Interactive Design Systems | Support Services

We strive to produce high quality software. Your success is important to us, and we want to be instrumental in delivering the software tools that lead to economical as well as structurally sound design. Today, software is also engineered to meet standards, and IDS products are continuously updated to closely follow advances in the field as well as ever changing computer capabilities. We have a close relationship with our users, and our level of support is unparalleled, regardless of users geographic location. IDS Software Technical Support provides support for all our products in their currently shipping form.

General Policy Information
In general, we will have an initial response to support incidents within 1 business day of submission. This is not a guaranteed solution, but validation of your issue. This timeline is subject to available resources and current support activity. You are entitled to 30 free days of technical support with the purchase of your IDS product. The 30-day free support period begins on the day of purchase, and NOT on the date of first support submission. Our subscription program entitles you to a full year of technical support (and product updates, in general about 3 per year, but this is variable), which also begins on the date of purchase.

We support our products under specific supported versions of the Operating Systems, specifically Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP, where expressly specified.
We do support interactions between different IDS Modules.
We support the latest versions of our products. If a bug or usability issue in a legacy version has been addressed in the latest version, we cannot support retrofitting a fix to an earlier release - you must upgrade to the latest version.

We do not support problems with our software used in conjunction with Beta and/or Unofficial third party solutions. This includes beta versions of Windows.
We do not support the addition of complex, application specific functionality on top of our software. We will attempt to assist the addition of simple features/extensions to the best of our ability, but IDS reserves the right to judge when a question and/or request has gone beyond the scope of our technical support and into the realm of consulting.

A bug report can be issued any time, regardless of active subscription status. IDS reserves the right to make judgment on what is a bug report and what is a support question.
IDS Software does not guarantee turnaround times on bug reports. Upon validation of a bug report, IDS will log a QA record, which is then prioritized according to relative severity, visibility, and ranging impact.
IDS is not obligated to provide patches or service updates. In general, you will find we are very good about providing service releases, workarounds and unofficial patches as they become available, but understand we are not officially obligated to provide such releases.
Bug reports are not technical support. As mentioned above, bug reports must be prioritized for fixing. We can not guarantee turnaround time as we do for traditional usage questions.

Bridge Designer II (BD2) Version 3.05 Released
Version 3.05 major improvements on pervious versions include:

The Service module (Service 2000) support the LRFD code by automating placement of the HL93 on influence lines.

Bridge Designer II (BD2) Version 3.04 Released
Version 3.04 major improvements on previous versions include:

Increased memory allocation for database tables to accommodate extremely large models.
Rigid Extensions implemented
The Service 2000 Module allows definition of “PIERS” and other members not defined as SPANS. This change includes new influence lines for axial force, and produces results in members others than spans.
A new construction command was developed to “displace” nodes, i.e. impose a specified deflection for a specific degree of freedom.
New print option to print only the “stress envelope: for a series of elements (by default all elements are printed).
Metric Units – Stress and Tendon Elongations as well as output fields
Service in Stays
Temperature in Stays

BD2GUI V 1.1 Update Available
Interactive Design Systems has released a new version of BD2GUI. Version 1.1 is a greatly improved version of the product, with numerous performance improvements and greater stability. BD2GUI Version 1.1 may be used to graphically display all construction phases as well as displacements and force diagrams during construction, and service live-load envelopes.

I have a Support Agreement for Bridge Designer. Why do I need BD2GUI?
IDS currently supports and will continue to support all registered Bridge Designer users under an active Maintenance and Support Agreement. The BD2GUI Software Modules currently are totally separate and independent of the BD2 environment. They are totally different program architecture and even different programming language (C++).

Where do you draw the line between a BD2 modeling question and a technical question about a specific design project?
This is a fine line and sometimes it's not obvious. In general, we try to help customers with this type of questions by giving examples of what was done by Bridge Designer users to address similar concern. We encourage or users to ask modeling questions, as the discussion often help both sides in identifying problems and solutions. However, IDS does not intend to teach or even help engineers with their responsibility to safely and economically design structures.

If I report a bug in your program and I have a Support Agreement (in good standing), can I expect a speedy resolution or the problem?
In concept, IDS does not guarantee turnaround times on bug reports. Upon validation of a bug report, IDS will log a QA record, which is then prioritized according to relative severity, visibility, and ranging impact. IDS is not obligated to provide patches or service updates. For Bridge Designer Licensees under a Maintenance and Support Agreement, however, IDS feels a certain commitment to provide a speedy resolution of software related problems. In general, you will find we are very good about providing service releases, workarounds and unofficial patches as they become available. For BD2GUI Modules with subscriptions however, IDS is not officially obligated to provide such releases.

I have five engineers, can they each use the Bridge Designer II program?
Bridge Designer is licensed PER USER. Each user must have a registered hardlock connected to their computer to use the product. Our support system is configured to track this based on customer product registration. IDS has a set-up an aggressive discount schedule for multiple copies of the Bridge Designer II program. Please refer to the Pricing page.

How do I get updates and support for Bridge Designer?
You must purchase a one-year Maintenance/Support Agreement. As part of this Agreement, IDS releases all fixes and software improvements, as well as Documentation Updates to all registered licensees with a Maintenance and Support Agreement.

How much is the BD_Plot software License and will you continue to support it?
The software license for bd_plot is free for all BD Licensees. We are in the process of replacing the bd_plot with IDS' Windows based GUI (BD2GUI), and we no longer support the bd_plot program.

I have five engineers, can they each use BD2GUI?
BD2GUI is licensed PER USER. It is a “client” application and cannot be networked. Each user must have their own copy installed locally on their PC.

How do I get updates and support for BD2GUI?
Yes, each BD2GUI license includes the standard IDS support when the BD2 License is properly supported.

If IDS releases a new product, will I automatically receive it?
BD2GUI customers with current supported licenses of BD2 will have access to every product and BD2-related beta shipped by IDS

What is upgrade pricing?
Upgrade pricing gives existing IDS customers the option to upgrade for one low price to new BD2GUI modules. Each upgrade is priced individually.