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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="https://communities.bentley.com/cfs-file/__key/system/syndication/rss.xsl" media="screen"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"><channel><title>Collaboration Corner</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog</link><description>The very nature of collaboration means that we are all at it in one way or another!</description><dc:language>en-US</dc:language><generator>Telligent Community 12</generator><item><title>Be Employable is Extended Until End of 2010</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/be-employable-is-extended-until-end-of-2010</link><pubDate>Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:58:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:85515268-9cf0-4b93-8049-a6ce8d57eafe</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=134688</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/be-employable-is-extended-until-end-of-2010#comments</comments><description>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;The economy may be slowly improving, but we all know it&amp;rsquo;s still tough out there. Good jobs are hard to find, and to&amp;nbsp;beat the competition to&amp;nbsp;the job&amp;nbsp;you really need to demonstrate&amp;nbsp;your skills advantage that sets you apart. That&amp;rsquo;s why I am proud to share that Bentley is extending our &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Community/Academic/Be%20Employable/"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Be Employable program&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt; through December 31, 2010. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Available to unemployed infrastructure professionals, Be Employable provides no-charge access to Bentley software and training. You can download our most popular software and assess your existing skill levels thanks to our friends at &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cadsmart.net/beemployable.asp"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;KnowledgeSmart&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt; who have also agreed to expand their support by offering new MicroStation and Bentley Architecture assessments. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;So if you are not already &amp;quot;in&amp;quot; with Be Employable, I suggest you grab your software of choice and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-us/training/products/resources/courses/"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;sign up&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt; for LIVE training or OnDemand eLearning in our virtual classroom from the Bentley Institute.&amp;nbsp;You will find a&amp;nbsp;broad range of courses for the MicroStation, building, civil, water, and geospatial products included in the program. And if you need technical support or just want to network with other infrastructure professionals, you can get connected here in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Be Communities&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Current Be Employable members should see no interruption in their benefits as the extension kicks in. All active usernames and passwords and software licenses should continue to work normally.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Good eh? Get ready for your next job interview now and &amp;quot;Be Employable.&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;Cheers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;JC&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2010/04/15/eliminating-risk-and-improving-safety-with-projectwise-dynamic-plot.aspx"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#0066dd;"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=134688&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>Eliminating Risk and Improving Safety with ProjectWise Dynamic Plot</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/eliminating-risk-and-improving-safety-with-projectwise-dynamic-plot</link><pubDate>Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:09:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:bf347651-7668-4384-a009-12825fec49ab</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=123377</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/eliminating-risk-and-improving-safety-with-projectwise-dynamic-plot#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Can it really be true? It is according to J.P. Gauthier, Superintendent of CADD Systems, at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). As a long-time user of ProjectWise InterPlot, J.P. and the team at TTC are no strangers to plot automation efficiency. They are also not strangers to paper. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;It&amp;#39;s all true!&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;We submit all of our design reviews to our safety officers as paper plots - because that is their preferred media for review.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; Said J.P. Gauthier when i asked him why they were compelled to add ProjectWise Dynamic Plot to their existing ProjectWise implementation. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Historically our safety officers markup the paper copies, and afterwards, a clerk manually transfers the Safety Officer&amp;#39;s&amp;nbsp;comments to the CAD environment. With dynamic plots, produced by ProjectWise, our safety officers can markup a paper plot using a digital pen, and then directly synchronize their comments with the source CAD files.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Its easy to see the value for TTC; they get to streamline their mark-up workflow without really changing it because the team still produces paper plots, and the safety officers still mark-up the paper copy with pen and ink. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;So where is the &lt;span style="text-decoration:underline;"&gt;BIG&lt;/span&gt; win for you?&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; I asked. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;This new workflow with the digital pen and dynamic plot eliminates any risk of markup transfer errors and is key to improving our safety record.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp; followed J.P. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No doubt, eliminating risk and improving safety are two &lt;span style="text-decoration:underline;"&gt;VERY&lt;/span&gt; bankable benefits for the TTC team. But how does this ProjectWise Dynamic Plot software work? &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;Some Background...&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;ProjectWise Dynamic Plot sustains and extends the value of project information by bringing paper into the digital age to help mitigate project risk, and shrink the time required to sync written comments with digital data from days to seconds. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="hr"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;ProjectWise Dynamic Plot is the only solution of its kind that enables plot production from any PC, markup on any piece of paper, and synchronization from any other PC anywhere in the world. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="hr"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;Cultural Factors&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With an industry-wide shortage of qualified and experienced engineers, it&amp;#39;s never been more important to retain seasoned professionals to work alongside the rising stars of the future to guarantee success. But with clear preferences from some for traditional paper-based design review processes bucking the trend to adopt digital methodologies it&amp;#39;s never been more difficult to integrate project delivery across a diverse team. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is until now. By connecting the information plotted to paper with the source information in the computer, in effect bringing paper into the digital age, the ProjectWise Dynamic Plot offering enables integrated project teams to embrace traditional and digital workflows as though they are one: Sustaining the value of information and sustaining the value of the workforce at large. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;Process, Methodology &amp;amp; Strategies&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Accordingly - with ProjectWise Dynamic Plot - the design environment is persistently connected to the review environment by making the paper &amp;lsquo;dynamic.&amp;#39; Then, using a digital pen, all markups applied to a dynamic plot are captured in real-time. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;Here&amp;#39;s how it works&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With this new software, come tools to add a &amp;quot;dynamic&amp;quot; layer to a digital drawing so that when it is plotted to paper - using ProjectWise InterPlot - the new Dynamic Plot software adds the design data along with a unique pattern that gives the overall plot a slightly grayish background. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://communities.bentley.com/photos/joes_photos/images/123383/original.aspx" border="0" alt="" /&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At the same time a record is made in the ProjectWise database indicating which design files were used to create the plot. This record is the key for associating comments applied to the dynamic plot with the digital models that were used to produce it. This &amp;lsquo;provenance&amp;#39; enables - for the first time - complete change management between the paper and digital versions of the same information. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So when someone marks up the dynamic paper copy with a digital pen the markups are immediately captured - in real-time - by the pen, and stored for later synchronization with the original model content. And then synchronizing the digital pen and its captured content is easy. Dock the pen, and the digital markups - the ones and zeros - are transferred to the PC, and transformed into vectors before being synchronized and associated with the source data (by querying the record created earlier in the process) so that all data is presented on screen in one place. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;Watch the &lt;a href="http://connected.bentley.com/viewSeminars.aspx?BEC_SS_ID=142"&gt;Be Connected Seminar&lt;/a&gt; OnLine and OnDemand&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;Benefits &amp;amp; Results&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This &amp;lsquo;dynamic&amp;#39; connection between the paper plot and the digital source data, and the &amp;lsquo;provenance&amp;#39; retained by ProjectWise, enables any user to eliminate errors during the paper-to-PC transfer process. Accordingly, users can immediately synchronize mark-ups made on paper with the digital source data in the PC, dramatically reducing the time required to sync written comments with digital data from days to seconds. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;ROI &amp;amp; Economic Advantages&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The benefits are clear. Integrated project teams eliminate the risk of losing markups, they establish a markup audit trail for management accountability and corporate compliance, they dramatically reduce the time it takes to synchronize comments made on paper, and they increase project quality, improve project safety, and reduce project risk by making sure that all information in all media is consistent. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;What the press had to say...&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And interest has been overwhelming. In 2009, and after only one-month online, the ProjectWise Dynamic Plot story was the 2nd most read of all online exclusives for &amp;quot;&lt;a href="http://www.rebuildingamericasinfrastructure.com/article-comments-the_most_popular_stories_of_2009-189.html"&gt;Rebuilding America&amp;#39;s Infrastructure&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition, other early responses from industry analysts were also very favorable: &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;It&amp;#39;s the way ProjectWise Dynamic Plot fits comfortably into existing review workflows, that makes it an easy choice for many companies.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; -Kathleen Maher, Vice President, Jon Peddie research &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;This would have been great twenty years ago when I was a practicing geologist. I could have saved a lot of time and effort.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; -Joe Francica, Editor-in-chief, Directions Media &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h5&gt;Check it out! &lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ask your Account Manager for details, you never know, you may even be able to get a free trial!! &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cheers &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;JC &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/12/07/make-new-year-s-resolutions-now-don-t-wait-for-january-1st-to-plan-your-career-development.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2010/06/30/be-employable-is-extended-until-end-of-2010.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=123377&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>Make New Year's Resolutions Now - Don't Wait for January 1st to Plan your Career Development</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/make-new-year-s-resolutions-now-don-t-wait-for-january-1st-to-plan-your-career-development</link><pubDate>Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:19:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:45d15151-40d8-4465-ab8a-3d85bd85e0d2</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=99750</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/make-new-year-s-resolutions-now-don-t-wait-for-january-1st-to-plan-your-career-development#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
For several weeks now, we've been in the throes of 2010 planning here at Bentley, and my team has been asking about professional development opportunities for the coming year. That got me thinking: if training is on the minds of my own team, then lots of you are probably thinking about it, too. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
As the year draws to an end organizations will be completing their annual performance reviews and gearing up for next year's business and individual goal setting exercises. For many career development initiatives are front and center&amp;nbsp;with more senior-executive mindshare than usual. Now is the time therefore&amp;nbsp;to plan for the training that will help you meet your goals. Which may also mean you have to get your budget request in now. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
To help, Bentley has already posted its 2010 live training schedules at &lt;a&gt;www.bentley.com/FindCourses&lt;/a&gt;. There you'll find courses for a wide variety of Bentley products and versions&amp;nbsp;- including V8i - dates, times, and prices, are all included as is&amp;nbsp;the option to take live training either in the virtual classroom or at a local classroom close to home. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
And if you are not sure which course to start with, fear not we have that covered for you too.&amp;nbsp;Click on any of the learning path links in the Find Courses table to help you organize and prioritize your learning. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Of course, if you already have a Bentley LEARN training subscription, all live training courses in the virtual classroom are already paid for - so you may register today and realize the value of your subscription at your convenience. That's one-way&amp;nbsp;at least of avoiding the budget request cycle.&amp;nbsp; 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers and all the best for 2010! 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Jc 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/10/12/onsite-at-be-inspired.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2010/04/15/eliminating-risk-and-improving-safety-with-projectwise-dynamic-plot.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt; 
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=99750&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>OnSite at Be Inspired</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/onsite-at-be-inspired</link><pubDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:36:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:7c747b6f-805a-497c-be2a-5dd9b781b826</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>2</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=89149</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/onsite-at-be-inspired#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
This is something of an anniversary for me. I think my first blog post came from our 2008 Be Conference in Baltimore - although I could be wrong... anyway my next one - this one - is coming from our Be Inspired Best Practices Symposium in Charlotte, North Carolina. So I am claiming an anniversary. :-) 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Be Inspired all kicks off proper (so to speak) Tuesday morning with a 7am Press Briefing. Our CEO Greg Bentley will lead and I am sure there will be a lively (at least I hope there will be) Q&amp;amp;A to follow. We have some great new stuff to announce, new products, new subscriptions, new technology adoption, and new versions of current products. There may even be a surprise or two thrown in for good measure - who knows? I will write more tomorrow when all the news is made public. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Then following the Press Briefing are General Keynotes from Greg and his brother Keith, our CTO. For the press some of this will be a repeat, but not all. Keith's presentation has some real giggles; he did a version of this presentation internally for colleagues earlier in the year. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Then the baton is passed to our users - which is really why we and they are here in Charlotte - to present their own Best Practices. Featuring 50+ Be Inspired awards finalists I expect the quality to be extraordinary. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Then on Tuesday evening we'll all sit down to eat, drink, and be merry as we celebrate the winners who will deservingly receive awards to mark their outstanding project success. As the ambassador for two awards categories I will be taking to the stage with Harry - one of my colleagues from product management - to present awards for &amp;quot;Connecting Project Teams&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Communicating Through Visualization.&amp;quot; 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
More drink and merriment will undoubtedly follow for many - including me as my work is complete early on in the agenda :-) Which is especially good because Wednesday morning starts early again with another hour dedicated to press Q&amp;amp;A with Executive Round Table discussions following on. Again I have a role to play, chairing the one for ProjectWise. I am already excited about the possible discussions we may have. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
I guess i should push on... 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
JC 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/09/15/have-you-seen-the-light.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/12/07/make-new-year-s-resolutions-now-don-t-wait-for-january-1st-to-plan-your-career-development.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt; 
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=89149&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>Have you seen the light?</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/have-you-seen-the-light</link><pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:26:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:7d301298-d3f0-4b12-aa09-5f2b78238b02</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>1</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=83446</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/have-you-seen-the-light#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
I am quite sure you have seen our&amp;nbsp;&amp;quot;Be Connected&amp;quot; site - the home for more than 100 online seminars about real-world infrastructure projects, best practices adopted, and software products used. But have you seen the &amp;quot;all new&amp;quot; &lt;a href="http://connected.bentley.com/viewSeminars.aspx?BEC_SS_ID=137"&gt;ProjectWise V8i (SELECTseries 1) Collaboration System Overview&lt;/a&gt;? Or are you still in the dark? 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Check it out. Our ProjectWise System has come a long way in recent years and today is used by hundred's of thousands of professionals who are responsible for sustaining our global infrastructure. The Seminar description states: 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;code&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Many organizations are recognizing the need for a distributed environment that supports collaborative design and document management processes to help teams improve quality, reduce rework, and meet project deadlines. This presentation will describe the capabilities that are provided by ProjectWise to enable real-time collaboration across distributed teams including Delta File Transfer, Caching Servers, Microsoft SharePoint integration and others.&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/code&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The presentation even rounds out with some amazing ROI numbers measured by ProjectWise users. &lt;a href="http://connected.bentley.com/viewSeminars.aspx?BEC_SS_ID=137"&gt;Check it out&lt;/a&gt; and let me know what you think? 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
jc 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/05/12/give-your-skills-a-tune-up.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/10/12/onsite-at-be-inspired.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt; 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=83446&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>Give your Skills a Tune-Up!</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/give-your-skills-a-tune-up</link><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2009 07:27:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:a4966337-90f7-46a0-9e5c-26fb24b547db</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=54270</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/give-your-skills-a-tune-up#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
From all the reports I have read recently the training budget is one of the first things to get squeezed when times are hard and yet training remains the cheapest, easiest, and longest-lasting performance boost you can give to any team. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
It's no secret to friends of mine that I am a speed freak. Cars, bikes, whatever; I love to go fast. A passion which has taken me to many a race track to satisfy my need for speed. And when you reach the limits of your car and your skills - and yet still you want to go faster - you have just two options; get a faster car, or become a faster driver. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Spending money on a faster car will yield instant results but the gains last only as long as you have the car. Investing to give your driving skills a tune-up will last as long as you drive. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
So when times are tough, and your team is being forced to deliver more work with fewer people, you need to get a performance boost - at an affordable cost - that will last. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
That's why our NEW Bentley LEARN training subscription is just the thing for your team tune-up. It now includes unlimited scheduled instructor-led distance learning in our virtual classroom, in addition to providing subscribers with access to a full library of self-paced OnDemand eLearning courseware. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;code&gt;Now, if you are one of those folks who think that you have to sit in a &amp;quot;physical&amp;quot; classroom to learn, I have a question for you. &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;When was the last time you were in a traditional classroom?&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; - It was a while ago, wasn't it? So let me ask you another: &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;Does that mean you haven't learned anything new since then?&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; - No. I thought so... :-)&lt;/code&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
There's truth in the old adage, &amp;quot;you learn something new every day,&amp;quot; and more and more, we're learning those new things online. Our emerging next generation know little else - even in school classrooms much learning is now conducted on PC's connecting to one site or another out on the interweb. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
So for all you doubters out there we have a plan. Try our instructor-led distance learning risk-free and register for one of the 25 &amp;quot;Try It Before You Buy It&amp;quot; distance learning course samples available online. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Every sample is a&amp;nbsp;free, two-hour course that let you interact live with a real Bentley expert, and give you a taste of learning in our own &amp;quot;virtual classroom.&amp;quot; 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
As a bonus you will add two learning units to your professional transcript online for every course you complete. In this competitive job market being able to demonstrate your learning history is a huge value. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Check out the course descriptions and try distance learning for yourself at &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/distancelearning"&gt;www.bentley.com/distancelearning&lt;/a&gt; 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
And if you like it we have 1,000 more courses available to your whole organization when you buy a Bentley LEARN training subscription. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Care to take a test drive and tune-up your skills in the process? 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
JC 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/02/23/are-you-employable-now-everyone-can-be.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/09/15/have-you-seen-the-light.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt; 
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=54270&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>Are you "Employable"? Now everyone can "Be"</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/are-you-employable-now-everyone-can-be</link><pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:50:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:3c48aa2d-c67b-4e19-84b6-1e2e8da6c43c</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>29</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=37960</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/are-you-employable-now-everyone-can-be#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
Register now at &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/BeEmployable"&gt;www.bentley.com/BeEmployable&lt;/a&gt; to receive access to free Bentley software and training. Sharpen existing skills or develop brand new skills in your own time while you search for re-employment. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
About time huh? This economy is horrible. People are losing their jobs left, right, and center. This new offer from Bentley gives unemployed infrastructure professionals new opportunities to increase their competitive edge in this most challenging of job markets. That is why I am incredibly proud to be a part of the team that has just announced this fabulous new initiative called Be Employable. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
The Be Employable initiative will provide unemployed infrastructure professionals with no-charge access to Bentley software and training. It will provide online tools to help users develop their own personal learning needs. And it will provide the necessary Learning Units to help workers maintain professional qualifications while they seek re-employment. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Support is provided right here on the Be Communities. And I am certain this new initiative will help many&amp;nbsp;unemployed users sharpen current skills. Better still, I think Be Employable will provide the perfect route for unemployed infrastructure professionals to develop brand new skills when using Bentley software for the first time. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
I could go on, and on. But I think you would be better off visiting the web site for more information at &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/BeEmployable"&gt;www.bentley.com/BeEmployable&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;Check it out. And if this initiative is for you... I wish you much luck! 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Jc 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
PS If you want to learn more about our V8i software go to &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/v8i"&gt;www.bentley.com/v8i&lt;/a&gt; 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/24/from-amsterdam-to-paris.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/05/12/give-your-skills-a-tune-up.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt; 
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=37960&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/archive/tags/BE%2bCareers%2bNetwork">BE Careers Network</category><category domain="https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/archive/tags/MicroStation%2bV8i">MicroStation V8i</category><category domain="https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/archive/tags/Free%2bTraining">Free Training</category><category domain="https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/archive/tags/Free%2bSoftware">Free Software</category><category domain="https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/archive/tags/Be%2bEmployable">Be Employable</category></item><item><title>From Amsterdam to Paris…</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/from-amsterdam-to-paris</link><pubDate>Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:39:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:0092a401-8e99-43bb-b350-ee90501f99cd</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=21524</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/from-amsterdam-to-paris#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
The fourth and final Be Seminar concluded on Friday in Paris, and from what I hear, it was nothing short of spectacular! The venue, the attendees, and the software made for quite a do! 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
One colleague reported: &lt;em&gt;&amp;quot;The energy was excellent from all attendees ...the fact that almost all presentations were given in French was a total hit!&amp;quot;&lt;/em&gt; And the energy of those in attendance wasn't the only reason for celebration; the Cadastre and Land Development solution track was a smash hit too. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
The Paris event was delivered to a packed house leaving standing-room only at the back of the main room as attendees clambered to see V8i for themselves. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
What a brilliant way to close out the Be Seminars European tour, I really wish I could have supported the team by attending - perhaps next time we take a big event like this to Paris I will. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
And here's a little quiz test: Do you know how many V8i products are now available for download as a part of this monumental release? (&lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/V8i/products.htm"&gt;Check it out here&lt;/a&gt; ) 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
I'll give you a clue... there are 10 more products available this week than there were last week - and the number is still climbing! 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
And if the number of products doesn't &amp;quot;float your boat&amp;quot; then perhaps you will be impressed by what our users are already doing with V8i. &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Corporate/News/News+Coverage/Luxology/user+renderings.htm"&gt;Check out what some of our users have achieved using the new Luxology rendering engine&lt;/a&gt; included in MicroStation V8i? Fantastic imagery! 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Perhaps you would prefer to check out V8i for yourself? 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
JC 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
PS As of today there are &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/V8i/products.htm"&gt;63 &lt;/a&gt;V8i products available for download. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/18/from-london-to-amsterdam.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2009/02/23/are-you-employable-now-everyone-can-be.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=21524&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>From London to Amsterdam...</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/from-london-to-amsterdam</link><pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:22:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:24b5616d-472c-42b6-9e0c-3cbc8ad48375</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=20624</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/from-london-to-amsterdam#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
I am blogging today from my hotel room in Amsterdam - basking in the afterglow of another brilliant Be Seminar, which follows hot on the heels of London and Frankfurt before.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Every single Be Seminar has built upon the excitement I first experienced in Philly. And I have to say, it's been great to witness our users' excited reactions to the V8i software portfolio. But our users are not alone; the world's media has caught on to V8i too.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Check out a sample of the good press received online on our &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/V8i/media.htm"&gt;V8i media page&lt;/a&gt; .
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
You know, when I hear and read positive commentary - especially from folks I have known for years -  it reinforces my belief that Bentley is succeeding in its mission to help users deliver better projects. Clearly, and based on user reactions, V8i will very soon be put to work by users who are sustaining infrastructure.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
I don't think we could ask for more than that. There really is no greater compliment to an engineering software firm.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Our next stop is Paris, on Friday 21st November, and I am sorry to say I won't be there. I have a pre-existing appointment in London on the same day. Thankfully my disappointment about missing Paris was somewhat assuaged today when I got the chance to present Keith's five favorite MicroStation V8i features to the Amsterdam crowd.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
How about that? It was a thrill... I hope my enthusiasm came across, I know there was much smiling and nodding from the audience. It was also a great way for me to sign-off on this tour. Of course I will grab a report from colleagues who do attend the Paris event and share it with you here.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Be sure to catch the &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Corporate/Events/Seminars/BE+Seminars/Paris.htm"&gt;Paris Be Seminar&lt;/a&gt;, it's the last event in the series.&amp;nbsp; Like Amsterdam today, Paris also highlights include the Cadastre and Land Development solution track.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
I'm also excited to announce that the V8i portfolio now boasts &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/V8i/products.htm"&gt;48 released products&lt;/a&gt; . Check out the extensive list often as it continues to grow each day. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Have you downloaded MicroStation V8i yet? What are you waiting for? Check it out for yourself.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Jc
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/11/from-frankfurt-to-london-v8i-is-gaining-momentum.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/24/from-amsterdam-to-paris.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/11/from-frankfurt-to-london-v8i-is-gaining-momentum.aspx"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=20624&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>From Frankfurt to London – V8i is gaining momentum!</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/from-frankfurt-to-london-v8i-is-gaining-momentum</link><pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:43:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:b63a57fa-17db-49bc-b075-43c736895360</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=19458</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/from-frankfurt-to-london-v8i-is-gaining-momentum#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
The celebration continues... After the fantastic launch of V8i, which you can still catch via the &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/V8i/Broadcast.htm"&gt;Global Live Broadcast Videos&lt;/a&gt; I headed off to Frankfurt for the first in a series of Be Seminars held in Europe. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
The excitement of the V8i launch continued today as attendees in Frankfurt witnessed first-hand the industry&amp;rsquo;s most comprehensive software portfolio ever assembled.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Frankfurt focused on Bentley&amp;rsquo;s oil and gas solution, as well as building and factory solutions. Frankfurt was a fitting place to showcase these solutions as it has such a rich history in these industries. Besides hearing about industry best practices, users also got to experience the new versions of MicroStation and ProjectWise. The hands-on test drives proved very successful with users as they clammered to get their hands on the new products.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Just like the V8i launch in Philly, the Be Seminar in Frankfurt was a hit with the users who attended. Tomorrow I fly back to the UK for the London Be Seminar on Thursday. I have to admit to real excitement at being back on my &amp;quot;manor&amp;quot; - london term for &amp;quot;home ground.&amp;quot;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
The London seminar features COO Malcolm Walter, who will introduce Bentley&amp;rsquo;s vision of sustainability and the vital role that infrastructure plays in creating a sustainable world before celebrating a series of infrastructure case studies which illustrate what Malcolm calls &amp;ldquo;ROI3&amp;rdquo; which stands for return on Investment, Interoperability, and Innovation.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Carey Mann, VP of Software Solutions, follows malcolm to introduce V8i - including the new versions of MicroStation and ProjectWise.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Just like Frankfurt, all users who attend will have the chance to get their hands on V8i in the &amp;quot;Test Drive&amp;quot; sessions.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
There&amp;rsquo;s still time to &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Corporate/Events/Seminars/BE+Seminars/%20to%20register."&gt;sign up for the remaining Be Seminars&lt;/a&gt;  in London, Amsterdam, and Paris.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Perhaps i will see you there!
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
JC
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/11/we-did-it-v8i-launched.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/18/from-london-to-amsterdam.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt; 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/11/we-did-it-v8i-launched.aspx"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=19458&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>We did it, V8i Launched!</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/we-did-it-v8i-launched</link><pubDate>Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:51:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:329b56ff-8647-487e-bd2f-b711b07519ab</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=19302</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/we-did-it-v8i-launched#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
It&amp;rsquo;s was more than &amp;ldquo;just another busy day&amp;rdquo; for me last Thursday, it was the launch day for the V8i Software Portfolio! &amp;nbsp;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
The event itself was absolutely amazing, for those of us at Bentley and for many users who turned out to hear the introduction to V8i in person, and for all of the people around the world who tuned in to the global broadcast.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Keynote speakers included CEO Greg Bentley, CTO Keith Bentley, Senior VP of Bentley Software Bhupinder Singh and VP of Platform Product Management Harry Vitelli. The presentations and broadcast went off fantastically. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
You can watch all of the &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/V8i/Broadcast.htm"&gt;Global Live Broadcast Videos&lt;/a&gt;  again online here.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
But the real thrill for me was talking to users to capture their reactions. All I can say is &amp;ldquo;Wow!&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; I&amp;rsquo;m awestruck by your responses. When we have invested so much time and energy into these products, it means so much to us all at Bentley to see and hear your responses. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
The V8i portfolio emphasizes intraoperability and interoperability, for broader reuse of project and asset information generated during the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure, which enhances the ability of project teams to choose among multiple software offerings.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Find out more for yourself&amp;mdash;visit the &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/V8i/"&gt;V8i website&lt;/a&gt;. Also, be sure to isit&amp;nbsp; the &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/V8i/flash.htm"&gt;V8i User Experience Videos&lt;/a&gt;  - they are my own favorite part of our launch website. Essentially the videos show real people telling a story about V8i and what it means for practitioners from the perspective of an architect, structural engineer, construction manager etc.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
You may also download the &lt;a href="ftp://ftp2.bentley.com/dist/collateral/Web/Platform/V8i_software_portfolio_Brochure.pdf"&gt;V8i Software Portfolio Brochure&lt;/a&gt;  and print it to read at your leisure. or read the new &lt;a href="ftp://ftp2.bentley.com/dist/collateral/Web/Platform/WP_Interop_Platform.pdf"&gt;Interoperability Platform White Paper&lt;/a&gt; . They are both well worth a mug of coffee and a comfy chair.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
If like me, you are mostly motivated by our users' reactions to V8i then check out the web pages &amp;quot;&lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/V8i/Users.htm"&gt;What Users are Saying&lt;/a&gt; .&amp;quot; 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
This week and next I&amp;rsquo;m in Europe catching up with more users as we launch a series of BE Seminars, where we&amp;rsquo;ll continue to introduce V8i to as many people as we can. So I guess there is no slowing down for me! Be sure to visit our website for more details on the &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Corporate/Events/Seminars/BE+Seminars/"&gt;BE Seminars&lt;/a&gt;.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
More to come from Europe... 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
JC 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/06/today-s-the-day-the-big-launch.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/11/from-frankfurt-to-london-v8i-is-gaining-momentum.aspx"&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/11/from-frankfurt-to-london-v8i-is-gaining-momentum.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/06/today-s-the-day-the-big-launch.aspx"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=19302&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>Today's the day... the BIG Launch...</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/today-s-the-day-the-big-launch</link><pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:35:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:b2ec7ead-3094-4db9-9d90-e57db9b18bca</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>3</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=18707</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/today-s-the-day-the-big-launch#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
...and i am excited. So much work, so many great software products, and a fabulous global broadcast LIVE to the world later today. Are you attending? Greg and Keth Bentley are presenting, along with Bhupinder Singh. Don't miss out! 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
We have some excellent stuff for the web too. For anyone to access, at anytime. Learn more about our updated software portfolio here or at &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com"&gt;www.bentley.com&lt;/a&gt;  - all new content should be live on the web from around 1.45pm... including the software products to download!!! 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Registration is still open&amp;mdash;&lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Corporate/Events/Seminars/Launch/Launch"&gt;sign up&lt;/a&gt;  today! 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
JC 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/05/hurrah-for-democracy.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/11/from-frankfurt-to-london-v8i-is-gaining-momentum.aspx"&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/11/from-frankfurt-to-london-v8i-is-gaining-momentum.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt; 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/05/hurrah-for-democracy.aspx"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=18707&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>Hurrah for Democracy!</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/hurrah-for-democracy</link><pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:49:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:6d435d63-8be3-4aa2-a82a-2056531eef85</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=18556</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/hurrah-for-democracy#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
The Launch of&amp;nbsp; &amp;quot;ATHENS&amp;quot; is moving steadily closer, and my days are getting busier and busier. Thursday&amp;rsquo;s launch will be the culmination of a long process of discovery, collaboration, development and delivery for the many people that worked on this release&amp;mdash;both at Bentley and among our users.
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Today&amp;rsquo;s news reminds me that the U.S. has spent the day voting to democratically select its next president. I am glued to the TV at my kitchen table &amp;ndash; watching BBC America for a little unbiased reporting &amp;ndash; and knocking down some last-minute tasks 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Because collaboration is so much on my mind these days, it dawns on me that these presidential campaigns are not unlike our own &amp;quot;ATHENS&amp;quot; development cycle. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;Both involve extended teams of dedicated people talking to the individuals they serve, gathering information about what they need and want, and developing a platform for delivering solutions for their particular pains. &lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;Both are examples of large-scale collaboration in action; asking questions, developing, communicating, testing, gathering feedback, re-tooling the product. &lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;Both represent massive efforts in communication, which coincidentally is what your project teams do every day on every project to varying degrees.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Later tonight, the world will see the final result of the massive campaigns undertaken by both camps. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
After two years of outreach, data collection, and platform development work by both candidates&amp;rsquo; extensive project teams, it&amp;rsquo;s finally their &amp;ldquo;launch day.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; Soon we&amp;rsquo;ll know what direction the next four years of U.S. policy making will take. May the right team win! 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
In just two days time, on Thursday 6th November, you will witness our own launch. And then you&amp;rsquo;ll know what improvements you can expect from our software for your own futures. 
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Don&amp;rsquo;t miss it, we do it all for you. Please &lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Corporate/Events/Seminars/Launch/Launch.htm"&gt;sign up&lt;/a&gt;  for the global broadcast today &amp;ndash; I&amp;rsquo;ll pick up the tab!
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
JC
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/04/the-athens-launch-event.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/06/today-s-the-day-the-big-launch.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/04/the-athens-launch-event.aspx"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=18556&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>The ATHENS Launch Event</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/the-athens-launch-event</link><pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:10:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:b370386d-0342-4448-a458-978d12c64abc</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>1</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=18448</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/the-athens-launch-event#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;
It dawns on me that I have mentioned the launch event a couple of times without really sharing the details. So if you are wondering why you should join us in Philly on November 6th &amp;ndash; either physically or digitally &amp;ndash; please allow me to make the pitch.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Here are my top reasons to join us for the launch event
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;This is the most eagerly anticipated software release since the V8 Generation began and it represents the industry&amp;rsquo;s most comprehensive software portfolio ever assembled in one release.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;You get to rub shoulders with everyone and I mean EVERYONE who will be there to witness first-hand the launch keynotes from Greg Bentley, Keith Bentley, and Bhupinder Singh.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;You get to see the all new versions of MicroStation and ProjectWise presented in public for the first time bearing the new software portfolio name.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;The Greater Philadelphia User Group Meeting is using the launch event to gather and welcome new and old members; that&amp;rsquo;s your opportunity as a &amp;ldquo;local&amp;rdquo; to get onboard with your peers.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;If you are already a member of the Philly User Group (or you have already decided that you want to join) you can even register for a &amp;ldquo;feel the difference&amp;rdquo; training course in the morning on the 6th and be one of the first people anywhere in the world to receive Bentley Institute Learning Units for the commercial release of MicroStation &amp;ldquo;ATHENS.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;You get to see other new applications from the same software portfolio and hear how they have made giant strides forwards in terms of features, advantages, and benefits.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;Listen to a user best-practice presentation from Philly Water to learn how it has been using MicroStation, ProjectWise, GEOPAK, and other Bentley software to streamline (pardon the pun) their workflows and increase their productivity through project and asset information reuse.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
The event is held live in Philly for those in the area, but also offered remotely via a live broadcast. So, no matter where you are, you can plug into all of the ATHENS launch excitement.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Registration is still open&amp;mdash;&lt;a href="http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Corporate/Events/Seminars/Launch/Launch"&gt;sign up&lt;/a&gt;  today!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Hope to see you on November 6!
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Cheers
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
JC
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/02/beta-testers-claim-athens-a-success.aspx"&gt;&amp;lt;&amp;lt; Previous Blog Entry&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; |&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/05/hurrah-for-democracy.aspx"&gt;Next Blog Entry &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://communities.bentley.com/Other/Old_Site_Member_Blogs/Bentley_Employees/b/joes_blog/archive/2008/11/02/beta-testers-claim-athens-a-success.aspx"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="https://communities.bentley.com/aggbug?PostID=18448&amp;AppID=11&amp;AppType=Weblog&amp;ContentType=0" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description></item><item><title>Beta Testers claim “ATHENS” a success</title><link>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/beta-testers-claim-athens-a-success</link><pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:02:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:e26e29ec-ee4b-43f2-8aae-7c66796d74c0</guid><dc:creator>Joe Lewis</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/rsscomments?WeblogPostID=18371</wfw:commentRss><comments>https://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/joes_blog/posts/beta-testers-claim-athens-a-success#comments</comments><description>Back again&amp;hellip; and the Athens collaboration story continues.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In my previous blogs I told you how the Athens&amp;rsquo; team gathered their development requirements from users, and then I outlined the core capabilities being added as a result. Today I want to share with you the feedback gained from our uses during their testing phase.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Sticking with the core capabilities we asked users to tell us &amp;ldquo;how&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;why&amp;rdquo; they benefit. And based on early feedback we appear to have exceeded expectations. Users now tell us&amp;hellip;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;With a comprehensive software portfolio that improves interoperability across products, teams, and projects, everyone has access to the right tools. No one has to &amp;ldquo;make do&amp;rdquo; with tools that don&amp;rsquo;t optimize workflow which leads users to predict lower project costs, higher team productivity, and shorter training cycles.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;With V8i's intuitive conceptual and generative design modeling tools, project teams can easily move designs from concept to completion using the same software environment. For example, the new surface and push-pull modeling tools enable teams to capture innovative thinking and transition rapidly from concept to completion. In addition, the parametric and associative modeling tools allow users to iterate more easily on design alternatives and answer more questions earlier in the process. The benefit? Users will increase productivity, improve information quality, and reduce project rework.&lt;br /&gt;
	Better still, with the late addition of the Luxology rendering engine to MicroStation and all MicroStation-based applications users are blown away by their newfound ability to render models in near real-time. Already users are reporting an ability to improve project quality, win more business, and reduce software costs as MicroStation can now do it all.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;Interactive dynamic views have the capability to change 3D nodel workflows forever by building on, and extending, Revit's approach to solving the problem of drawing coordination. V8i does this by actively supporting the workflows of distributed teams all working on the same project. However, V8i goes one step further than Revit by using display sets to isolate 3D geometry in the working view to help users simplify the 3D model creation process and to enable them to interactively visualize designs in new ways. This means teams can improve the quality of deliverables and reduce the time spent creating 3D models and preparing and coordinating 2D documentation.&amp;nbsp; We envisage that these improvements will shorten production times,&amp;nbsp; and improve the quality of all project deliverables.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;Coordinating all project information from many disciplines using intrinsic geo-coordination is a big hit with project teams. It may not be as sexy as the Luxology rendering or the dynamic views, but the ability to synchronize and coordinate true and projected coordinate systems will be the reason why many projects save time coordinating data, improve information reliability, and reduce the risk of errors on site. And that IS sexy.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;Their network bandwidth has been effectively increased by many orders of magnitude thanks to Delta File Transfer. Many are experiencing accelerated file access times through DFT which is enabling them to access larger files in less time, improve quality of collaboration, and reduce bandwidth dependency.&amp;nbsp; Furthermore, users appreciate their ability to &amp;ndash; for the first time &amp;ndash; check files in and out of ProjectWise via a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) portal thanks to the ProjectWise Web Parts integration. The reason? Now anyone on the project team can access any information from any source software including accounting systems, scheduling systems, CRM, project management software etc. through a single portal powered by MOSS.&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;The Interoperability Platform will prove invaluable to all project teams that need to integrate software products in order to deliver software choices &amp;amp; to enable project and asset information reuse throughout the project lifecycle and across all workflows. The benefits are clear to all; reduced data translation costs, reduced error count, and reduced project rework.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
I have to run&amp;hellip; I&amp;rsquo;ll dig out some specific user quotations and post them up here in due course.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Cheers&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Jc
&lt;/p&gt;
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