In order to log on to ALIM there are two things you need.
1. An IMS account
2. A user set up in the ALIM application.
Validation takes place first against Bentley IMS to confirm authentication. Authorization then takes place against the product, AssetWise ALIM.
How to confirm if your IMS account is valid?
Easiest thing is to take ALIM out of the equation.
Log onto ims.bentley.com or connect.bentley.com
You will need to log on using your IMS account, so if there is an issue, you won't be able to log on.
Different types of IMS users:
1. Users whose organization is in Bentley IMS and are federated.
2. Users whose organization is in Bentley IMS and are NOT federated.
3. Users whose organization is NOT in Bentley IMS.
(Federated means that rather than having a username and password set in Bentley's IMS, your IT team has worked with Bentley so that your own AD password is used for authentication purposes).
Lets deal with these one at a time.
1. Federated Users
Users belonging to organizations who have federation set up, will be prompted for a logon (e-mail address).
As soon as the e-mail address is added, Bentley IMS will recognise you are a federated account.
The box where your password would normally be added is greyed out, and when you try and log on, Microsoft Authentication will pop up, that is connecting back to your own Active Directory. If your organization is set up for multi-factor authentication, you may have to perform actions on your mobile phone. The key point is that you are authenticating against our own company, and not Bentley.
If you do not have an account in IMS, one is automatically created for you. If might take an extra few seconds but there is nothing for for you to do.
2. Non-Federated Users
Users belonging to organizations who do not have federation set up, will be prompted for a logon (e-mail address).
This time the password box remains active and you will need to supply your password to progress.
If you have forgotten your password there are 'forgot password' links that you can use to have it reset.
If you do not have an account already, it is advisable to have it created by your site administrator. Although you can set one up manually, it is important that you spell your organization name correctly. And how you spell it, might not be the same way that Bentley spelt it (Ltd. vs Limited for example). If you are added to the correct organization, you will be able to receive the benefits that your organization is entitled to, via the connect.bentley.com portal for example. If you mis-spell your organization correctly, you may become an orphan in the system. You will still be able to log on to ALIM, but future issues will crop up.
3. Users with no previous relationship to Bentley
If large organizations have sub-contractors, these organization may be set up in Bentley's IMS already, in which case users will fall into one of the two categories above.
However, smaller organizations may not be users of Bentley software, and their organization will not exist in IMS.
In this scenario, users should create their own accounts:
Instruct users to browse to https://connect.bentley.com
At the logon screen, click on the register link.
You will have to submit your detail and confirm you are not a robot etc. and you will receive an e-mail asking you to set your password. You will be able to log into connect.bentley.com, but not be able to do too much, as your organization will have no entitlements.
**WHO TO CONTACT IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE**
Each organization registered with Bentley has a number of site administrators. If they cannot help you or you do not know who they are, please ask your servce desk to raise a Service Request with Bentley. They will be able to address and IMS issues you have.
You do need to have an account to raise a Service Request, hence you should go via your Service Desk.
In the case where your organization does not have a formal relationship with Bentley, you can contact Bentley, and choose Technical Support
Logging onto ALIM
If you have authenticated against IMS, you will only be able to log onto AssetWise ALIM if you have a valid account within the application.
Within the Director interface, the system administrator will need to set up a user. Against the Person, select Users, and add the e-mail address as the username under the Bentley Authenticated Accounts section.
The user will now be able to log on against Bentley Connect, validating their credentials against the organisations own AD, and then log on to the AssetWise ALIM application.
**WHO TO CONTACT IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE**
If the issue is not with IMS but with your ALIM access, then you will need to contact the administrators of your ALIM system, and that may be another organization if you are a sub contractor.
Where Bentley are hosting the application in the Bentley Managed Service environment, Bentley cannot add users to the ALIM system without the authorization of the organization who own the ALIM application. And even once added, roles and responsibilities will need to be added, so it will be best to liaise directly with the system administrator.