CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
15 March 2007
Implementation Investments
Franklin County, Washington, Joins Bentley's Municipal License Subscription Program
Bentley Systems, Incorporated announced that Franklin County, Washington , has joined Bentley's Municipal License Subscription (MLS) program. The county will use its new MLS to help increase the level of service to its citizens in areas such as GIS, construction and maintenance support, road and bridge construction and maintenance, and irrigation.
Bentley's MLS offers municipalities all the software they need to design and manage all their infrastructure for a fixed annual fee based on population. The breakthrough program enables them to improve productivity and reduce administrative costs by outfitting their entire mapping and engineering organizations with fully integrated software for GIS and engineering workflows. This leads to improved services and more efficient government.
Said Matt Mahoney, design engineer for Franklin County, "Our decision to go with Bentley's MLS program was all about economics and easier, broader access to Bentley's products. We were already convinced that Bentley's software solutions are best able to meet our needs, which is why we've long used MicroStation, InterPlot, Bentley I/RAS B, and most of Bentley's Haestad Methods product line.
"In addition, the service and technical support we receive from Bentley are second to none, and this is a must for a small agency like ours. It's what enables us to get our work completed cost-effectively."
According to Mahoney, one of the most important benefits of the MLS to Franklin County is budgeting efficiency. "We know what our software is going to cost us each year," said Mahoney. "We don't have to forecast software needs for each subsequent year, or amend our budgets should we need to increase seats or acquire another product to satisfy new requirements.
"And this translates into another important benefit of our MLS: We can deploy whatever software we want whenever and wherever we need to. Because there are no shared network licenses, we no longer have to wait for someone to exit an application before we can complete our work. If we need another seat or a different software solution, it is available immediately at no additional cost to us."
Bentley's MLS program provides municipalities with unlimited access to a comprehensive portfolio of integrated GIS and engineering software for all of their infrastructure, including:
- Public works - roads, bridges, water, sewer, and storm
- Land development
- E-government
- Light rail design
- Community broadband
- Water and wastewater treatment plant design
- Electric and gas distribution networks
- Urban planning
- Cadastre management
- Public safety
- Municipal building design
- Mapping and 3D modeling
Because program fees are fixed, Bentley's MLS guarantees predictable software costs and budgeting. In addition, it removes the administrative burden of complex software licenses, shortens procurement cycles, speeds project starts, and ultimately leads to more efficient government.
Added Mahoney, "Our goal is to deploy new seats of the software we are using currently and to add new software to our solutions set so that we can provide the most efficient and cost-effective services to the citizens within our administrative area. For example, in the near future we are planning to deploy more geospatial solutions, HAMMER for our water infrastructure, PowerSurvey, PowerCivil, InRoads, and DigitalPlant solutions. Without our MLS, and given the realities of tight budgets in a rural county like ours, it's unlikely that these solutions would even be on the table for consideration."
For more information about Bentley's MLS program initiative and software or to contact a Bentley representative, visit http://www.bentley.com/MLS .
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