Over the last month, businesses everywhere have had to make changes to how we work in order to protect us from COVID-19. As a result, many or most of us are now working from home. This brings new technical challenges like performance issues due to the use of personal computers, or dealing with networking and security issues while accessing your company’s systems remotely.
To help you better navigate this new situation, we’ve put together an overview of work-from-home best practices so you can find the best way to access your organization’s licensed Minemax software.
1. Access your Minemax dongle via a Remote Desktop VPN connection
If your Minemax dongle is plugged into your office workstation, you can access this workstation using a Remote Desktop Client via a VPN connection. This is a good option that doesn’t require you to re-install your software or set anything else up. Your data and projects will be exactly where you left them. Please be aware that your experience may be impacted by a slow network connection. Contact your IT department for help to resolve any VPN or remote desktop issues.
Minemax Scheduler and Tempo currently support this option.
2. Use your Minemax dongle with your personal computer at home
If you don’t want to worry about networking issues, you can connect your Minemax dongle directly to your personal computer and install Minemax software using the Minemax Software Manager. The process is very quick and easy. However, you may need to transfer your projects and import data from your office computer or server to your home computer in order to commence your work.
The minimum computer requirements for Minemax software are the following:
- Minemax Scheduler, Minemax Planner and Tempo: MS Windows operating systems using .NET Framework 4.6.1 (Windows 7 SP2 to Windows 10), 8 GB of RAM, 2.5 GB if .NET Framework 4.6.1 not pre-installed, 500 MB otherwise.
- iGantt: Microsoft Windows 64-bit operating systems (Windows 7 SP2 to Windows 10), 2 GB of RAM, 500MB free disk space.
Your actual computing requirements will vary depending on the complexity of your project. You might experience slower solve times for large datasets as compared to working on your office workstation.
3. Access a Minemax network license via a VPN connection
If your organisation uses a network dongle, you can access your license over a VPN connection. This option doesn’t require the use of a remote desktop client. However, you will need to install Minemax software on your local machine through the Minemax Software Manager, and you may need to transfer your projects and data as explained in #2 above. The minimum computer requirements for your work are the same as explained in #2 above. In addition, you may need to coordinate sharing the license with other users who are also working from home.
Minemax Scheduler and Tempo currently support this option.
4. Soft Licensing
If you’re using a soft license installed on your office workstation to access your Minemax software and can’t use a remote desktop VPN connection, you can transfer your soft license to your personal computer. Please contact Minemax support so we can assist you with transferring your soft license.
We hope that this helps you understand your options for accessing Minemax software from home.
If you have any questions or issues with developing and updating your mine plans from home, contact Minemax support – we’re working from home also, and are available to help you make the most of your work-from-home situation.