Chapter 2: The Ansys Product Improvement Program

This product is covered by the Ansys Product Improvement Program, which enables Ansys, Inc., to collect and analyze anonymous usage data reported by our software without affecting your work or product performance. Analyzing product usage data helps us to understand customer usage trends and patterns, interests, and quality or performance issues. The data enable us to develop or enhance product features that better address your needs.

How to Participate

The program is voluntary. To participate, select Yes when the Ansys Product Improvement Program (APIP) dialog appears during installation or from the Help menu within Mechanical APDL. Only then will data collection begin.

Opting in to APIP when running HPC batch mode simulations  —  Alternatively, if you run simulations using high-performance computing (HPC) resources and want to include usage data specific to your simulation needs in the Ansys Product Improvement Program, issue the -apip on option on the Mechanical APDL execution command in job-submission scripts: 

ansys242 -apip on

This is necessary because users who submit simulations in batch mode do not launch the GUI and manually opt-in to APIP on these HPC resources.

How the Program Works

After you agree to participate, the product collects anonymous usage data during each session. When you end the session, the collected data is sent to a secure server accessible only to authorized Ansys employees. After Ansys receives the data, various statistical measures such as distributions, counts, means, medians, modes, etc., are used to understand and analyze the data.

Data We Collect

The data we collect under the Ansys Product Improvement Program are limited. The types and amounts of collected data vary from product to product. Typically, the data fall into the categories listed here:

Hardware: Information about the hardware on which the product is running, such as the:

  • brand and type of CPU

  • number of processors available

  • amount of memory available

  • brand and type of graphics card

System: Configuration information about the system the product is running on, such as the:

  • operating system and version

  • country code

  • time zone

  • language used

  • values of environment variables used by the product

Session: Characteristics of the session, such as the:

  • interactive or batch setting

  • time duration

  • total CPU time used

  • product license and license settings being used

  • product version and build identifiers

  • command line options used

  • number of processors used

  • amount of memory used

  • errors and warnings issued

Session Actions: Counts of certain user actions during a session, such as the number of:

  • project saves

  • restarts

  • meshing, solving, postprocessing, etc., actions

  • times the Help system is used

  • times wizards are used

  • toolbar selections

Model: Statistics of the model used in the simulation, such as the:

  • number and types of entities used, such as nodes, elements, cells, surfaces, primitives, etc.

  • number of material types, loading types, boundary conditions, species, etc.

  • number and types of coordinate systems used

  • system of units used

  • dimensionality (1-D, 2-D, 3-D)

Analysis: Characteristics of the analysis, such as the:

  • physics types used

  • linear and nonlinear behaviors

  • time and frequency domains (static, steady-state, transient, modal, harmonic, etc.)

  • analysis options used

Solution: Characteristics of the solution performed, including:

  • the choice of solvers and solver options

  • the solution controls used, such as convergence criteria, precision settings, and tuning options

  • solver statistics such as the number of equations, number of load steps, number of design points, etc.

Specialty: Special options or features used, such as:

  • user-provided plug-ins and routines

  • coupling of analyses with other Ansys products

Data We Do Not Collect

The Product Improvement Program does not collect any information that can identify you personally, your company, or your intellectual property. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • names, addresses, or usernames

  • file names, part names, or other user-supplied labels

  • geometry- or design-specific inputs, such as coordinate values or locations, thicknesses, or other dimensional values

  • actual values of material properties, loadings, or any other real-valued user-supplied data

In addition to collecting only anonymous data, we make no record of where we collect data from. We therefore cannot associate collected data with any specific customer, company, or location.

Opting Out of the Program

You may stop your participation in the program any time you wish. To do so, select Ansys Product Improvement Program from the Help menu. A dialog appears and asks if you want to continue participating in the program. Select No and then click OK. Data will no longer be collected or sent.

The Ansys, Inc., Privacy Policy

All Ansys products are covered by the Ansys, Inc., Privacy Policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Am I required to participate in this program?

    No, your participation is voluntary. We encourage you to participate, however, as it helps us create products that will better meet your future needs.

  2. Am I automatically enrolled in this program?

    No. You are not enrolled unless you explicitly agree to participate.

  3. Does participating in this program put my intellectual property at risk of being collected or discovered by Ansys?

    No. We do not collect any project-specific, company-specific, or model-specific information.

  4. Can I stop participating even after I agree to participate?

    Yes, you can stop participating at any time. To do so, select Ansys Product Improvement Program from the Help menu. A dialog appears and asks if you want to continue participating in the program. Select No and then click OK. Data will no longer be collected or sent.

  5. Will participation in the program slow the performance of the product?

    No, the data collection does not affect the product performance in any significant way. The amount of data collected is very small.

  6. How frequently is data collected and sent to Ansys servers?

    The data is collected during each use session of the product. The collected data is sent to a secure server once per session, when you exit the product.

  7. Is this program available in all Ansys products?

    Not at this time, although we are adding it to more of our products at each release. The program is available in a product only if this Ansys Product Improvement Program description appears in the product documentation, as it does here for this product.

  8. If I enroll in the program for this product, am I automatically enrolled in the program for the other Ansys products I use on the same machine?

    Yes. Your enrollment choice applies to all Ansys products you use on the same machine. Similarly, if you end your enrollment in the program for one product, you end your enrollment for all Ansys products on that machine.

  9. How is enrollment in the Product Improvement Program determined if I use Ansys products in a cluster?

    In a cluster configuration, the Product Improvement Program enrollment is determined by the host machine setting.

  10. Can I easily opt out of the Product Improvement Program for all clients in my network installation?

    Yes. Perform the following steps on the file server:

    1. Navigate to the installation directory: [Drive:]\v242\commonfiles\globalsettings

    2. Open the file ANSYSProductImprovementProgram.txt.

    3. Change the value from "on" to "off" and save the file.