The Cost of Informal Training with Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems offers some of the most powerful tools in civil and infrastructure design—OpenRoads Designer, MicroStation, and ProjectWise are industry standards across transportation, utilities, and land development projects. But despite the investment firms make in software licenses, many fall into the same trap when it comes to training: they rely on informal, ad hoc learning to get new users and project managers up to speed.

At first glance, this approach might seem efficient. Why pay for structured training when a senior designer can just “show the ropes” to a new hire? Why build a formal onboarding process when your team can just learn on the job?

The truth? Informal training often comes with hidden costs—and those costs add up quickly.

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1. Time Wasted on Trial and Error

Bentley platforms are robust—and complex. Without a clear learning path, new engineers and project managers alike spend hours digging through menus, relying on old documentation, or interrupting team members for help.

A mid-sized civil firm we worked with onboarded 3 new users in a single quarter—2 engineers and 1 project manager. None had formal Bentley training.

By the end of the first month, they had collectively logged over 140 hours on “how-do-I” troubleshooting, rework due to incorrect outputs, and basic orientation in OpenRoads Designer and ProjectWise.

Cost to the firm? At a blended internal rate of $95/hour, that’s $13,300 in non-billable time in just four weeks—all because of a lack of structured onboarding.

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2. Inconsistent Standards and Output

One of the biggest risks of informal training is inconsistency. When engineers, designers, and project managers all learn from different sources—or worse, figure it out on their own—you end up with varying CAD standards, file naming conventions, and workflow habits that don’t align with DOT or client requirements.

For engineers, this often means models built incorrectly. For project managers, it means disorganized files, unclear data, and difficulty reviewing project progress or managing submittals through ProjectWise.

The downstream effect? Confusion, miscommunication, and avoidable rework.

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3. Increased Rework and QA Time

Without formal instruction on how to properly use templates, CivilCells, annotation groups, or file versioning in ProjectWise, users either bypass these tools—or misuse them entirely. Instead of working smarter, teams revert to manual processes that increase risk and time.

Project managers often bear the brunt of this inefficiency. They’re the ones left cleaning up disorganized folders, troubleshooting access issues, or chasing down team members to fix errors before a submittal goes out.

This kind of operational drag is expensive—and avoidable.

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4. Over-Reliance on a Few “Power Users”

Every team has a Bentley “go-to” person. They’re the one who knows how to unlock files, set up new users in ProjectWise, troubleshoot workspace problems, and fix annotation issues in ORD. While it's great to have internal expertise, over-reliance on one or two power users creates a bottleneck—and a risk.

When those people are on PTO or leave the company, the rest of the team grinds to a halt. Even project managers find themselves in a holding pattern, waiting on a fix they can’t resolve themselves.

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5. Delayed Project Delivery = Real Financial Impact

When project managers spend more time troubleshooting tools than managing deliverables, and engineers are redoing work due to preventable errors, the project suffers—and so does the budget.

Let’s say a $250K roadway design contract has a $25K profit margin. If informal training leads to just 10% inefficiency across the life of the project—from onboarding to design reviews to final delivery—that's $25,000 lost in margin.

That’s the cost of “we’ll figure it out as we go.”

What Formal Training Actually Buys You

- Speed to productivity. New engineers and PMs get up to speed quickly with less friction.
- Standardization. Deliverables follow consistent naming, folder structures, and CAD standards.
- Less rework. Better modeling leads to cleaner outputs—saving hours of QA time.
- Project visibility. PMs get clear insights into file status, permissions, and review cycles.
- Resilience. Knowledge doesn’t disappear when one power user is out or leaves the firm.

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Final Thoughts: Informal Training Isn’t Free

It may not show up on your profit and loss statement, but informal training is costing you—sometimes more than you think. From slowed ramp-up to inconsistent outputs to avoidable mistakes, the “just ask around” method isn’t scalable or sustainable.

If you want your team to truly maximize your Bentley investment, whether it’s OpenRoads, ProjectWise, or MicroStation, you need a structured plan to get them there and 5 Factor can help you. Reach out to us to learn more! 

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