Note: These changes are now in effect; they became effective at the same time that RAM Structural System v17.00 was released.
License Changes:
Significant changes have been made to the way the RAM Structural System is licensed. Now there is only a single RAM Structural System license, rather than separate licenses for each of the modules. This has no impact on clients who have access to the RAM Structural System through Structural Enterprise licenses (SE) or through ELS, but does impact clients who have perpetual licenses; all clients with perpetual licenses of any RAM Structural System modules are automatically upgraded without charge to the full RAM Structural System license, with full access to all of the features and capabilities in the program. With this change in licensing it is necessary for each client that licenses the program through perpetual licenses to set up the threshold limits so that the proper overuse warnings are given, even if they had previously done so for the individual modules.
Background:
The RAM Structural System is a single program composed of several analysis and design modules. Prior to V17.00, the RAM Structural System was licensed through various modules. The included modules and how they were packaged changed over time, but in its most recent configuration the RAM Structural System was licensed through these modules:
Users could obtain any mix of those licenses according to their needs. Annual SELECT costs were based on the prices of the individual modules. This way of licensing the program created considerable confusion, both with users and internally at Bentley. Often there were questions about what was included and what wasn’t. There was inadvertent use of modules for which the client owned no licenses. There was confusion on what Installer to download, and what to install, because on Software Fulfillment there was no listing for “RAM Structural System”, only the listing of the modules, even though it was the same installer.
Consolidation:
With V17.00 the licensing has been changed. Rather than licensing the modules individually, each with its own license, a single RAM Structural System license has been implemented. Now when the RAM Structural System is run this RAM Structural System license is checked, but no other licenses are checked when going from one module to the other.
All clients with perpetual licenses of any RAM Structural System modules are automatically upgraded to the full RAM Structural System license. There is no charge for this upgrade. All users now have full access to all of the modules, features and capabilities in the program, even if they did not previously have licenses for some modules. All clients are upgraded to the full suite of capabilities in the RAM Structural System without the charges previously associated with purchasing additional modules.
Along with this license consolidation there was a price adjustment. Rather than having separate prices for each of the individual modules there is now a single price for the entire package. All users have been upgraded to full RAM Structural System licenses, equal to the largest number of any individual module licenses they owned. There is no charge for this upgrade but note that the change to licensing a single product rather than individual modules also necessitated a change in the way the cost of annual SELECT is determined, which will be reflected in future SELECT invoices, starting in 2020.
For example, previously the licenses for each module totaled $12,375 (United States prices), and the annual SELECT on that entire suite was $1,825, which was about 15% of the license price. The consolidated license, on the RAM Structural System, has been adjusted down to $8,000, and the annual SELECT on that has been dropped to $1,600, which is 20% of the license price. Clients with a balance of module licenses will see a drop in the annual SELECT costs, while those clients that have predominantly more licenses of one module than the others will see an increase in annual SELECT costs since they will be paying SELECT based on the license price of the full upgraded RAM Structural System, rather than based on the price of a few individual modules. In some cases where the increase is significant, the full SELECT price is phased in over a three year period.
CONNECT Licensing allows you to set threshold limits to trigger warnings when you are about to overuse a license. You probably already did this for each of the individual module licenses. The consolidated RAM Structural System is a new license, so it is necessary that you set the threshold limits for this new license based on your new entitlements, even if you had previously set the threshold limits for the individual modules, otherwise your engineers will not be notified when they are about to overuse the number of licenses that you are entitled to. For more information on Entitlement Management see:
https://bentleysystems.service-now.com/community?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0019813
You are strongly advised to do this before installing and running RAM Structural System V17.00. Note that because the quarterly term license fees (the overuse charges) are now based on the full RAM Structural System license price rather than on the old license price for the individual module, these fees could be significantly larger than in the past. Protect yourself against unintended overuse by properly setting the threshold limits.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How does this change affect me if I license the program through Structural Enterprise License (SEL) rather than individual perpetual licenses? What do I need to do?
You don't need to do anything, nothing has changed for you. These instructions only apply to those that license the RAM Structural System modules through perpetual license.
How many RAM Structural System licenses am I entitled to?
Your licenses have been upgraded, and the number of full RAM Structural System licenses that you are entitled to is equal to the largest of the number of licenses you previously had for RAM Steel, RAM Concrete, and RAM Frame Analysis. For example, if you previously had 4 licenses of RAM Steel, 2 licenses of RAM Concrete, and 1 license of RAM Frame, you would now have 4 licenses of RAM Structural System.
What is the cost to me for this upgrade?
There is no charge for this upgrade. You now have full access to the entire RAM Structural System. There will be changes to the amount you pay every year for SELECT; you will see these changes at your next annual renewal, but no earlier than January 2020.
How is the annual SELECT price determined?
Previously your annual SELECT costs were based on the number of each module that you owned, and on various percentages of the license price of those modules; these percentages ranged from 11% to 19%. This has now been simplified: the license price of the full RAM Structural System has been reduced 35%, and your annual SELECT cost will be 20% of that license price times the number of full RAM Structural System licenses that you now own.
How are the phased-in SELECT price increases determined?
For many users, this change in the way SELECT is calculated will have little or no effect on the amount being paid compared to previous years. However, for others this change may result in fairly significant increases, particularly those that have many more RAM Steel licenses than the other modules. The SELECT on some licenses will be the full amount, but to avoid these immediate sharp increases, the increases for some licenses are being spread out over three years with a portion of the SELECT reduced 50% the first year, 25% the second year, and then the full amount after that. This is based on the following: When you own more licenses for RAM Steel than for the other modules the total number of entitlements of the new consolidated license is the number of licenses you currently own for RAM Steel. You will be charged the full cost of SELECT for the number of entitlements determined by the maximum number of licenses that you own for either RAM Concrete or RAM Frame Analysis, but you will be charged a reduced SELECT for the additional entitlements that you have.
For example, suppose you previously owned 5 copies of RAM Steel, 2 licenses of RAM Concrete, and 1 license of RAM Frame Analysis. You would now have 5 licenses of RAM Structural System. For two of those licenses (based on the maximum of RAM Concrete and RAM Frame Analysis licenses) you would be paying the full SELECT value, but for the other three licenses (5 minus 2) you would only pay 50% of the full SELECT value the first year, 75% of the full SELECT value the second year, and then the full SELECT value after that.
Can I still run previous versions of the program?
Yes. It is advised that you upgrade all machines to the latest version, but if necessary you can have some machines running the new version and others running the old version. When you run an older version, the usage will be counted against your total number of entitlements of the RAM Structural System license. This means that in the event of overuse, the quarterly term license charge will be based on the cost of the new RAM Structural System license, not on the cost of the old module license. It is important therefore that you have your threshold limits properly set in order to get proper warnings against overuse. If you do not intend to upgrade at this time you should set the threshold limit on the RAM Modeler to the number of entitlements you now have on the new RAM Structural System. In the older versions of the program each module license was associated with a corresponding Modeler license, so by now specifying the limit on entitlements this way, an overuse warning will be given if any combination of use of the individual modules would result in an overuse of the RAM Structural System license. If you want to use the new version on some machines and old versions on other machines, you need to devote a portion of your new entitlements to the old modules and a portion of your new entitlements to the new program.
For example, if you have 5 entitlements to the new RAM Structural System and you want to permit up to two of your engineers to run the old version you should set the threshold limit on the old RAM Modeler module license to 2, and then set the threshold limit on the new RAM Structural System license to 3 (giving you a total of 5). Later, after you have updated all of your machines to the latest version don’t forget to update the threshold limits so that all 5 are allotted to the new RAM Structural System license.
What is the value of this license consolidation for me?