All three components of the GMA series are available online in both of the parallel forms, A and B. We use our own secure online delivery platform which we developed in-house in the late 1990s to deliver bespoke assessments for major chemical and telecommunications companies. It operates on Microsoft Windows only, and makes minimum use of the web browser. Results from large-scale use of GMA-online and the original paper version yield very similar score distributions, and organisations may and do use the paper and online versions interchangeably.
The candidate downloads a small client module from a webpage to run on a Windows PC. The session runs locally with autonomous built-in timers, with the keyboard and other applications disabled, using only a mouse or touchpad. The software tracks each candidate's session in detail, and reports include detail such as response latencies on an item-by item basis. Reports are generated automatically and emailed immediately to the customer's choice of email address. For large-scale users we may also provide a dedicated web page with tabulated summary scores downloadable as a .csv file for opening as, for instance, an Excel spreadsheet. Each test session is stored indefinitely in fine detail, allowing us to check on occasional misleading claims by candidates about events during the session.
Depending on the proposed scale of use, we may allocate a dedicated software server along with a unique IP address to you, with co-branding on the target web page and customised introductory wording. Apart from GMA itself, we can deliver other tests on the same platform that do not exist in paper form.
The GMA-online implementation was begun in 2004 and first put into commercial use late in 2008. Since then it has become part of routine practice in clients ranging fro small specialist consultancies to major international corporate and institutional users around the English-speaking world.
We currently operate two hardware servers that we own and manage coloocated in a secure data centre in the UK and one rented server in California that we also manage ourselves. We do not use cloud servers or shared hosted services, so we are in complete control of candidate data which is transmitted and stored in encrypted formats. We are expecting to add more servers, in the Far East and Australia, in the near future.
The system is equally well adapted to remote testing of individuals in their homes or place of study or work and to proctored use in large groups in suitably equipped IT facilities. We have had single candidates complete in an Internet cafe and groups of 50 working in organised sessions. Where multiple tests are used, candidates may be allowed to undertake them in separate sessions if they so choose, or they may be constrained to sit the whole diet in a single session.
Normally, our software leaves no traces on the client PC when the testing session is completed, but for bulk use with an organisation's firewall we can provide a spewcial version of the client software (a single executable file of about 1 Mbyte) to reside on a local server.
We provide candidate IDs and passwords free of charge which have a shelf life of one year. Customers are invoiced on a three-monthly cycle for their actual usage as recorded in our logs. There is no upfront payment, no minimum usage requirement, no "resource units" or "funny money". We welcome small-scale and large-scale users alike, but this service is supplied at our discretion, and we may decline to accept a customer for security, commercial confidentiality or conflict of interest with our existing customers without specifying the reason. We charge per candidate, with a sliding scale of discount for candidates undertaking more than one test in the series. Retests using the parallel form, in circumstances where this is necessary because of mishaps and so forth, is free of charge. We do not charge extra for co-branding, for providing dedicated software servers and IP addresses or for additional features which become available from time to time.
Read full formal Terms and Conditions or download the PDF.
Contact PRD for further details.