camwood ebook 11 mistakes to avoid in windows 7 migration

8/9/2019 Camwood eBook 11 mistakes to avoid in Windows 7 Migration

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Eleven Mistakesin Windows 7 MigrationA Camwood guide for large enterprises


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IntroductionYou canget there from here.

Microsoft Windows 7 is hot. On the consumer side, it quickly became the highest-grossing pre-order in Amazons history (beating the seventh Harry Potter book). After36 hours, 64-bit versions of Windows 7 Professional had sold out in Japan.

For enterprises, the reception has been nearly as positive, with most large companiesexpressing a probable intention to start migrating within the next year or two.

Full speed ahead?The only problem: big companies have thousands of applications and tens ofthousands of users all over the world. Moving all these apps and users to a newplatform is, to say the least, a non-trivial task.

This short eBook is designed to help the people charged with migrating someof the biggest, most complex application estates in the world to Windows 7 people like you.

It summarises eleven of the most common migration mistakes weve seen in our ten

years as the UKs leading specialists in application logistics, the art and science ofmanaging application change.

Some of the mistakes will seem obvious to you. Others may raise an eyebrow. Butall of them are incredibly common in even the best-run IT departments. After all,major migrations dont come along every year, so few enterprises have developed thesystems and processes to master them.

The stakes are high.Get your migration right and youll reach Windows 7 quickly at areasonable budget and without major disruption to users or yourbusiness. Get it wrong and your entire enterprise will screech to a

halt, your support desks will light up like a Christmas tree and yourboss will call you in for a quiet word.

We hope this eBook helps you get it right. And, of course, we alsohope youll get in touch to nd out how we can help you achievewhat we call an Enlightened Migration. But this isnt about us.Its about you and the challenge youre about to take on.

Happy reading!The Camwood Team


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The Eleven Mistakes

43% of IT professionals surveyed reported that

operating system migrations impact the personallives of IT staff.Dimensional ResearchWindows 7 Adoption Survey

Invest the time to plan your migration

It will pay dividends, many-fold.Steve Kolbe, Analysis


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Weve seen dozens of companies run a wehardware migration only to nd that a lot of just wont run on the new platform. The res

a proliferation of kiosk xes and a fair amouaround.

Think apps rst. The rest will follow.

Case in pointA major bank was well on the road to a 64-ban analysis of their business-critical applica30% would survive the move. Finding out eworld of pain.

Migrating to a new operating system like Windows 7 makes an impact onevery part of your IT operation, from hardware and networks to data centresand server farms.

Many large enterprises focus on deploying the new operating system itself,getting hardware upgraded and working out every infrastructure issue rst the applications are an afterthought.

What theyre not considering is just how large and complex their applicationestate has become since the last big migration and how decisions madeabout applications will actually determinedecisions about infrastructure(more so than the other way around).

We rmly believe its far better to start with your applications strategy thanleave it to the panic stages. Heres why:

Your apps strategy is actually youruser

strategy

and everything startswith your users and what they need

Without a clear apps strategy, your infrastructure decisions will bewrong building a virtualised data centre for apps that wont run in it isexpensive

Only when you understand your apps can you develop accuratedeployment strategies if you think about an idealized deployment plan,your apps just might not co-operate.

Mistake 1

Starting to think about apps too late.


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A Three-Phase Migration Preparation / Readiness Plan

InitiationOn your marks...

Apps

Business Processes

Data & Dependencies

Users & Usage

Target Platform

Change ManagementProcesses

Rationalisation

PreparationGet Ready...

Retire

Upgrade

Replace

Proactive Rationalisation

Wave Planning

Application Processing

Function Test

User Acceptance Testagainst Target

ImplementationGo!

Application Catalo

Deployment Plan

Business As Usua


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Action PointA rigorous application compatibility testing pindicate the readiness of your application es

target platform you have in mind (see Mista

Everybodys thinking about virtualisation and 64-bit computing. A moveto Windows 7 is the perfect time to consider these innovations so you canreach your ultimate nirvana deployment sooner and at much lower cost.

A serious Windows 7 migration process should include at least an analysisof 64-bit and virtualisation strategies and options.

You may not be able to leap to all three at once but, managed properly,your Windows 7 migration will make the move to virtualisation and 64-bitmuch easier and ensure that it matches your business goals and enterprisearchitecture strategy.

Mistake 2

Missing the opportunities that a major migration creates

Windows 7 is likely to be the last Windowsoperating system with support for 32-bit

installations, and its arrival marks a decision point

for organizations to examine whether to move to

64-bit computing.

Gartner, Plan to Implement some

64-bit versions of Windows 7

Virtualization is your ticket to a smooth ride on

the Windows 7 OS-migration train. If you know

the virtual route, fewer things will break, conicts

will disappear and time will remain an asset rather

than an enemy.

IT Expert Voice


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Context working with users to map applicprocesses.

Usage Survey to see how much each apused (not just where its installed)

The goal: aggressive retirement of un-needdisrupting the user base.

The business case: signicant savings on limanagement, hosting and, of course, migra

Case in point

For one client, our rationalisation process idapplications to do BACS transfers. Only ninonly ve needed to be taken forward.

Action pointPart of any pre-migration rationalisation prosuitability for the target platform. You dont w16-bit apps if they wont even work on your Time for an alternative serving strategy or

Youd be amazed how many big companies waste millionsmigratingapplications that they dont even use.

With total packaging and migration costs averaging 3,000-3,500 perapplication, it makes a lot of sense to rationalise your app portfolio beforeeven thinking about moving anything.

A recent 3,000-app migration we heard about unwittingly included 250 appsthat didnt need to be carried forward the cost: 750 875k. And thisdoesnt even include the cost of licensing, support and management allwasted.

Lip service is no service

A lot of IT departments recognise the value of application rationalisation butnot many do it rigorously.

At Camwood, were rm believers in a thorough, scientic rationalisationprocess that includes:

Discovery bringing together 7-10 data sources (Active Directory,deployment tools, software asset management software etc.) to nd everyapp on every desktop or server in every department.

Categorisation so you know what kinds of apps you have, and which

deployment strategy youll use for each.

Mistake 3

Not rationalizing your application portfolio rst.


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migration programs completed in halfthe exautomated application compatibility testing

Action point

Dont forget to look at Supportability issues testing. An application that might migrate emay also break its support agreement in docosting a fortune.

A few migrations ago, you might have got away with a x on fail program.Today, very few enterprises will even considera major migration withoutsome application compatibility testing to see which apps will reach the

Promised Land.

Unfortunately, many peoples idea of app compat testing is prettyunscientic (picture a room full of techies installing apps and playing aroundwith them).

Any enterprise with more than about 300 applications needs serious,automated application compatibility testing as a precursor to migration.

The low-end tools on the market tend to approach app compatibility using

an ever-growing list of rules essentially hard-coded if/then statementsthat try to capture every known compatibility issue. More sophisticatedtools use heuristics to identify the components in each application that will

create conicts on the target platform. We prefer this route as its provendramatically more accurate.

A powerful application compatibility exercise will show you at a glance whichapps are ready for Windows 7 (and whatever virtualisation platform youchoose); which need a bit of remediation; and which will need to be treatedas exceptions.

Knowing this up front lets you focus your testing and packaging effortswhere theyre most needed, saving months and millions. Weve seen major

Mistake 4

Skimping on Application Compatibility testing

Make application compatibility

Bernhard Huber, Head of IT Wor


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Change ProcessesDetailed knowledge of migration workows enterprise.

Target Platform

In-depth understanding of the platform you(Windows 7 in this case) and how it interact

Data & DependenciesThe relationships between apps and betweedatabases.

With this kind of rigorous discovery, youll m

at lower cost; drive down outsourcing & pacminimise disruption to users and the busine

Without it youre ying blind.

Weve seen hundreds of major migrations and one principle always holdstrue: successful migrations are front-loaded projects, with a lot of thinkingbefore the doing part kicks in.

The discovery phase is where you collect everything you know about yourapplication estate and bring it together into one place.

We call this approach Total Application Awareness because it completelyclaries your current app estate and its relationship to your business. Theidea is to bring together six kinds of knowledge:

Users & UsageWhos using what apps, how often and why.

Applications

Exactly what applications you have, by department and location.

Business ProcessesHow your apps map to your processes.

Mistake 5

Underplaying the discovery phase

Companies looking to adopt Windows 7 should

start the planning process as soon as possible to

avoid unnecessary delays and costs.

ComputerWorld UK


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Ready, steady migrateOur own platform, the App Migration Managover ten years of managing migrations end-

all the migration acceleration tools we use (Survey, Juriba Dashworks, etc) as well as thdatabases and tools.

If a migration project is a factory, App MigraERP. You wouldnt want to run a factory wit

The Pencil GameWeve got a quick, fun demonstration that dfor a migration management platform. If yo

your team, call us in and well run it for you.

A major migration, like the one to Windows 7, is a complex machine withlots of moving parts and process dependencies.

Trying to migrate to Windows 7 using the ad hoc, manual processes thatmay have (just barely) worked when moving to Windows XP is askingfor problems. Todays app estates are far too complex, diverse andinter-dependent.

Wed never consider running a major migration without some kind ofcollaboration and workow platform ideally one designed specically formigration, packaging and testing processes (general workow tools can beused but theres a lot of pain in conguring your processes into them).

The ideal scenario is a single data depository that every step in themigration chain uses a single source of truth about your application estateand the progress that each app is making through the migration.

The idea is simple: if you know exactly where each app is in the process,you can identify bottlenecks, see productivity peaks and troughs andkeep your most expensive resources (often the packagers) working at fullefciency.

Mistake 7

Trying to migrate without a management platform.
mailto:[email protected]?subject=Enquiry%20from%20Camwood.commailto:[email protected]?subject=Enquiry%20from%20Camwood.com


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consider alternative serving strategies for required on the new platform (16Bit softwaany 64Bit Windows platform).

Applications often rely on runtime les prethe application was designed for an older Ogranted may be missing on Windows 7. Inthe application when delivered to the new

Older methods for interacting with Windowon Windows 7 to enhance security. Make the security implications before you re-allo

User Access Control (UAC) protects the usWindows 7, by restricting what applicationUnderstanding the scope of these restrictioaccess to the functionality through a targe

Applications leveraging custom credential longer be supported on Windows 7. Consiversions of the product, or alternate servinthis functionality.

Action point: XP Mode?

A Windows 7 feature called Windows XP Mvirtualized environment that lets users run tWindows 7 desktops.

This is a tricky one. Before you migrate to any platform, you really needto understand it inside-out. The trouble is, its not easy to understand aplatform inside-out if youve never actually used it in anger.

Your choice: dedicate a lot of resources into researching and working withWindows 7 (Microsoft has some excellent resources to help); or get apartner that has crawled all over Windows 7 and knows exactly what theimplications are for applications.

Shameless plugAt Camwood, weve been closely involved with the Windows 7 launch tomajor enterprises in the UK as a key partner in Microsofts TechnologyAdopter Program.

Weve already worked with Microsoft key accounts from BAA and Atkinsto Marks & Spencer, Aston Martin, Baillie Gifford and the Isle of Mangovernment to establish readiness for Windows 7.At the time of writing this, there arent many companies in the UK that getWindows 7 in an applications context better than Camwood.

Some Windows 7 GotchasHere are just a few things to look out for when thinking about migrating yourapps to Windows 7:

Windows Help (.hlp) les are longer no supported in Windows 7, soapplication Help menus may not work. Microsoft supplies an optionalupdate to re-install Winhlp32, resolving this issue.

If youre thinking about deploying Windows 7 as 64Bit, youll need to

Mistake 8

Failing to understand the target platform.

IT managers should realize,

however, that if they want to

run XP mode clients, they

had better make sure that the

processors in their desktop

machines can supporthardware virtualization, says

Mike Karp of Infrastructure

Analytics, Most low-end

processors cannot.


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Action pointUsing an automated app compatibility procethat need special attention. Youll want to ta

exceptions into a special stream with a teamthat really know what theyre doing (we havstaff).

Action pointIn our experience, up-front discovery and mcut outsourced packaging costs by 15-60%quality.

Packaging and sequencing apps have become commoditised services,often performed in bulk by outsourcers. Thats a good thing.

But bulk outsourcers arent set up to do the up-front discovery, planning andvalidation work thats essential for a successful migration. In other words:even the best outsource packagers in the world are only as good as theinformation you give them.

If you throw a bunch of apps over the wall without detailed guidance, youllget back a signicant portion of app packages that fall down on the newplatform.

Investing resources up front will multiply the speed, accuracy and efciency

of your outsourced packaging resource.

Mistake 9

Asking outsourcers to do what theyre not built to do.


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Weve seen this one time and time again. A big company starts its migrationmarch. At some point the applications part of the program hits the table. Asthe compatibility, testing and packaging issues start to surface, panic sets in.

The knee-jerk reaction: throw people at the problem.

Unfortunately, people are expensive. Even more to the point, people werenever the problem, informationwas the problem (weve seen and run hugemigrations managed with a very small in-house staff).

Ramping up the headcount may be a natural safety net strategy but itsfar from best practice. Keep it lean by using intelligence, automation andinsight.

A migration that starts as an agile DIY project ends up with an expensiveconsulting and packaging bill to clean up the mess.

A dollar spent in up-front discovery and analysis can save 8-15 dollars inpackaging and testing.

Mistake 10

Throwing bodies at the problem.

Skipping a release (such as Windows Vista)

means that organizations will not be able to move

to the next release (Windows 7) leisurely, via PC

attrition.

Michael Silver, Gartner


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Action point:Your migration management infrastructure mfoundation for an in-house Centre of Excelle

acquisition.

Case story:For one client, best-practice processes reduacquisition from 105 days to 17 days. A Proexercise showed the way.

Managed properly, your Windows 7 migration program will generate someincredibly valuable assets:

Intimate knowledge of your entire app estateA workow process for taking on and testing any new applicationA populated platform to manage the process end-to-endA reporting environment to track everything

Its more than a shame to unplug these assets once the migration iscomplete. Its practically a crime.

Best practice application lifecycle management calls for exactly these assetsto manage the on-boarding and testing of all new applications in business-

as-usual mode.

The benefts:

Accelerate your responsiveness to new application requestsAvoid application duplicationOptimise licensing and support costsEnsure that every app works on its target platform

Mistake 11

Failing to leverage your migration assets for business-a


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ConclusionIts a migration, not a death march.

Windows 7 represents a big step up for enterprise desktops (whether virtualised ornot). Getting there shouldnt take three years and shouldnt waste millions. Moreimportantly, it neednt disrupt the entire business and frustrate your users.

The eleven mistakes identied here are some of the most common sources ofdisruptive migrations. Avoid them and youre more than half way to ensuring a smoothjourney.

Of course, you dont have to go it alone.

Even if youre determined to manage your migration using existing resources andprocesses, you owe it to yourself to call in the experts for an exploratory conversation.The issues that come up in just one meeting will help you plan your migration betterand avoid the big pitfalls.

Of course, the Camwood Windows 7 Migration team stands ready to help. Nobodyconsults and provides services for more migrations.

But however you choose to go forward, we wish you a successful migration!

Organizations faced with questions about whether

to skip Windows Vista and go directly to Windows

7 must understand that there is likely less time to

get off Windows XP than they think.

Michael Silver, GartnerInternet News, 24 March 09


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ResourcesCamwood Presentation

Schedule a presentation on Windows 7 Migration

from Camwoods application migration experts.

[email protected]

Vendor Resources

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit

A simple tool for assessing your current IT

infrastructure for a variety of technology migration

projects a good view of the hardware side of

things.

Go to toolkit

Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit

Tools and documentation to evaluate and mitigate

application compatibility issues.

Go to toolkit

Windows 7 IT Pro Guides

Whats New in Windows 7 and a Windows 7

Manageability Overview Guide.

Go to guides

Microsoft Windows 7 Virtualization forum

Go to forum

Citrix: Windows 7 Known Issues page

Go to page

VMware Tech Resource Center

Go to resource center

Websites

IT Expert Voice

A Dell-sponsored site about deploying Windows 7

in large enterprises

Go to site

A good article on why virtualisation and migration

go hand in hand.

Read article

CIO.com

A library of relevant white papers here:

Go to website

Books

Managing Systems Migrations and Upgrades:

Demystifying the Technology Puzzle

Charles Breakeld and Roxanne Burkey

View on Amazon

Virtualization: The Complete Cornerstone Guide

to Virtualization Best Practices: Concepts, Terms,

and Techniques

Ivanka Menken and Gerard Blokdijk

View on Amazon

Videos

Best Practices for Migration to Windows 7

A Dell/Microsoft-sponsored video with some useful

stuff on migrating user data. From eWeek Labs

and Market Experts

Watch video

Gartners Research VP Michael Silver

Watch video

White Papers

Sponsored papers from Gartner

With Windows 7s Arrival, Plan Migrations Now

See white paper

Planning for the Security Features of Windows 7

See white paper

Prepare for Windows 7 in 3 Phases

See white paper

Plan to Implement Some 64-Bit Versions of

Windows 7

See white paper

Sponsored papers from Forrester

Windows 7 Commercial Adoption Outlook

See white paper

Plan Now for Licensing

See white paper

eBook on planning for W

available for a limited t

See white paper

Blogs

Mike Ds Blog

Blog by Mike DiPetrillo

Engineer at VMware

Go to blog

VMblog.com

Author David Marshall

Go to blog

Gerbens Blog on Virtu

Tech consultant Gerbe

Go to blog

Chris Jackson The A

Chris always has great

Go to blog

Brian Madden

A great blog on virtualiz

Go to blog
mailto:[email protected]?subject=Enquiry%20from%20Camwood.comhttp://bit.ly/4UwK5Dhttp://bit.ly/5evxtchttp://bit.ly/5PaXOshttp://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprovirt/threadshttp://support.citrix.com/article/CTX122602http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/http://itexpertvoice.com/http://itexpertvoice.com/home/how-desktop-virtualization-eases-windows-7-migration/http://www.cio.com/white-papershttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Managing-Systems-Migrations-Upgrades-Demystifying/dp/1555582567http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtualization-Cornerstone-Techniques-Successfully-Enterprise/dp/1921523913http://www.eseminarslive.com/c/a/Windows/Dell092809/http://www.eseminarslive.com/c/a/Windows/Dell092809/http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/reports/windows-7-report.jsphttp://www.cio.com/white-paper/514671/Gartner_With_Windows_7_s_Arrival_Plan_Migrations_Nowhttp://www.cio.com/white-paper/514674/Gartner_Plan_to_Implement_Some_64_Bit_Versions_of_Windows_7http://www.cio.com/white-paper/514675/Gartner_Prepare_for_Windows_7_in_3_Phaseshttp://www.cio.com/white-paper/514674/Gartner_Plan_to_Implement_Some_64_Bit_Versions_of_Windows_7http://www.cio.com/white-paper/514676/Forrester_Windows_7_Commercial_Adoption_Outlookhttp://www.cio.com/white-paper/514677/Forrester_Plan_Now_for_Licensing_Windows_7http://www.talktodell.com/go/windows-7/forrester/http://www.mikedipetrillo.com/http://vmblog.com/default.aspxhttp://blog.virtualarchitect.nl/http://blogs.msdn.com/cjacks/default.aspxhttp://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/rubenspruijt/archive/2010/02/15/think-today-change-tomorrow-your-step-by-step-to-getting-to-the-desktop-of-tomorrow.aspxhttp://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/rubenspruijt/archive/2010/02/15/think-today-change-tomorrow-your-step-by-step-to-getting-to-the-desktop-of-tomorrow.aspxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/cjacks/default.aspxhttp://blog.virtualarchitect.nl/http://vmblog.com/default.aspxhttp://www.mikedipetrillo.com/http://www.talktodell.com/go/windows-7/forrester/http://www.cio.com/white-paper/514677/Forrester_Plan_Now_for_Licensing_Windows_7http://www.cio.com/white-paper/514676/Forrester_Windows_7_Commercial_Adoption_Outlookhttp://www.cio.com/white-paper/514674/Gartner_Plan_to_Implement_Some_64_Bit_Versions_of_Windows_7http://www.cio.com/white-paper/514675/Gartner_Prepare_for_Windows_7_in_3_Phaseshttp://www.cio.com/white-paper/514674/Gartner_Plan_to_Implement_Some_64_Bit_Versions_of_Windows_7http://www.cio.com/white-paper/514671/Gartner_With_Windows_7_s_Arrival_Plan_Migrations_Nowhttp://www.gartner.com/technology/research/reports/windows-7-report.jsphttp://www.eseminarslive.com/c/a/Windows/Dell092809/http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtualization-Cornerstone-Techniques-Successfully-Enterprise/dp/1921523913http://www.amazon.co.uk/Managing-Systems-Migrations-Upgrades-Demystifying/dp/1555582567http://www.cio.com/white-papershttp://itexpertvoice.com/home/how-desktop-virtualization-eases-windows-7-migration/http://itexpertvoice.com/http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX122602http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprovirt/threadshttp://bit.ly/5PaXOshttp://bit.ly/5evxtchttp://bit.ly/4UwK5Dmailto:[email protected]?subject=Enquiry%20from%20Camwood.com


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Feedback welcome!

Let us know what you think about the Eleven Mistakes eBook.Well issue updates as we collect good tips from IT [email protected]

Contact Camwood

Lets talk about your migration:

Camwood Limited4 BroadgateLondonEC2M 2QST: +44 (0)207 562 1220

Email: [email protected]
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camwood ebook 11 mistakes to avoid in windows 7 migration

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