Secure Tool Sets with a password

STR - Kristin

While I understand it is great to be able to export and share tools, many of our customers build or pay to create premium tools to enhance their business set them apart from their competition. One of the common things we hear from our larger customers is that they want a way to be able to protect their tools (by password or something similar) so that employees can't take them with them if they leave or share them outside of their organization. Good tools and tool sets can take a lot of time and resources to create and should have the option to be protected for use for those who invest in them.

Luke Shiras

Interesting dilemma. Do you have any examples of toolsets that shouldn't be shared (wink, wink)

Joking aside, I can see why a company would want this but I disagree with this mindset. I've seen the same thought process in architecture but in the end, it's just combining existing tools in useful ways. And I doubt they paid much mind when they benefited from someone else sharing knowledge.

That said, I still upvoted this because it should be an option for those companies.

STR - Kristin

Thanks Luke. I am all about sharing knowledge and have never been one to keep good ideas and education to myself. It's how we all grow! That said, tools can take a lot of time and money to develop and for large companies and contractors that are spending the resources to develop it, I can understand why they want to have the option of keeping their tools in house, just like they may want to keep trade secrets safe:)

Jes Stafford

Interesting… Seems like the same business model of many of those available for Autodesk Add-ins, Family sets, and other model and modeling enhancements.

If said large companies open this discussion with the Bluebeam staff here in the community, I wonder if there is an agreeable way that to code certain proprietary tool sets to stay in a company's BB license structure when the BB user wants to migrate.

Trying to put myself in a BB Coder's (or hacker that wants the tools for free) shoes, the only drawback (or IP sec gap) that I see is the "Add to Tool Chest" command in the right click tool menu. How difficult would it be to insert security code in each and every markup or graphic element that comes from a proprietary Tool Chest? Would it make Bluebeam meet or exceed the developers' goals for quick, compact, and efficient code?

STR - Kristin

Hi Jes, I appreciate the comment! I don't think the concern is someone right clicking and adding a couple tools here and there to their own tool chest off of a drawing they have. The concern is that many people have spent a lot of time, money and resources to build very extensive tool sets. Many people I have worked with don't even share within their own company because they don't want it exported and shared with others…which minimizes sharing at all. What I'm suggesting is to add a password or something to the export/import feature of an entire tool set. I'm not a developer, but I don't think this seems like it would be a difficult feature to add. It's something that should just be an option for those companies that are embracing the tools feature in Bluebeam and want to protect their work. @Angela Aff is it possible to get a Bluebeam developer to weigh in on this? I understand the tool chest is a focus for Bluebeam this year and I think this would go far with specialty contractors and manufacturers.

CLS-JCM

One of my favorite features in Bluebeam is the ability to create custom tool sets. I've spent countless hours developing specialty tool sets while working for a contractor, at their sole discretion and expense. I consistently get questions from management about how to ensure what they consider to be their developed "Intellectual Property" from leaking out the door. Unfortunately, as of now, I don't have a satisfactory answer for them. This quickly brings into question whether the time and financial investment are worth it. Contracting has always been and remains to be a competitive industry where sometimes the smallest of earned strategic advantages determine the success of a project and ultimately the company executing it.

I fully support anyone building custom tool sets and sharing them with other Bluebeam users. I've done it. However, for any company willing to spend both labor and financial resources in an effort to push the envelope of what is possible, I also feel strongly there should be an option to keep their company specific tool sets secure. I believe the suggestion above could be a reasonable solution. It could be as simple as checking a box during the creation of a custom tool set that disallows exporting it without a company specific password.

I really hope this subject gets the attention it deserves on behalf of those of us out here working hard to build competitive efficiencies within Bluebeam that support the business goals of the companies we work for.

JHorne

I use a lot of custom created tool sets that I like to share with my colleagues and vice versa. However, when I send my mark-ups out to contractors/customers, if I don't want them to use my tools, I flatten my drawing without the ability to unflatten and then save that as a separate file.

STR - Kristin

Thanks for your feedback, JHorne. The concern I keep hearing and agree with is being able to export a whole tool set and share it if the original owner doesn't want it shared or wants to control who has access to it.

Jes Stafford

@STR - Kristin Oh yes… That Add to Tool Chest concern I was talking about was if someone was doing that with those custom markups or graphics that were not flattened, as @JHorne mentions. If @CLS-JCM 's check box works for the coders, it should also take care of that IP Sec concern.