New in ProjectWise 2023
Operating System and Database Support
Supported Operating Systems
- ProjectWise Server is supported on Windows Server 2022
- ProjectWise Administrator is supported on Windows 11 and Server 2022
For a complete list of supported operating systems and databases, see the ProjectWise Version Support Matrix.
Full Support for Subscription Entitlement Service (SES) Licensing
ProjectWise 2023 server implements full support of SES licensing. Server is handling SES licensing communication. User entitlement and license is checked based on user logged in to connection Client running on a machine where ProjectWise Explorer 23 or ProjectWise Administrator 23 is installed.
A new datasource setting, Licensing organization, must be set in order to allow users to login who are paid by the datasource owner. See "Licensing" in ProjectWise Administrator Help.
User Accounts and Authentication Methods
The way in which ProjectWise user accounts authentication is managed was revised. ProjectWise account is now separate from authentication methods. This allows to have multiple (or even none) authentication methods associated with the same account.
- A ProjectWise user account can now be configured to log in with:
- A single user can now also be assigned more than one of the above types of login credentials. The type of login credentials you assign to a user determines which type of authentication they can use when logging in.
- The "account type" concept (which used to be defined by which authentication type was assigned to the user) is gone. In other words, there are no more Logical accounts, Windows accounts, or Bentley IMS accounts, there are just ProjectWise user accounts, and each user account can be configure to have one set of login credentials, multiple login credentials, or even no login credentials.
For more information, see "User Account Setup Requirements", in ProjectWise Administrator Help .
For important information about users when upgrading to ProjectWise 2023, see "Upgrading to ProjectWise 2023" in ProjectWise Administrator Help.
ProjectWise Attribute Helpers
ProjectWise attribute helpers were introduced with ProjectWise Design Integration 2023 to provide frequently used tools for attribute configuration in a repeatable manner, and save you time when building new attribute configurations. Although the current version of attribute helpers is focused on providing standardized procedures for ISO19650 configuration, they are also recommended for any other configurations. For more information, see "ProjectWise Attribute Helpers", in Bentley Communities.
Bentley IMS User Synchronization Enhancements
Because Active Directory groups can be synchronized to IMS groups, Bentley IMS User Synchronization can be used to reflect content of Active Directory groups in ProjectWise user groups.
For more information, see "Synchronizing a Datasource with Bentley IMS", in ProjectWise Administrator Help.
Secure Connection to ProjectWise Server is Required
Starting with this release, ProjectWise Server always requires a secure connection. It is possible to configure the lowest TLS version that a server will accept. For more information, see "Enforce the Lowest Version of TLS a Secure Connection Can Use", in ProjectWise Administrator Help.
Security Enhancement for File Access Token Servers
The default behavior of the FileAccessTokenServers setting in the DMSKRNL.CFG file has been changed, for improved security.
Starting with this release, the server managing the storage area will NOT accept file access tokens from any server unless that server is specified in the list of trusted file access token servers. For more information, see "Configure the FileAccessTokenServers Setting in the DMSKRNL.CFG File on the ProjectWise Caching Server", in ProjectWise Administrator Help.
Bentley iCS for PDF Enhancements
With this release, the Job Builder has new improvements to quickly configure any job to automatically start and run at a specified interval via the Auto Start tab, and the Select by Login option makes it easier for users when specifying login credentials for adding predefined users, or when selecting datasources.
Settings previously not accessible via the iCS for PDF Browser have been added as Advanced Server Configuration Properties in the Advanced Configuration editor, making them accessible to iCS for PDF Administrators without having to run the Configuration Wizard that is normally run after installing iCS for PDF. New properties have also been added, such as the ability to skip adding job history to the job history table and not sending emails when an incremental job is up-to-date.
A new Display Stored Job List option has been added to the Bentley iCS for PDF Browser that lists all saved job definitions from a single window. It shows all stored jobs and allows multi-editing for settings such as auto start and assists with the scheduling of large numbers of stored jobs.
Improvements have also been made to the Job Monitor in the Orchestration Framework Browser and in the iCS for PDF browser’s Active Jobs window. The Job Monitor now includes a Message Duration column which displays the time a process took to process a message, and the Active Jobs window displays a "Queued" status instead of "Active", if the job has been started but no MSMQ messages for the job are currently being processed.
In addtion, ProjectWise Web document links can now be included in email notifications and job history, by setting the new Enable Email Web URLs server configuration property.
The new Advanced addition settings (XML) option in the Output Destination Folder dialog in ProjectWise Administrator provides an advanced, alternative method for configuring attribute mapping.
Also, the web.config file for the rendition service web service now supports HTTPS by default.
Security Enhancements for Automated File Processing
With ProjectWise 2023, the following additional configuration must be done when setting up automated file processing:
Installer Changes
- ProjectWise Server installer
- ProjectWise Integration Server option, Firewall Exceptions - When on, the installer adds the ProjectWise server engine (DMSKRNL.EXE) to the Windows Defender Firewall list of allowed apps and features.
- Automated File Processing option, Windows Search Registration - This option, which is required for Full Text Indexing, has always been delivered with Automated File Processing and is now exposed in the installer.
- During ProjectWise Caching Server installation, you can now specify which ProjectWise Integration Servers the ProjectWise Caching Server will allow file access tokens to come from. By default, no servers are trusted. If you skip this page of the installer, you MUST configure this setting later through the Caching Server's DMSKRNL.CFG file if you plan to use this ProjectWise Caching Server to manage storage areas.
- The ProjectWise Plug-in for WSG is no longer delivered, and is now a separate download.
- Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Express is now delivered
- ProjectWise Administrator installer - Now delivers the ProjectWise Implementation Guide. After installation, a copy of the PDF can be found in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Bentley\ProjectWise folder, along with the readme.
New Datasource Settings
- Periodic login timeout - If on, then once a user logs in, their login remains active for the amount of time set here. After the set time is up, their login times out, and the next action they try to perform will prompt them to log in again.
- Login timeout after inactivity - If on, then once a user logs in, their login remains active until the user is detected to be inactive for the amount of time set here. After the set time is up, their login times out, and the next action they try to perform will prompt them to log in again.
- Login validity checking frequency - By default, once a user is logged in and they try to perform an action, ProjectWise will check to see if the user's login is still valid. If ProjectWise has already performed this check for the user within the last 60 seconds, it will skip the check. If you want to increase or decrease the time between checks, turn on this setting and change the amount of time as needed.
- Restrict login to single device - If on, a user can only be logged in from one device at a time.
New User Settings
Two new User settings Apply Login Control Rules and Enable as Service Account have been introduced. For more information, see "ProjectWise Administrator Reference", in ProjectWise Administrator Help.
Changes to ProjectWise Workflow Rules Engine (WRE)
Improved Rule Validation
With this release, there is improved configuration validation. WRE configuration refers to ProjectWise Workflows and States. Previous ProjectWise versions allowed workflow and state names that did not exist in the datasource.
ProjectWise 2023 introduces a validation that requires Workflows and States used in a configuration to exist in the datasource. Configurations that do not meet this requirement are rejected when uploading the rule from an Excel spreadsheet. Invalid rules are automatically deleted during a database conversion to ProjectWise version 2023.
For more information, see "Upgrading to the ProjectWise 2023", in ProjectWise Administrator Help.
Client-side Execution Deprecation
For improved security, rule execution on the client side, (including the Super User user), will be deprecated in future releases. It is recommended to configure your WRE to use server-side execution only.
Please note the following server-side execution limitations: