Planet SSI Overview for Take Home Exams

Planet SSI is a web-based exam management system. PlanetSSI is used to customize your in-class exam use of Securexam software, and is also used to electronically distribute take-home exams. PlanetSSI will be your one-stop show for everything related to your computer-based testing experience.

Getting Started

Your School Administrator has already set up your account.  There is no need to register at Planet SSI on your own.  So go to  www.planetssi.com  

Log In

When you first visit Planet SSI, you'll see a  box on the left side of the Welcome Page.  Type your GSU-assigned e-mail address in the e-mail and password boxes and then click the Log In button (and you MUST click the Log In button, not the “enter” key). If the e-mail address does not work as your password, use your exam number for Spring with two ones in front of it (EX: 11001 for exam number 001) in the password box.   Once on the web site, you can change your password by clicking on the "account" button (third button on top right) and following the directions.  You will use your Summer 2008 exam number only on the exam (not your name).

Fig. 1- Log In

As a side note, you will notice  boxes next to each login field and elsewhere throughout Planet SSI. If at any point you're not sure what to enter in a given field or what each section of the site is designed to do, click on the accompanying  box for an explanation.

When your Log In is complete, you'll be taken to a Console page.

Fig. 2 – Student Console Page

Now you're ready to get started! Use the buttons on the left of the page to access the resources available on Planet SSI. Each button takes you to a different "Engine."

Download: This is the engine for downloading Software Secure products.  You will not use this for take-home exams.  I know the bar in the picture says “Licensing.”  When you log in and see it on the screen, it will say “Download.”  You don’t need this for take-home exams, anyway.

Exam Center: This is where it all happens. Check Exam availability dates and time, Download questions, Upload answers it is all done here.

Reports: Engine for obtaining various reports regarding your exam activity.

TWO IMPORTANT THINGS:

1) Before uploading your exams, make sure you type your Summer 2008 exam number on every page of your exam.  Exams without exam numbers will not be submitted to the faculty for grading.

2) If you get a “bad response” error message while on the web site, click the log out button (it’s the second button at the top right of the page; it looks like an arrow in a circle) and log back in.  The web site times out if it detects no key strokes for a couple of minutes.

EXAM CENTER

This is your online home for all the exams you'll take through Planet SSI.  This is the place where you'll download and upload your take-home exams, see which exams will be using Securexam in-class, and if you are using Securexam-Mac, this is also where you will manually upload your completed Securexam files.

Fig.3 – Exam Center

Your Classes

Most classes for which you are registered will appear in the section entitled Your Classes: and will show Teacher, Class, and Section if applicable. 

Scroll down and you will see Classes and Exams.  This section lists the exams that exist for your classes by Teacher, Class, Section, and Exam name.  The take-home exams will be listed with “Take Home” in the title (Example: CORPORATIONS-TAKE HOME)  At the beginning of the row listing the exam is a “+” character. Clicking on it will expand the information for the exam.

For Non-Securexams (also known as take-home exams), the exam info will appear as in Figure 5.

Fig. 5 – Non-Securexam Details

Most exams are setup with an Available From and an Available To date and time along with a designation as to either the Number of Hours you have to complete the exam after download or the specific date and time your exam is due.  All of this information can be accessed by clicking on the (+) to the left of your teacher’s name.

The Available From date and time is the earliest your exam will be available for download.

The Available To date and time is the latest your exam will be available for download.

The Due N Hours After Download field if it contains a value will represent the number of hours you have to complete the exam once it has been downloaded.  It is important that you do not download until you are ready to work on the exam because the clock will start once the download button has been pressed and it can’t be reset.  If there is no value in this field then look to the next field, which is the Or By field, and represents the date and time your exam is due. 

When you download an exam, the easiest place to save it is your desktop.  Once it’s saved to the desktop, it’s easy for you to access and it doesn’t get lost in the dreaded “hidden files” wasteland.

A  button next to an exam means that an exam is in its available time period (in between the Available From and To Dates) and contains an actual exam for you to download.  An  button with no  button next to an exam means that you are either within the available time period and there is no exam to download (for example the teacher handed you the question in class and told you to submit your answer in a Word document to the system); or, you have downloaded an exam and the available period for downloading the exam has passed.

A  and  button next to an exam means that you are still in the available period and have already downloaded the exam at least once.  (NOTE: While you can download an exam multiple times subsequent downloads do not reset the initial download date and time stamp that are used for the purposes of monitoring exam compliance.)

Fig.6 – Upload Exams

To upload a Non-Securexam (take-home exam) simply press the Upload button and you will be given a blank field with a Browse button.  Click on the Browse button and locate the file you would like to upload.  Once the file is selected and appears in what was the blank box to the left of the Browse button simply hit the Upload button and you are done.  An email will be sent to the email address you used to access Planet SSI confirming that we received your file. 

Reports

You may use this feature to check on the status of your take-home exams once they are uploaded.  If for some reason you do not receive an e-mail confirming receipt of your uploaded exam, use this feature to check the download and upload dates and times.

Fig.7 - Reports

Students may also search the list of available exams using the Exam Search function.  Use the calendars to search for exams according to specific dates.  Your search results will appear as a list below the Exams Search box in Figure 8..

Figure 8 – Reports listing