better fit users' needs.

What about products which don't include Product Activation?

Only LinSat does not include Product Activation as it is free of charge.

Pricing

I have a 1PC or 4PC LinSig V2 licence. Can I upgrade to V3, and choose a larger size of V3 licence at the same time?

Yes! You do not necessarily have to choose to upgrade to the same size as your existing licence. So for example, even if you currently only have a 1PC V2 licence, you can choose any size of V3 licence, and apply the entire upgrade and/or multi-site discount now, to maximise the benefit of the discount. By the same process, you could also choose a smaller V3 licence than your existing V2, if required. The same principle applies to version upgrades of TranEd and FlowRound

I have upgraded or purchased a LinSig V3 Site Licence. I now want to increase its size?

The cost of increasing the size of a Site Licence is the net difference between the standard price of each licence. For example, to increase an existing LinSig V3 licence from a 1PC to 4PC is £800 + VAT. Upgrade and multi-site discounts are not available on licence size increases after upgrading. Therefore when initially upgrading from V2 it is recommended to choose the larger size of site licence if it is likely to be required in the near future as this will maximise discounts available.

I already have some LinSig V3 licences, what multi-site discount applies for the next one I order?

A typical scenario is if an organisation has already purchased three V3 licences. To purchase a fourth site, say 4PC, the applicable multi-site discount will be 20%, so their price will be £3295 x 0.8 = £2636.00+VAT.

I want to bulk purchase more than one site to maximise the larger multi-site discount, how does that work?

A combined order for as many sites as possible is the most economical way to upgrade or purchase new sites. For example, if an organisation were to simultaneously purchase three LinSig sites on the same order, the appropriate 15% multi-site discount can be applied to all three. So a 1PC + 4PC + 10PC order would be the sum of the prices all less 15% = (£2495 + £3295 + £3995) x 0.85 = £8317.25+VAT.

If each of the three licences were to be purchased by the same organisation but with separate orders or at separate times the cost would be £2495 x 100% + £3295 x 90% + £3995 x 85% = £8856.25 + VAT.

Once an organisation has four V3 sites, then the fifth and all additional sites receive the maximum 25% multi-site discount.

Can multi-site discounts be applied to upgrades?

Yes the same principle applies as to new sites but with upgrade prices being used instead of new site prices.

Further information

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