Current Standard:
License alert notification system is setup that ALL users have unrestricted access to licensing. If there are no licenses available, an alert pops up saying they may incur term license usage. If the user elects a term license, the admins can be notified, and an overage will occur within 10 minutes.
The Problem:
There should not be unrestricted access to licensing; that only makes sense if every user was also an admin, who are able to decide financial agreements. Allowing unrestricted access typically forces unintended overages by users bypassing the admins, especially if admins don't address it within 10 minutes. If it was an error, this wastes time for users/admins and even Bentley associates because a ticket is created and needs to be addressed to nullify the overage.
Why is program entry not limited by the licenses contracted by the company?
The Solutions:
(1) Admins should be notified BEFORE a term license is elected. If a user wants to elect a term license, the option should be changed to "Notify Admin for Term License Request" who can then review and deny/approve the request. Only AFTER an admin approves the request should a term license usage be established. There is currently no line of defense to avoid an overage because admins are forced to be reactionary instead of proactive about license additions.
(2) If there is a 10 minute window to be in the program before an overage occurs, then Bentley programs should give a warning that "license limits have been reached and the program will force quit at 10 minutes" to avoid an overage. Bentley is already monitoring usage at 10 minute intervals, and restricts entry by being connected to Connection Client, which is mainly useful for tracking licenses, so there should be a way to link license limits to program time use.
