eiNetwork Forum:How Did It All Happen

August 12, 2011

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Why Are We Here?

• Public frustration and public service issues• Staff issues and concerns• Working towards improved communication– Share some background for understanding– Provide updates about known problems– Identify new /additional issues– Where do we go from here?

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What’s was different about the 2011 PC Deployment?• Move to Windows 7

– Now Microsoft’s flagship OS – Most home users have adopted– Like most enterprise class users, Vista was never deployed– 2005 PC Deployment included migration to Windows XP

– Required all new user logins – Required different methods for local customizations– Other software upgrades mandated (e.g., EnvisionWare, Flash,

JAWS, MAGic, Dreamweaver, QuickBooks).– Required testing of all printer drivers and implementing new drivers

where needed (both networked and locally attached printers).

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What’s was different about the 2011 PC Deployment?• More hardware options/ local choices

available in 2011.• Increased complexity in local library

environments since 2008.

• First PC Deployment since we outsourced the Help Desk.– This doesn’t mean that eiN isn’t accountable for

the Help Desk performance.

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What’s was different about the 2011 PC Deployment?• Problems “fixed” continued to reoccur. – Huge surprise during rollout– Magnitude was not seen during testing periods

• There is no “silver bullet”

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What preparations did eiN make and what were the problems?• Beta test and new hardware pilots

– Pilot site on old hardware in 2010– New hardware test units also deployed in March 2011– Full scale deployment yielded recurring problems where the

fixes didn’t “stick”, and continued to reoccur despite eiN/Help Desk efforts

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What preparations did eiN make and what were the problems?• Milestone dates are impacted by the size and scale of the

process– Final PC image had to be shipped to HP in mid-February– Many of the software fixes now being deployed weren’t available then

(Envisionware, Win 7 Service Pack 1)– Warehouse space to receive 4,500 boxes is scheduled and reserved– Temporary staff for deployment teams are hired with a scheduled start

date– Library closure dates and library staff schedules are all set– A no-cost lease extension had already been negotiated.

Significant issues for everyone if deployment rollouts were stopped midstream

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What preparations did eiN make and what were the problems?• Modifications to Help Desk processes

– Anticipated high volume of tickets as always with PC Deployment

– Created “PC Deployment” ticket class to route to eiN– eiN staff and additional contractors were assigned to resolve PC

Deployment tickets for weeks

• Unanticipated turnover in Questeq staff• Insufficient communication between Help Desk and eiN:

Sometimes inadequate and unhelpful messages from Help Desk to library staff

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What preparations did eiN make and what were the problems?• Additional technical staff

– Design phase (pre-deployment roll-out)– During deployment– Post deployment– Microsoft, and other vendors (Deep Freeze, Symantec, EnvisionWare),

Expedient also engaged

• Currently seeking additional staffing:– Just to deploy the known software fixes– Technical expertise to solve problems that are still not understood

There is no “silver bullet”

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Lessons Learned Thus Far

• Underestimated the overall complexity of the technology changes.– Pilot tests didn’t indicate that problems would be

continuously recurring (even once presumably fixed)– eiN didn’t realize the problems would be so widespread

• Inadequate communications with the libraries.• Inadequate communications with the Help Desk. • eiN did miss some specific cases of how PC’s are

being used within the libraries

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How Do We Fix It?

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