CCS Cards VFE

How-tos, Help Docs, FAQ

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VFE FAQ

To join a VFE session, participants download and install either the free CCS VFE Cards App (or the premium CCS Vision Pack App) on their mobile device. To join a session, participants simply enter their name and the Session ID provided by the facilitator. If an active session with that ID is found (with less than 20 participants already joined), the participant will be joined to the session.

Yes. At CCS Corporation, we understand the importance of ensuring our customers are able to confirm that the software they are downloading and installing is genuine and approved to run on PCs and Mac. As such, we can confirm that the CCS Cards VFE application has been notarised and approved by Apple to run on Mac OS and CCS Corporation is a Verified publisher of Windows software. This status is only attained by the successful application of an Extended Validation Certificate. The verification is clearly visible in the Windows dialogues at the start of the installation process: "Verified Publisher: CCS Corporation PTY LTD".

No. Participants join a VFE by downloading the free mobile App. The facilitator's VFE account will be debited for each participant who joins a session. Facilitators add Participant Passes (PPs) to their VFE account by purchasing VFE Participant Pass Vouchers which include various bundles of PPs. The vouchers are redeemed in the VFE application to add PPs to the facilitator's account. The price for each participant to join starts at less than $1 and varies according to the voucher purchased — the bigger the voucher, the more economical the PP.

Once you have started a CCS VFE session it will be joinable by participants for up to 48 hours. After this time the session can be repeatedly opened for review, discussion, editing and snapshotting — but participants will no longer be able to join and the virtual CCS Cards on their mobile device will no longer be accessible (unless a new Session ID is entered).  

Yes. If you start a VFE session and no participants join, there is no charge for the session. This allows you to repeatedly run simple icebreaker sessions using CCS Cards (such as one-card instant response activities) at no cost. 

A CCS VFE Application Account is assigned to you with the one-time purchase of the CCS VFE desktop application from any of the online stores on this site. As part of this purchase you will be given a link to download the VFE Application.

Yes. You can install the VFE on as many computers as you please. When you purchase the Application, a VFE Application Account will be created for you that can be used to sign-in to any of the installations. All VFE sessions created under an Account are stored within that Account. If you have several facilitators we recommend that you consider purchasing multiple copies of the software so that each facilitator has their own VFE Application Account.  

Occasionally you may find yourself facilitating a session and your participants are telling you that they have sent updates and, after a few moments, they are not showing up. If this happens, check to make sure the Update Monitor is active. If it's not, click back inside the VFE window and/or click directly on the Update Monitor itself to trigger an immediate update.

Snaps are saved in a special "CCS Cards" folder in your computer's default Documents folder.

Note: As of version 1.2, the system now creates a special subfolder within the /Documents/CCS Cards/ folder using the name of the Session you created. So, if you start a session called “Big Company Team Values” you will find any snaps for this session in a folder called: /Documents/CCS Cards/Big Company Team Values.

Also, in previous versions the main folder was called "CCSCards". This has been renamed to "CCS Cards" (which is easier to read). Any Snaps you have saved from previous versions will still be in the old folder.

See Snaps

You can switch on one of 3 different CCS Vision Packs at the start of each session. The pack you choose will be the one that appears on your participant's mobile device. Select Shuffle to present the cards in a random order for each participant.

Choose from 3 different CCS vision packs

Help: Manage Sessions

Windows:

  • Requires Windows 10 or higher
  • Download size 67 Mb
  • 264 Mb of disk space

Mac:

  • Requires macOS Big Sur 11.0 or higher
  • Runs on Intel and Silicon/M1 chips
  • Download size 75 Mb
  • 300 Mb of disk space

The VFE is designed for a facilitator running groups of up to 20 participants in a single session. If you need to run an event with more than 20, you can do it using a little bit of multi-session switching! Just create as many additional sessions as you need.

For example, let's say you have 30 participants -- you start by creating two sessions. Open each one and copy the Session ID. Then, at the start of your event, divide the group in subgroups of 20 or less and provide each subgroup with one of the Session IDs. In this way, all 30 participants will have virtual cards and can share their choices on the mobiles in-person or in virtual break-out rooms.

If you need to display selections on the VFE screen from each subgroup, just use End Session and Resume Session, to switch between them.

See also our PDF help doc:

How to run VFE sessions for events with more than 20 participants