BS V8i - Lack of Bentley Feedback

Sorry guys, but I find it very frustrating that there is very little to no feedback from Bentley on BS V8i issues. What's going on?
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  • Both Shawn. We used to have such a great response from Jim and the guys, but things seem to have dried up very quickly. There a number of issues with BS V8i that have been raised that I'd like some feedback on from someone who knows what's going on.



  • My opinion (and I stress my opinion, not my company's)...and I may not make any friends at Bentley by saying this, but constructive criticism is always separate from personal friendships (and hopefully folks can separate the two):

    1) To my knowledge, the Structural Group is no longer part of the Building Group (Jim is in the Bldg. Group). What does that mean? That means that Bentley Structural development is no longer directly connected to the direction of Architecture, Mechanical and Electrical. 

    I'm not saying that Structural and the other 3 groups in Building don't talk behind the scenes, but at the end of the day, if the Building Group decides a direction, and the Structural group doesn't agree with it, that's a negotiation between the two groups.

    So my belaboured point is that Jim isn't in the Structural Group, he's in the Bldg group, so that's probably one reason why he's not responding here.

    (I'm also very concerned over Mechanical now with this new Building Performance Group...how will this affect Mechanical).

    2) Structural Group now involves 4 products: Bentley Structural, RAM, STAAD, and ProSteel. Two of these products run on the MicroStation platform, two do not. The amount of RAM, STAAD and ProSteel resources seem to dwarf the number of Bentley Structural resources, so I see more and more RAM and STAAD feedback, less Bentley Structural.

    3) I would venture to guess most RAM and STAAD folks inside of Bentley don't run Bentley Structural, so therefore they would ignore any questions or comments about it. This is not meant to be a condemnation of any RAM or STAAD A/E's , it's just that they don't know the other tools (because they were individual companies that were independent of any platform), so they can't support them. There has always been a stigma between an "analysis tool" and a "CAD/BIM tool", where I have found many people believe that because Bentley Structural runs on MicroStation that it's "below them." (that's a drafter or technician, not realizing the power and the tools behind the process.) Again, not pointing fingers, but noticing a trend through my career.

    4) This is a Forum within a Community. I really hope that people here don't think that this should be the primary way to receive Technical Support . These Forums are not intended to be a primary connection to Bentley for support. That's what the Bentley SELECT 800 number is for. You PAY for SELECT and one of those benefits is Direct Technical Support. You don't pay for this Forum, anyone can join.  Frankly, in my mind, if people can join this community and get the same level of support from Bentley that I get for paying for it, it cheapens my SELECT dollar.

    This Community, in my mind, is a peer-to-peer discussion group, and should not take the place of the Technical Support Group or any other benefits that I pay for via SELECT. If you are posting here, I think you are asking other like users if they have seen the same thing OR you are asking for opinion. If you are talking about issues with the software, that's support. If you are talking about technical direction or changes in the product or direction, that's different.

    I see this Forum as a way for Bentley to see where things are going, but if you want to effect change, I would suggest getting on a product User Council via the individual product managers.

    5) One of the biggest issues I see in all of this is that there is no buffer between the Product Managers and the Users. The buffer used to be Technical Product Marketing...they were the group that worked with the users and the community at large and translated the needs to the Product Managers and Development Teams. Without that (and without the reseller channel acting as an additional buffer), the Product Managers are overloaded trying to get their things done and take in feedback AND support their internal staff AND answer support questions.

     Does that not mean that more folks from Bentley shouldn't spend time here...of course not.    But some are more active than others.

    In the end, it depends on many factors, but above all:

    • What is your expectation of what this Forum should be and what it shouldn't be?
    • What are the level of issues you have (support vs. feature requests vs. change requests)
    • What level of communication do you expect from Bentley in this Forum? both support and product management?

    Again, these are my opinions, mine alone, and not the opinions of my company.

    Let the flaming of my post begin. :)

    -Shawn

    Thanks,

    Shawn

    ------------

  • I can't believe I'm saying this, but, Shawn does make some good points.    ;-)

    Most groups in Bentley do focus on certain products and areas.  That's not unusual at all.  So while some will know STAAD or RAM much better than Structural, the opposite holds true of others (I'd fall into that category).  But we are making an effor to "cross pollinate" our product knowledge, at least to some extent.  Heck, earlier today I placed some members in STAAD and changed their section names.  So there!    :)

    Anyhow... Point # 4 is the main one I wanted to comment on.  This forum can certainly serve as a means to troubleshoot - as did the Discussion Groups before  - but it's not necesarily the *primary* channel for that type of work.  That's what Support is for.  Granted, we have been *extremely* busy since the release of V8i, and it doesn't look as though things are going to let up any time soon.  However, this is why we're here, and we will do whatever we can to help.

    I believe where the forums really shine, as Shawn also pointed out, is as a peer to peer network; i.e., "how do you approach this?" or "have you ever tried to do this before?".  IOW, general workflow type questions vs. product/tool specific items.  It's a very fine line sometimes, for sure.  But that's the general idea...  Of course, there's no rule stating you can't post here and submit an issue via support.  If you look at it a certain way, it could be classified as "your SELECT dollars at work".



Reply
  • I can't believe I'm saying this, but, Shawn does make some good points.    ;-)

    Most groups in Bentley do focus on certain products and areas.  That's not unusual at all.  So while some will know STAAD or RAM much better than Structural, the opposite holds true of others (I'd fall into that category).  But we are making an effor to "cross pollinate" our product knowledge, at least to some extent.  Heck, earlier today I placed some members in STAAD and changed their section names.  So there!    :)

    Anyhow... Point # 4 is the main one I wanted to comment on.  This forum can certainly serve as a means to troubleshoot - as did the Discussion Groups before  - but it's not necesarily the *primary* channel for that type of work.  That's what Support is for.  Granted, we have been *extremely* busy since the release of V8i, and it doesn't look as though things are going to let up any time soon.  However, this is why we're here, and we will do whatever we can to help.

    I believe where the forums really shine, as Shawn also pointed out, is as a peer to peer network; i.e., "how do you approach this?" or "have you ever tried to do this before?".  IOW, general workflow type questions vs. product/tool specific items.  It's a very fine line sometimes, for sure.  But that's the general idea...  Of course, there's no rule stating you can't post here and submit an issue via support.  If you look at it a certain way, it could be classified as "your SELECT dollars at work".



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