FAQs

• What is the 'Starting Point Assessment'? What is the 'Assessment'?
• How can the assessment be so fast, and yet so accurate?
• Is the assessment reliable?
• Are people stuck with their scores, or can they change over time?
• How do I retake the assessment?
• What is Spherical Dynamics?
• How can I get answers to my other questions?

• How may I try an assessment before I decide to purchase?
• How do I sign up to take a workshop?
• I signed up for a workshop but have not received my confirmation.
• I want to demo the product to a large group of prospective clients.
• What companies are using your tools?
• How do I purchase assessments?
• How do I get trained?
• When will my group expire?
• How long do I have access to your product after I purchase?
• What do I do to renew my access?
• How do I report a bug or a problem?
• What is the difference between a Group and a Team?
• How can I get answers to my other questions?

• What browsers does 5 Dynamics support?
• My client did not receive his/her invitation to take the online assessment.
• My password isn't working.
• How do I change my password?
• How do I report a bug or a problem?
• When I try to display a PDF of my report it doesn't display.
• When I looked at a Client-Colleague report there were astrisks in the text.
• My client cannot see the results of his assessment. Why and what can I do?
• After I login, I try to go to the Preferences & Maps tab but sent back to the Login page. Why and what can I do?
• Where can I find background information on your products?
• How do I transfer my user from the Spherical Dynamics site?
• How can I get answers to my other questions?

Does it logically follow that assessments must take a long time to be valid and reliable?

If other fields believed that assumption we would not have laser eye surgery, angioplasty, digital video cameras or, for that matter, microwave ovens.

The international patent-pending Starting Point Assessment is built from a set of internal constructs that differ in important ways from other assessments. It requires an average of only 2.2 minutes to complete. (In a business setting, this is a good thing!)

But more to the point, we found that the longer an assessment was, the less accurate it became.

For example, people tried to match item 186 to item 144. Assessment designers add items to check for such discrepancies. The assessment begins to work against itself. The introduction of personality also substantially adds drag to the assessment; it is yet another construct to measure and validate.

Until now, there have been no major breakthroughs in assessments in 50 or 60 years. We believe the field is (over)due!

You will likely want to read our Validity and Reliability White Paper.

Reliability is the degree to which an assessment yields consistent results over time. The Starting Point Assessment measures your brain's responses to stimuli (word-pairs) as mediated through your visual cortex and various cognitive processes. A better question would be, is your brain reliable?

The short answer is that the assessment is highly reliable. But we do believe that the brain chemistry is not immune to the environment in which its owner exists. For example, if you are in a situation where you must deliver lots of results in a big hurry, your endocrine and hormonal levels will change. If this is out of your natural zone of comfort, you will feel fatigue and stress. This alters what you see in a field of stimuli, and hence you will pick different words in the Starting Point Assessment.

In drastic situations (divorce, job loss, bereavement, serious illness) scores will drastically change. Over time, they generally revert to their base level as the person heals.

Our instrument is sensitive to these types of circumstances. It can only measure people where they currently are.

You will likely want to read our Validity and Reliability White Paper.

Users of Windows XP and Internet Explorer who have recently updated to Adobe Reader 7.0 may experience this problem. First try refreshing the screen. If the PDF file does not come up, Internet Explorer has a problem identifying which program to use to display the file. This is a browser configuration issue with Internet Explorer. We recommend reading this Adobe TechNote for browser configuration suggestions.

Your browser may also have a Download Manager. This new feature of Internet Explorer blocks unauthorized file downloads to your computer. (Viewing a pdf requires temporarily downloading the pdf file to your computer.) The indication that your file download is blocked is subtle. Look for a narrow pale bar at the top of your browser screen when you try to download a file (or view a pdf). By clicking on the bar, you can opt to download just this file or permit your browser to download all files from the site. This Microsoft Help and Support Page describes configuring Internet Explorer to automatically download documents.

5 Dynamics has been tested on Window XP with the following browsers:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.29
• Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6+.

• Firefox 2.0.0.12+
• Safari 3.0.4

Sometimes a Client is created without a specified gender. A report generated for this Client will not be able to correctly chose between pronouns (he/she, himself/herself). An astrisk will then appear in place of the pronoun. Update the Client profile with the correct gender, and correct pronouns will display.

People can indeed change over time. Drastic changes are rare. However, people can, and often do, experience minor shifts of energy depending on their circumstances. Over time, if they work on their conscious perception, meditate, or pursue other practices, their energies can shift.

As a practical matter, we suggest people celebrate their energies for what they are. At the same time, individuals need to develop a set of strategies for dealing with energies they may not have in abundance:namely, delegate, drop the task, or develop.

Recent users include Cognizant Technology Systems, Stanford Medical School, Brown-Forman, Hewlett-Packard, ChevronTexaco, Charles Schwab, and many more whose identities are confidential by agreement.

Please visit our Affiliates and Training page.

Spherical Dynamics is the parent company umbrella over "5 Dynamics."

They are both names for the assessment tool, which is the core of the 5 Dynamics product.

Please contact us.

When a client cannot read the results of his assessment it means there was an issue when their profile was created. When creating a new client in the system, the "Show Results?" box must be checked in order for your client to see results after login. This box is located at the bottom of the Add A New Client page.

If you are sent back to the Login page when attempting to see the results of your assessment after logging in, it means that your Coach has not allowed you to see your assessment results. There is no cause for alarm -- a coach may simply want to brief you in person and discuss the results outside of the system. You will want to contact your Coach to request the opportunity to view your results.

There are several reasons that an email invitation may not have been received.

• First, please make sure the email address is correct.
• Second, allow for network interruptions between our server and yours. Email invitations can take up to 24 hours to reach their destination client.

Spam filters often prevent our email invitations from reaching you or your clients. Often the email ends up in the invitee's spam/junk folder. To prevent that from occurring:

• Always alert invitees that they will be receiving an email inviting them to take the assessment.
• Allow mail servers to accept mail from the 5dynamics.net domain. In large companies, this may entail contacting somebody in IT.
• If an invitee doesn't receive the invitation, suggest that they look in their spam/junk folder.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. .

Please note: Anytime you resend an email invitation it resets the password for the destination client.

If you are experiencing difficulty logging in.

• Your password is reset if someone send you a new email invitation. Please use the ">I forgot my password" link on the login page to have your password resent to you.
• Incorrect/Mispelled Username. Please check to make sure the spelling and capitalization is the same as what you have been assigned. It must be exact in order to gain entry.

After logging in to 5 Dynamics, go to your 'My Folder' tab, the leftmost tab. If you are a Coach or Superuser, you will need to select 'MyFolder' from a set of links above your toolbar and immediately below your name.

Once you are in 'My Folder', look toward the bottom of the left-hand column (you may need to scroll the page). There you will find a box titled "Change my password" with fields to fill in with a new password. Select the "Submit New Password" button to change your password.

We coordinate all of our workshops through our sales department. Please contact sales with inquiries.

There are several reasons that prevent an email confirmation from being received.

• Spam Box: make sure you have reviewed your junk mail box.
• Server: Email invitations can take up to 24 hours to reach their destination. If you have not received a confirmation within 24 hours please contact us.
• Incorrect/invalid email address: Please make sure the email and contact information you provided is accurate.

If you need additonal help, please contact us.

As a company, we strive to provide the best possible solutions to our customers. In turn, we would like to support you in the best possible fashion. In order to do this we provide extensive information about the background, psychology and metric validity of 5 Dynamics. This information is located in our resource pages. We also provide training, workshops and a variety of one-on-one opportunities to increase awareness about the product.

We do not recommend retaking the assessment. We have found that in best use and practice the initial results of the assessment are the most accurate. However, if you made a mistake during the assessment or after extensive discussion with your coach you find the results to be in error, please contact us.

Please report all bugs or interruptions in service on our technical support page.

A Group is a cluster of several Clients managed by a Coach. Teams are subgroups of Clients within the Group who work together or may work together and whose group dynamics the Coach wants to analyze.

A copy of the manual an be found on our Resource page in the application. You will need to use your login/password to gain access to the application.

There is a large selection of information located on on our Learn More page. If you would like to make an appointment to obtain more in-depth knowledge please contact us. We have found that best use and practice is to attend a workshop or training seminar.

In order to transfer from Spherical Dynamics to 5 Dynamics, please submit a request using our technical support form.

You do not have to rebuy assessments when transferring, however due to the enhanced features of 5 Dynamics there is an upgrade fee. For these and for new purchases, please refer the Purchase page for pricing. Corporations please directly contact sales.

A mastergroup expires one year after the mastergroup was created. Expiration date as well as many other valuable statistics can be found in the Group Control Panel. To access the Group Control Panel, first login to your group. Use the pull-down menu or link option to select a Group. This will take you to the Group Control Panel for that group. As you scroll down you will see a table of statistics that includes your expiration date.

Please visit our Purchase page or contact sales to renew your access.

Access to the assessment and 5 Dynamics product is for 1 year. At that time you will have to renew your access, either through our Purchase page or by contacting sales.

Please contact us.