Windows XP to Windows 7 Migration
Submittal Cover Sheet
Four Digit Assessment/Project Code: TWA1
Mentor Name: Janet Bringhurst
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Attn.: Assessment Delivery Department
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Salt Lake City, Utah 84107-2533
Technical Writing Project Cover Sheet
Capstone Proposal Project Name: Migration of Windows XP to Windows
In today’s world of technology, it is imperative that you stay current with what is new in the it world. What makes this particularly challenging is the pace of change in it systems, and the continual need to make sure they align to a department, division and in the case of the City of Elizabethtown, an entire city. Never before has it been more critical for government municipalities to get the most value possible out of their it investments. With continual budget costs and an orientation to judge investments purely on short-term cost reduction, investments in it must be seen as atypical and worthy of much greater focus and effort to integrate the into municipalities. This is to first increase the value delivered, second to ensure the hard-earned taxpayer funds used to buy and upgrade equipment, operating systems, networks and applications are put to the best possible use, and third, to make absolutely sure they deliver the greatest value necessary in order for the City of Elizabethtown to get the greatest value.
Those are the foundational elements of this proposal and the values it is based on. As the migration of 250 workstations across 10 departments and 5 locations has a budget of $100,000 and the performance gains possible from transitioning their operating systems form Windows XP to Windows 7 is expected to be significant, the cornerstone of this proposal centers on delivering excellent public service ultimately to the citizens City of Elizabethtown. As Microsoft has also recently indicated they will be permanently discontinue Windows XP support on April 8, 2014 according to the Microsoft website, the urgency to get this upgrade completed accurately, completely, and with precision is clear.
It seems like every six months something new is coming out. While it is true you do not need every new gadget out there to stay current in the it world, you do need the most recent operating system to ensure the compatibility, security, scalability and long-term Return on Investment (ROI) of it spending. I work for the City of Elizabethtown as the Network Administrator. While a Network Administrator’s job is mostly configuring and maintaining servers, I also manage all the workstations and make sure they are getting the most recent updates that are on the WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) server. I am also in charge of preparing budgets for these workstations and purchasing them. I have been with the City now for 5 years and we have running Windows XP SP3 on all workstations. With all the new threats out there and with Microsoft ending their commitment to support Windows XP in 2014 I have decided to upgrade to Windows 7. The reason I have decided to go with Windows 7 instead on the upcoming release of Windows 8 is simply because Windows 7 was released 2 years ago and most of the bugs and kinks are gone and there is stability in the program. Microsoft has also been able to get much greater levels of software support for their 64-bit versions of the Windows 7 Application programmer Interface (API). The current Windows 32-bit based applications on the XP systems throughout the city will eventually become obsolete, some as early as twelve months from now in 2013. The message is clear from Microsoft however; they have made Win64 API-based development a strategic priority, investing heavily in Independent Software Vendor (ISV) relations efforts with their strategic partners. Microsoft has also modified and improved the device drivers for Win64-based systems so that the network security, speed and precision are also significantly enhanced. While Windows NT, XP and Windows 7 are all based on the Windows NT Kernel shown in Appendix 4, Microsoft has greatly expanded the Windows 7 kernel to support a more multiplatform-based strategy than ever before. The Windows 7 kernel can be seen in Appendix 3. Microsoft will make a major announcement later this year with Windows 8 support for the Windows Phone, and will also seek to bring the Win64 API to the Apple iPad via Apple iOS 6. This Apple operating system will most likely bring Microsoft Office to the Apple iPad. Current discussions with Microsoft indicate that any servers running Windows 7 components will be able to support non-Microsoft devices. As the City of Elizabethtown begins to adopt smartphones and tablet PCs including the Apple iPad with increasing regularity, the it department will need to also consider the platform requirements for supporting these devices. This tend in it is called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Departments in City Hall, the Elizabethtown Police Department, Fire Stations, Gas Department and Public Works all could significantly increase the effectiveness of their workflows by integrating smartphones and tablet PCs into their workflows in the future. While these are not core requirements of this transition from Windows XP to Windows 7, 64-bit edition, it is another consideration that needs to be kept in mind. The transition from XP to Windows 7 will enable our it department to better serve the entire city in the future and set the foundation for eventual adoption of mobile devices. It is not a matter of whether this will happen, only a matter of when.
Another aspect of the transition of the 250 workstations is the versioning of their applications and the significant potential speed increase they can attain when they are migrated form Win32 to Win64-based versions. This speed increase has, according to Microsoft and its ISVs (development partners) been as high as 60% on calculation-intensive applications including Microsoft Excel, SQL Server and other database applications. This speed increase is due to the result of applications using memory more efficiently and also having greater support for multithreading, which is literally the ability to have an application complete several concurrent, even potentially conflicting tasks, at once. The transition from Windows XP to Windows 7 will certainly require a hardware upgrade for workstations, and if the architecture of the workstation cannot support the minimum requirements of the operating system, another will need to be purchased. This is also the case with software licenses for all applications that are today running in Win16-based API Mode, by far the most prevalent and popular API that Microsoft has developers supporting. To see where the Win16 API fits into the architecture of these operating systems please see Appendix 4, Windows NT Kernel Architecture. An application written to support the Win16 API will also run in Windows XP, Windows 7 and 8. As the kernel architecture shows in Appendix 2, Win32 APIs dominate the XP framework. Fortunately Windows has designed in Win16 to Win32 API migration and compatibility, and is working to ensure applications written on both of these standards will work with Windows 7 and beyond.
What all this means for the upgrade of systems is that the planning steps need to pay very close attention to standardizing on Win64-based applications to gain the full performance boost form upgrading the systems with hardware to make them capable of running Windows 7. The hardware upgrades and fine-tuning will only be as valuable as the operating system-level and most importantly, application-based upgrades completed. In conclusion the primary goal of upgrading the systems to avert obsolescence needs to be balanced with potential to significantly increase and improve speed over time.
Review of Other Work
The complexities of managing it projects make the managing of human resources, risks, scope, schedules, system and information assets and most importantly, budgets, a multifaceted and potentially disruptive event for any enterprise (de Bakker, Boonstra, Wortmann, 2010). It projects that require significant change to system and application architectures can lead to significant cost overruns as well. The most important and costly aspects of these projects isn’t the hardware, software, it maintenance fees, or networking infrastructure and services providers. it’s the cost of a failed implementation because these most critical success factor has not been taken into account in planning and executing the project plan: the people. A truly effective project plan will build in ample time to complete pilot testing, create and execute extensive testing and validation and also staff the transition teams with technicians who are certified on the operating systems they are working with. These are critical success factors that can set the foundation of an effective it project. It is imperative however to look at any it project more through the lenses of change management and how the modified or improved systems will help the users overall. Even in small-scale projects that include the upgrading of system components, operating systems and applications, the computer system and network users need to be included in the entire planning and implementation process. This will not only create a higher level of trust in the actual implementation, it will also set the foundation for more effective ongoing support for these users if they have any problems with the systems once they are installed. An effective change management strategy is as important, if not more important, than the technology upgrade and implementation plan itself (Gil, Tether, 2011).
In implementing any it Project the concept of scope creep must also be addressed immediately during the initial planning stages of the project. This is the single greatest factor in the failure of large-scale it projects because it derails the key planning components and structure of any it effort from the original expectations of the systems’ users. Scope creep can also redefine the entire platform of a system if left unchecked. Studies suggest that the larger a given project, the greater the potential for scope creep as well. It is not surprising then that empirical studies indicate that many of the biggest failures of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) projects have failed due to the scope being completely changed over time with no focus on stability to the original expectations of the original users (Lim, Sia, Yeow, 2011). The detrimental effects of scope creep can also significantly affect the very nature of the project itself, creating divisions and discord that can derail a project over time. The many risks inherent in creating an effective project are surpassed by scope creep, as it can completely re-order the expectations and requirements of users.
The extent of this impact can be seen in how all resources for a project, from its many costs and the time invested, to the core resources relied on to create the platform and launch the application or entire system, are completely re-ordered through scope changing (de Bakker, Boonstra, Wortmann, 2010). The reason this factor is so detrimental is that it can completely redefine the change management strategies of the company and take those most affected by the systems’ benefits out of the main flow of communication.
Another significant risk is the lack of trust that develops over time on a project when there is little if any trust in project direction due to a lack of communication. This lack of communication on it project is often what leads to companies having problems with new system installation as employees will often see them as a threat to their jobs, roles and most important to them, their status in the organization given access to privileged or confidential data. Those most affected by a changed system see their personal role in an organization and their status inextricably linked to their access to valuable, highly sought-after information (Hong, Doll, Revilla, Nahm, 2011). While it departments will often seek to create a highly responsive project plan that can manage all of these variables, and in the interest of being responsive, it project managers take on more project requests, they are actually hurting their chances for success and potentially breeding distrust of the system being delivered (Lim, Sia, Yeow, 2011). This is why it is so critically important for a project manager and leader to stay on point and keep the project focused on the original agreed objective. This is why it project management must move through a series of five strategic steps if it is to be successful (Lim, Sia, Yeow, 2011). These five steps, at a strategic level include Envisioning, Planning, Developing, Stabilizing and Deploying. These are the core areas of strategic focus an it project management professional must build their strategies for change on top of. What this framework also does is create a highly effective framework for keeping the original objectives of the project at the forefront of management decision-making also reducing the potential for disruption as a result of scope creep or the continual adding on of additional aspects of the project.
An additional risk factor or category that project managers must consider is the accuracy and reliability of specific dates on the project plan itself. A downfall of many projects, especially those that include large-scale migration from one system to the next is predicated on a series of dependencies that each have varying probabilities of being achieved (de Bakker, Boonstra, Wortmann, 2010). This translates into an entire project that is hanging together with dependencies with varying degrees of complexity and closure. It projects often stall out at this point and the entire series of dependencies need to be defined again. Projects that reach this level of confusion are often cancelled and started over. Organizations will often to micromanage their way out of these challenges, holding cross-functional meetings and creating advanced forms of analytics and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure progress, yet over time fear and mistrust of project so out of sync with needs are only partially successful in attaining their original objectives (Lim, Sia, Yeow, 2011). Often what this focus on the analytics, KPIs and metrics miss is if the project is actually moving in the right direction or simply in damage control mode, attempting to save the sunk costs of time, materials and valuable resources (Gil, Tether, 2011).
Another significant risk is a continually shifting series of goals and objectives. This often occurs when the original leader of a project leaves the organization, leaving a significant gap in conviction, expertise and skills necessary for completing the project. This is synonymous with a leader of an entire business unit or company leaving for another opportunity and leaving the many it projects they championed literally hanging in mid-air, needing support (Gil, Tether, 2011). In organizations that have a very high degree of project management expertise, this is often compensated for in how the entire enterprise is managed from a project leadership perspective. However, for the majority of smaller organizations and many government entities, the loss of the leader championing the it system investments and strategies can literally stop years of process immediately (Hong, Doll, Revilla, Nahm, 2011). For organizations that base much of their revenue and growth on projects however, there are redundancy plans, even for large-scale it projects. The logic that supports this is that it is so crucial to the success of customer- and suppler-based initiatives that there must be a continual focus on stability and longevity of leadership (Gil, Tether, 2011). These aspects of it leadership project management risk have also been shown to have an immediate and lasting effect on knowledge management as well; specifically the sharing of tacit and explicit knowledge workflows of organizations who are standardizing on it platforms (Hong, Doll, Revilla, Nahm, 2011). What emerges from this analysis is the observation that all aspects of project leadership either directly or indirectly affect the success of a project. The ability to plan and execute on these aspects of an it project plan can significantly change the probability of success of any initiative, and also bring a level of insight to the leadership of programs not possible otherwise. Another key lesson learned is that senior management support and the development of an effective strategy for ensuring change management starts at the top of an organization, as entire organizations will often emulate the attitudes, beliefs and values of their leaders, needs to also permeate an organization (de Bakker, Boonstra, Wortmann, 2010). Amidst all the change and potential disruption these factors can have on a project, it is clear that the role of the senior management team, or in the case of a government organization, senior it and planning executives, be aligned to the it project goals and show their support for them often (Lim, Sia, Yeow, 2011). This will do much to ensure the success of even the simplest to the most complex projects.
Rationale and Systems Analysis
The rationale for this project is based on the need to both alleviate the potential threat of obsolescence and increase the level of system performance across the five departments affected by the upgrade. With Microsoft dropping support for their Windows XP operating system by 2014, the clock is ticking to complete the upgrade. There is also the issue of increasing the performance levels of the workstations involved in the upgrade. Many are running applications originally designed for hardware systems much less robust and technologically advanced as those running Windows 7 today. In addition, running a fully compatible Win64-based applications in Windows 7 will lead to performance and productivity gains across the five departments affected by the upgrade. It will also increase the accuracy and speed of collaboration over time as well. There is also the factor of security that needs to be taken into account from a rational perspective. The Windows XP operating system was the first major effort on the part of Microsoft to bring greater levels of authentication and security into their core operating system platform. Windows 7 has a completely redesigned series of APIs to further support greater levels of security throughout all applications supported on the latest generation API and programming standards. While the primary factor in the upgrades is reducing the risk of obsolescence, the further factors of increased performance and security must also be taken into account. With these factors in mind, the rationale and systems analysis for the migration of 250 workstations from Windows XP to Windows 7 follows.
1. Reducing the risk of obsolescence immediately. With Microsoft moving forward with their product strategy from Windows XP to Windows 7 and quickly to Windows 8, the city of Elizabethtown needs to avert the potential of having their internal network including workstations cease to function optimally over time. The rationale for implementing the upgrades immediately across the five departments of City Hall, the Police Department, three fire stations, the Gas Department and Public Works is to alleviate any potential degradation or loss of service due to Microsoft ceasing support for this operating system.
2. Increasing the level of system performance and stability. With the Windows XP operating system there is the potential threat of having applications run at only partially the level they are capable of. Windows XP is predicated on the Win32 API and while only a small percentage of developers created applications to this standard, the majority opted for the far larger market potential on the Win16 API. The net result is broader distribution of software yet lower performance on the Windows XP operating system as a result. The performance degradation on Windows XP for the latest generation of applications will accelerate as Microsoft’s key developers shift focus to Win32- and Win64-based APIs that promise much greater levels of performance and scalability. Social networks are so pervasive today that many developers are generating Win64-based versions of their applications with real-time integration into these emerging, high growth platforms. There are also an entirely new series of communication and collaboration applications specifically designed on the Windows 7 platform that can further accelerate and accentuate the performance of the five departments included in the upgrade project. The added benefit of having applications purpose-built for the Windows 7 architecture will lead to fewer support calls, greater flexibility and versatility in managing workflows across these five departments, in addition to higher levels of user satisfaction over time. Often when systems are upgrades so significantly, applications perform more reliably and with greater stability, which translates into much greater levels of software use and user satisfaction. This factor needs to be bought out in the change management plans and pilots created to ensure a high level of support from the five city department affected by the upgrade project.
3. Increasing the level of security and role-based authentication. The differences between the Windows XP and Windows 7 system architectures as shown in Appendix 2 and 3 illustrate the most significant differences between these two operating systems. Both are using the Windows NT kernel shown in Appendix 4, relying on the legacy kernel support for Win16 API emulation carried forward to Windows 7. What has changed in the Windows 7 kernel has been the inclusion of security APIs directly in the Windows 7 kernel. This is very significant development from a software standpoint and an excellent feature for state & local governments to take advantage of. The need for greater security is evident in the many limitations of the Windows XP operating system. The development of role-based authentication and sign-on roles and responsibilities within the Windows 7 architecture is generations ahead of Windows XP, despite the single product level in the Windows operating system product line. Windows 7 now includes the ability to restrict down to the applet and thread level of performance access to key system resources. This latest operating system can also parse data packets inbound off the network and determine if any of them have threats. These security features are crucial for municipal governments especially, as the systems are often laptops and are used throughout various locations in the city. Taken together the many security features of Windows 7 will strengthen and harden the electronic security parameter around Elizabethtown’s systems.
4. Setting a foundation for managing the future more effectively. As smartphones and tablet PCs including the iPad become more pervasive throughout society, they will become increasingly more important for municipalities including Elizabethtown to support across the broad base of applications in use. The support for mobility has been an area that Microsoft lags Apple due to the lack of aggressive development on Windows 7 Mobile and Windows 8 operating systems. Microsoft however has shown that the largest percentage of their R&D budget will go to supporting mobile devices in the future. This is an area that Elizabethtown needs to stay focused on as the pervasive adoption of smartphones and tablet PCs continues over time. Windows XP, designed primarily to support large-scale enterprise computing, lacks the level of device and table PC support. It is an unscalable platform for the future of Elizabethtown and the city’s long-term needs for mobility and Cloud Computing. Windows 7 has extension to also support the Microsoft Azure Operating System, which is the foundation of their Cloud Computing developments globally. Supporting Windows 7 will open up the opportunity to migrate many of the city’s applications to the cloud eventually, when the economics, security and usability aspects of the decision warrant the migration. With the economics of Cloud Computing becoming so attractive and the licenses from Microsoft for on-premise becoming increasingly complex and costly, having alternatives in the future need to be planned for today. Windows 7 sets the foundation of being able to capitalize on the continued migration of Microsoft to the cloud with their application, hosting and service strategies
Goals and Objectives
In defining the goals and objectives for the migrating of the 250 workstations from the Windows XP to Windows 7 operating system, the foundational elements of change management, it management all must be adhered to. These two areas form the foundation of the goals and objectives as defined in this section and each have specific goals and objective associated with them. Underscoring all of these areas is the need to also define a common series of analytics, key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that can provide real-time feedback on the performance of the systems over the long-term. There also need to be metrics that also capture the level of value users are getting from these systems ass well. In addition, those metrics must pervade the pilot and go-live process as well; it needs to become a core part of these goals and objectives to evaluate the overall performance of not just the upgrade process but the ongoing performance of the system over time. The use of analytics and measures of performance form the feedback system to ensure the systems are achieving their stated purpose and that users are finding value in them over time. With the foundation of analytics, KPIs and metrics of performance defined, here are the goals and objectives of the migration project:
I. Change Management Goals and Objectives
A. To measure user satisfaction with the existing system and benchmark both user perception of value and application performance relative to industry-shared standards.
B. To index user satisfaction by department, role, frequency of use and satisfaction with it support. Using the SERVQUAL metric for example would provide this level of insight and intelligence into how users perceive system performance. This measure of relative customer satisfaction will be used for indexing the progress of the system pilot and overall project performance.
C. To meet individually with each department affected by the migration plan and complete a user satisfaction survey both online (to allow the user’s anonymity but provide department identification) and in person to see what their concerns are about the migration plan. There needs to be a series of these meetings that provide the users with feedback on hwo the migration is going, what the current plans are, and how their work will not change that much. In fact the systems they are working on today will most likely be much slower and less capable of keeping up with the latest generation of software that will be installed.
D. To complete a user census of all systems, their current configurations, who is using the system and for what work, and what applications they are using all needs to be captured to the individual workstation level. This information will be invaluable in planning upgrades for those workstations whose configurations today cannot support Windows 7.
E. To complete a software census of all users, from a version and software provider perspective, in addition to which applications are most often used for collaboration within and between departments. Having users report this and the percentage of time they spend on them will provide it with a very clear indication of which applications could potentially be discontinued or removed during the migration. Often departments have many applications installed on their workstations and only a very small percentage are actually used. This will also give users a greater voice in how their new systems will be configured.
F. To initiate and dutifully deliver a series of training sessions on hwo the migration will take place, including the use of advanced technologies for migrating their applications if necessary. While the use of the Windows Easy Transfer utility from Microsoft will handle the basic migration of the Windows XP to Windows 7 operating system, users will want to know how and where their applications and data is backed up. Having a series of lunch-and-learn or learning sessions will give the users instructions on hwo they can begin backing up their data to the shared folders now. This will also explain to them that their data is secured to a specific folder on the network. For those city employees in the five departments interested in how the Windows Easy Transfer utility work, a separate session needs to also be planned and offered. The focus of all these sessions is to provide each employee with very clear instructions on how to manage their part of the migration, and also help them see the value of the migration from a performance and security standpoint.
G. To host a continual it Education Series for all users and provide an online status update of the project timeline and results achieved. As there many be users who still have a level of anxiety over this project, it is essential for the it staff to offer ongoing education on how Windows 7 works and how valuable it will be for the entire city.
a. To offer Introduction to Windows 7 Operating System courses for three months prior to the change and for a year past the migration process is complete.
b. To provide Windows 7 Applications Training for anyone who wants to learn about how the new operating system directly affects and supports applications for higher performance.
c. To provide users with the option of upgrading to the Win64-based versions of Microsoft Outlook, MS-Office and other applications depending on the licensing options available to them.
d. To provide users with advanced training and the remote access and iPad support for the Windows 7 operating system. This is will be particularly valuable for the police and fire departments that may be interested in using smartphones and tablet PCs to respond faster to emergencies.
e. To provide updates and ongoing online training continually after the migration of the systems.
II. It Project Management Goals and Objectives
1. To complete a hardware census in conjunction with the initial user census studies and determine which workstations will need upgrades or be replaced.
a. To complete and test the upgrades and new systems on the city network a minimum of two weeks before the large-scale migration.
b. To provide users of these systems with advanced training on how to use the Windows 7 operating system either with city it resources or have the city pay for them to attend New Horizons Computer Learning Center or comparable facility so they understand how to navigate and use the new systems.
2. To complete hardware updates two weeks prior to the formal migration, complete with testing of the systems updated.
3. To complete migration pilots throughout the Administration, Finance, Engineering, Stormwater and Planning departments as they are critical to the successful functioning of the city. Pilots will need to run for two weeks to ensure that any potential incompatibilities of Windows 7 operating system software and applications are discovered.
4. To complete an entire migration on a workstation-by-workstation basis and test each system to quality assurance levels after each install process.
5. To delivery a 100% functioning upgrade within the timeframes defined and below the $100,000- budget.
6. To create a dashboard that lists the performance levels of each workstation and also shows the percentage of performance gains by department and by network given the inclusion of Windows 7. There also needs to be a dashboard of KPIs and metrics that shows the overall performance of system reliability and security over time, with users having access to this data easily. This also supports the core change management aspects of the project as well.
Project Deliverables
The main deliverables of the project include the following elements as defined in this section. These include the following:
A. A workstation census of all systems affected by the migration plan. This will provide it with an immediate view of all the major components that are most critical to the migration. This census will also highlight the workstations installed that needed to be upgraded, those that were of the correct configuration for Windows 7, and those that needed additional components and items to support more advanced applications.
B. Cross-reference of roles and responsibilities by workstation matrix and analysis. This is critical to see how each workstation will be used running Windows 7 and the potential workloads that will be placed on the operating system. This will also be critically important for planning the future development of application and Windows 7 updates over time.
C. Windows 7 Utility Windows Easy Transfer Documentation. This is the application that will be used by Teams 1 and 2 in the migration. There needs to be documentation available on this application in addition to presentations to show users how this application will function over time. There also needs to be a series of tutorials specifically designed to provide Teams 1 and 2 with the insights into hwo best to use this utility.
D. Training Schedule for Team 1 and Team 2 Personnel on Windows XP and Windows 7 Operating Systems and Restore Procedures. This is critical to ensure the teams doing the migration are well trained on how to recover from any errors or from the migration tool failing. In the event of the migration tool, Easy Transfer, failing, members of each team will need to be able to immediately restore the workstation to its original condition and re-initiate the process.
E. User Training Schedule and Courseware on the Fundamentals of Windows 7. This is going to be critically important for the users of these systems if they are going to be able to use their new systems the first morning they get back into the office. The training schedule needs to includes multiple dates and times for training, including the development of ongoing programs to keep the entire user base affected by the migration up to speed with the latest developments to the Windows 7 operating system. There also needs to be an entire section of this document dedicated to online learning in the event members of the city government and its many departments want to study and practice Windows 7 from home, mostly learning about how to use the new operating system.
F. Ongoing Lunch-and-Learn Training Schedule and Brown Bag University on Windows 7 and the role it has in collaboration. As many of the users who are going to be having their workstations upgraded may be unfamiliar with operating systems and the role they play in making communication and collaboration, there needs to be ongoing lunch-time programs and training sessions including Brown Bag Universities (BBUs) to help the workstation users see the value of the system upgrade and also reduce the level of fear and resistance to change. There also needs to be ongoing dialogue in these sessions about the issues or challenges the people are facing in using the new systems.
G. Budget for all workstation upgrade allocated by department. Creating an overarching budget will be critical for the entire project to be successful, in addition to providing details by department. Having these figures in Microsoft Excel and also posted on the Intranet will also it management o see the value of the upgrades over time.
H. Microsoft Training Materials and Application Compatibility Matrix. Using the materials provided by Microsoft, the it Department must also create a series of learning portals that will help the users affected by the change see how their specific applications are compatible with Windows 7 and how they will perform over time. The use of background Microsoft materials will also help to guide users in terms of learning the new applications they may want installed after Windows 7 is installed.
I. Formal Project Plan with Dependencies. This will be the main document of all deliverables, and will include the overarching project plan, a full list of the dependencies, costs, and the series of training and change management schedules and tables mentioned in this section of the migration plan. There will also be a series of training materials, internal training links and a series of metrics for measuring user satisfaction over time. There will also be a series of project dates and schedules for training on all Windows 7 features, including how to get the most out of the current and future applications.
A secondary series of elements in this document will be the series of schedules for Team 1 and Team 2 as it relates to their implementation schedules. The scheduling by workstation will be provided, in addition to the specifics of each workstation from a hardware configuration standpoint. Also included will be the user feedback section of the project plan that will sue SERVQUAL-based metrics to measure the overall user satisfaction with the it project performance on the project. User satisfaction will be posted to the Intranet portal as well.
The third series of items in this project plan will be the series of analytics and measurements for evaluating overall system performance. These metrics will include a series of functional and application areas meant to further capture overall network performance. These metrics will be populated into the dashboards in real-time so everyone can see overall network and application performance. Also included will be metrics that show the level of security threats minimized or mitigated through the use of Windows 7 over Windows XP.
Project Plan and Timelines
The project plan will include the following dates and deadlines on the critical path:
Six Weeks Prior to Implementation
A. Census of all systems and requirements analysis of each to determine Windows 7 compatibility
B. Training for all installers
C. Support from Microsoft on the use of the Easy Transfer
D. Training on Fall-back Procedures for Windows XP Installations
Four Weeks Prior to Implementation
A. Scheduling of the Monthly Lunch Meetings and BBUs
B. Invitation to Microsoft Local Reps to come in and discuss Windows 7 — what it is and how it works
C. Training to Users on How to Use Windows 7
D. Schedule by Department Finalized
E. Licenses Finalized and Approved by Microsoft
Two Weeks Prior to Implementation
A. Schedule time with each member of Admin and Police to review their specific application needs and to personally help them back up their system to the remote folders
B. Complete internal audit to make sure everyone is doing the backup to folder exercise and understanding how this type of network storage works
C. Complete pilot program in key City Hall Departments
Implementation Week
A. Complete the implementations before each department
B. Complete Quality Assurance testing on each of the specific areas immediately after installation making sure system boots and applications work
C. Have escalation paths ready for systems that crash if the Easy Transfer Tool fails
D. Schedule Microsoft Certified Engineer with certifications in windows 7 to be onsite during the City Hall and Police department migrations
Post Implementation
A. Complete customer satisfaction surveys with every user who had their system upgraded.
B. Post stats on network performance and customer satisfaction on the city Intranet site
C. Continually offer lunch-and-learns and BBUs
D. Audit the quality of performance report back to it senior management
E. {Pilot the use of smartphones and tablet PCs to see how scalable Windows 7 is given the configuration in the city of Elizabethtown.
Demonstrated Competencies
1. Explain how your Capstone Project will demonstrate your competency in each of the following areas:
a. Leadership and Professionalism
This project brings the need for both problem-solving skills and transformational leadership to the forefront of project management.
b. Upper Division Collegiate Level Reasoning and Problem Solving
This project includes the key areas of problem solving of upper division courses including the development of resource-based and constraint-based judgments of performance. There is also the judgment of how best to align many different resources to a common goal or objective.
c. Language and Communication
Clarity of communicational and a solid focus on the user of the customer make this project perfectly attuned to the concepts of change management. This will be a critical project for learning how to communicate priorities and focus quickly and thoroughly to implementation teams.
d. Quantitative Literacy
The series of analytics as defined in this study will bring quantitative literacy to the forefront of the effort, in addition to being able to show through analytics and dashboard the cumulative effect of system upgrader performance.
2. Information Technology Competency
Software competency is evident and pervasive throughput this project, as it shows how the need for staying current with operating systems is crucial for the successful operation of a city., the skills required to orchestrate such a large migration are also evident in the risk mitigation strategies as well. Finally, the baseline of system components will need to be known first, so a suitable baseline can be created and measured against. All of these are critical to software competency.
References
de Bakker, K., Boonstra, a., & Wortmann, H.. (2010). Does risk management contribute to it project success? A meta-analysis of empirical evidence. International Journal of Project Management, 28(5), 493.
Gil, N., & Tether, B.. (2011). Project risk management and design flexibility: Analysing a case and conditions of complementarity. Research Policy, 40(3), 415.
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Appendix 1: Competency Matrix
Domain/Subdomain
Competency
Explanation
Leadership and Professionalism
Upper Division Communication and Interpersonal Skills
This research report was designed, developed, researched and completed in a professional manner using both primary and secondary sources of research.
Upper Division Collegiate-Level Reasoning and Problem Solving
Upper Division Assumptions and Values
Development and execution of an enterprise system migration plan was completed, relying on assumptions and value-based analysis.
Language and Communication
Argumentative and Critical Writing Skills
Critical thought and intensive levels of research went into the analysis of the enterprise migration plan included in this analysis.
Quantitative Literacy
Interpreting and Communicating Quantitative Information
Quantitative analysis of the migration process and potential enterprise risks completed; costing and Return on Investment (ROI) analysis completed and quantitative measures of performance provided including metrics and suggested analytics.
Networking
The graduate differentiates and installs/configures network devices.
The graduate uses hardware and software utilities to track and maintain network performance in optimized state.
Intensive expertise shown in configuring the network for the city, and for providing risk mitigating strategies to keep the entire enterprise up and running during the transition.
Appendix 2: Windows XP Kernel Architecture
Appendix 3: Windows 7 Kernel Architecture
Appendix 4: Windows NT 4.0 Kernel Architecture
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