HELP!
Is your company a victim of Bentley‘s software licensing policies?
We used to be happy with the SELECT subscription‘s TrustLicensing program until about two and a half years ago when we learned about the„bucket method“ of license usage (see attached file „What is usage and how is it calculated.pdf“ in zip) and what itmeant for us.
At this time, two and a half years ago and ever since,Bentley has repeatedly demanded that we buy more licenses since our „buckets“ haveoverflowed. Since we felt that we werenot using the software that much, we examinedthe records stored on the SELECTserver user login to see what the actual usagewas. We looked at every new record for aday, each of which meant that a license was being pulled out of the pool, andits Stop Time to see how many licenses were being used at the same time. We found out that we were only using thelicenses we had bought and paid SELECT subscription fees for. Attached is a study for one day („Efla - Application Usage By Hour -27-05-2013.xlsx“ in zip), one of many we have reviewed.
We own 10 PowerDraft licenses (also 10 MicroStation, 2InRoads, 1 Geopack and 1 Bentley Building Mechanical Systems license) and forthis particular day we only used a maximum of 10 licenses simultaneously.
Alas, Bentley doesnot allow us to use our licenses in this way! Instead, they count the licenses being used „within the hour“ so theycount 16 licenses being used on this particular day instead of 10. So if someone uses a license in such a waythat use starts one minute before the hour or ends one minute after the hour,12-14% of the license working day is lost. If someone uses a license for 10 minutes and use happens to straddle thehour, 21-24% of the license working day is lost. And this might happen more than once per day.
For this Bentley is asking for 17% of the cost of a licenseas a SELECT subscription fee, which is more than most other vendors ask for(10-15%) for similar or better services.
Why are we not allowed to use every license we havepurchased every second? In our caseBentley wants us to own MORE than 10licenses so we can use 10 licenses without overfilling the „buckets“. That is a hefty overhead they want us to pay. Bentley‘s Trust Licensing has gotten a wholenew sinister meaning.
Is it only us? Haveyou looked at your true usage for your overflowing „buckets“ (or your peaks)? Have you had to pay for more licenses inorder to keep the „buckets“ from overflowing even though your true usage hasbeen much less? Please share yourexperiences. What is your „bucket“ usagevs. the true usage? Our max is 16 vs. 10. For this Bentley wants us to suffer, i.e. forthe way we use our licenses.
We don‘t think it‘s fair that you can‘t use yourlicenses every second of the working day in any way you like without paying a premiumfor extra licenses that you don‘t use. Every other vendor we know of allows you to use your licenses everysecond of the day.
There is a very good Understanding, Monitoring and Managing Usage blog article related to this that was posted recently and is very much worth reading.
Unknown said: There is a very good Understanding, Monitoring and Managing Usage blog article related to this that was posted recently and is very much worth reading.
This blog appears to be just about trust licencing, and not how our licences are managed. Why is there a difference?
Unknown said: Bentley has chosen to ensure end users are productive and not deny the ability to work which hinges on an external variable of a network connection.
Bentley has chosen to ensure end users are productive and not deny the ability to work which hinges on an external variable of a network connection.
"] The system is designed to report usage, first and foremost, and with this bias ensures you will always be able to run the product when you need it, whether or not a connection is possible.
The system is designed to report usage, first and foremost, and with this bias ensures you will always be able to run the product when you need it, whether or not a connection is possible.
We had the option to run the product disconnected in the previous SS model by "checking out" a license, or we we would enter a 30 trial mode. It sounds like the focus of the current SS model is to favor the disconnect license at the expense of the connected.
I think that the current trust licensing model would work as long as Bentley takes a fair approach to it. If Bentley provides no way of real time license monitoring, they have to expect that overages will happen occasionally.
As far as I know there is no strict policy on overage usage, I mean, how many overages does it take to trigger a new license? Is there leniency based on overage time? Is there leniency based on how often the programs are used? Is the decision to push a new license entirely subjective and decided by the account manager?
My current experience to the above is that there is NO LENIENCY BASED ON OVERAGE TIME!!!! We have 3 licenses and use the program at high times 8 hours in a day total across 3 licenses and are being forced into purchasing another due to the fact of people opening the program printing and then exiting.
We have taken the steps and have assigned only certain computers and people to do any of the work in the program.
I have been told from my account manager that Bentley has now issued the policies that force them to take the heavy handed approach!!
Unknown said: My current experience to the above is that there is NO LENIENCY BASED ON OVERAGE TIME!!!! We have 3 licenses and use the program at high times 8 hours in a day total across 3 licenses and are being forced into purchasing another due to the fact of people opening the program printing and then exiting. We have taken the steps and have assigned only certain computers and people to do any of the work in the program. I have been told from my account manager that Bentley has now issued the policies that force them to take the heavy handed approach!!
If you are only printing then use Bentley View.
Unfortunately Bentley View does not work for us (gINT). It will usually be a quick edit to some text as well.
While it may be that Trusted usages are really two things: 1. the ability to run the software with no connection to a license server and 2. the ability to use a license even if it exceeds the number you actually own (this second requirement is necessary because there is no way to monitor license usage in real-time), in the SS reports I run, the trusted usages are ALWAYS the ones above our license "line" on the graph. This from the Bentley web site:
Enjoy Freedom of Use through Trust Licensing
Ensure uninterrupted access with the ability to run your Bentley software, regardless of the availability of licenses. To help you avoid project disruptions, SELECTserver offers Trust Licensing, which eliminates time wasted waiting to run software when licenses are not immediately accessible. As a result, you have the freedom and flexibility to use the software you need, when and where you need it, with license usage insight to make informed decisions about your organization’s license needs.
So - are we permitted to have Trusted license (overage) usage or not?