Windows7 - Managing the Migration Process
Knowing your PC assets will help your migration to Windows 7 run more smoothly
You can download a White Paper here, explaining how DNA Asset Management can assist your Windows migration process.
| FACT | Any major software change, such as an operating system upgrade, will be accompanied by a rise in support calls and Incidents logged with the service desk / support team |
 |
| FACT | A change of O/S will lead to an interruption in the business activities and this will COST the company money in lost worker productivity |
|
| QUESTION | How can this interruption be minimised and consequent costs be kept as low as possible? |
|
| ANSWER | NetSupport DNA will provide you with a clear understanding of all your PC Assets and help you plan your migration, by identifying suitable (and unsuitable) hardware and software applications requiring upgrades. DNA provides an easy mechanism for dynamically grouping PCs on this basis and therefore carrying out group actions. |
Not only that, the built in Alerting will monitor your PCs for critical conditions and help you prevent problems.
NetSupport DNA can deliver significant cost savings, by providing this information.
The Process
Find and identify all the computers on the company network
How many computers do you have? Who are they used by? and where are they located?
DNA will search your network, identify all your PCs and then install it's client on them automatically and in just a few minutes you will have comprehensive hardware and software asset data becoming available.
Cost-Saving: Reduced auditing and planning time
Collect Asset Data
The hardware Inventory asset data collected will provide you with all the information you will require to assist in planning your migration, e.g,
- CPU Speed
- Memory specification
- Available Disk Space
- Video Graphics compatibility
- Current O/S and Service Pack level
Organising PCs into Dynamic Groups based on a minimum hardware specification required for Windows 7
 |
Dynamic groups can easily be created based on the minimum system specifications as defined by Microsoft for example:
This data can be used directly as your selection criteria for the dynamic group using the SQL wizard. |
Check installed software applications for compatibility with Windows 7
Before upgrading the O/S it is vital to know if this will adversely affect your installed applications and prevent them from running correctly. It may be that certain applications will need to be upgraded before the operating system upgrade, or some apps may need to be run in compatibility mode.
DNA will return exact package version details (where available) and allow you to research and identify the ones that need upgrading. Dynamic selctions groups based on this data can be created as with the hardware group.
Analyse Metering Data to see which applications are really used and if they need upgrading
Combing this with DNA Software Metering data will allow you to identify where applications are not being used on a particular PC or where a legacy application has completely fallen out of use.
Cost savings will therefore be delivered through not purchasing upgrade licences and also in time-savings through not researching upgrade paths for legacy applications.
Post Upgrade Incident Handling, Automated Alerting and Resolutions
With the best planning in the world, an O/S upgrade will inevitably lead to more Incidents being logged with the help desk staff. Some are likely to be as a result of installed / upgraded applications not working correctly, some may relate to performance issues.
DNA can assist here too. Having accurate up-to-date inventory information will help identify the source of these problems and DNA's built-in Alerting, allows IT staff to set alerts against conditions which they know will generate Incidents. By setting these in advance, the condition which would have caused the Incident can be corrected before it occurs. e.g. by setting a disk space alert, before the required minimum free space threshold, a low disk space Incident will be logged before it affects the user, allowing the support technician to correct it.
