Do you offer training on-site or at the factory?

We really like to think that we have provided documentation that is sufficient to get you started without a week of training first. One problem with training is that you most often don't have time to wait for the training schedule to get your project done.

We also like to think our products are intuitive enough and sufficiently easy to use, to the extent that once you start the learning experience, it will not take you long to get to the point where you have little left to learn in class. Since learning the products is not that big of a challenge in most cases, we think we might have to include some golf or fishing to make a week's stay worthwhile.

What do you really need training in?

It may be that just using our products is not the only thing you need to learn. If you have never touched BACnet before, you need to start by learning basic BACnet terminology and technology. General technology training is one thing we do not provide because there are generally better resources for that purpose. If you are new to BACnet, we suggest you visit www.bacnet.org and go through their online tutorials. Paid classroom instruction is already available for some network technologies. For BACnet and other ASHRAE classes, go to the ASHRAE Learning Institute at www.ashrae.org. If you are interested in LonWorks classes, go to www.echelon.com. If you want to learn more about Modbus, you can start at www.modbus.org.

What training support do we offer?

We are continually working to improve our documentation, including user guides, tutorials, and online help. There will generally be web browser compatible documentation for a product. Some products have flash videos available. Most often you will find support for the product in question linked from the page that highlights that product.

The support ticket is the most effective tool for getting individualized help with a particular topic or problem. Very often we will reply with links to additional information about the topic in question. You might have to take a few minutes to read, but that is still much quicker than taking a week off to attend class.

When the going gets tough, we just dig deeper into our bag of tricks. We can, almost instantly, create an online, one on one, webinar type session. You can view our computer screen, or we can view yours if you grant access. Provided you have Internet access, we can remotely run your PC and walk you through the steps needed to accomplish setup, configuration, diagnostics, etc. (We use Glance for live web presentations.)

Will we offer classroom training in the future?

If we get sufficient interest, we may at some point start offering classroom training for a nominal fee to cover cost. If you are interested in classroom training, please send a quick email to sales@csimn.com and tell us: (1) What topics and/or products would you like to cover? (2) What do you hope to take home? (3) How long should the session run? (4) How much time does your answer to #3 include for golf or fishing?