7/30/2019 AdminStudio OklahomaCity Success Story

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In these difcult economic t imes,organizations across the board are ndingthey have to do more wit h less – lesspeople, time and resources. State andlocal governments – dependent upondwindling tax bases to fund operations –are in an even more precarious position asthey are faced with a declining ability todeliver essential government services.

The City of Oklahoma City, with apopulation of more than a half million

people, is no exception. With more than4,000 employees, its IT department of about 80 employees has seen signicantcuts over the past two years, and theymust make due managing the IT resourcesof such diverse and essential services aspublic safety, police and re, wired andwireless networks and more.

Of course, signicant productivityand efciency benets can come fromleveraging the latest technologies, such as

Microsoft’s Windows 7™ operating systemor application virtualization. The challenge

for governments and organizations alike,however, is mustering the necessaryresources to cost effectively migrate to thesetechnologies – or to put it more succinctly,how to get there from here?

Undertaking Windows 7 MigrationThe challenge was daunting. Thecity has more than 3,000 desktopsrunning approximately 75 IT-supportedapplications. According to the City’s clientinfrastructure manager, Shamra Noakes,in order to take advantage of Windows 7

and Microsoft Application Virtualization™(App-V), for each application IT wouldhave had to undertake a signicant effortto analyze, package and deliver theapplication to the users’ desktops – ahighly manual process. “We had lot of personnel cuts last year, so we no longerhave resources to send people out totroubleshoot machines. We needed a wayto be able to switch out a machine andhave users up and running within an houror two.”

The traditional process of applicationpackaging entails six essential steps:

1. Identifying the media2. Repackaging/Conversion3. Editing4. Conict Analysis5. Testing6. Deployment

Noakes says manually packaging theCity’s applications for the Windowsmigration would have overrun herteam’s resources. “One of the goals forour Windows 7 rollout was to make it

transparent and seamless to the user, usingas few IT resources as possible.”

However, in actuality the processwas laborious, and involved creatingtransforms, or “xing”, the application,testing, editing and nal packaging. “Weknew we were going to have to packagethe applications – but we didn’t have themanpower to do it all manually.

Success Story: The City of 

Oklahoma City “We wouldn’t be nearly so far in our 

Windows 7 rollout or application virtualization efforts wit hout AdminStudio,” 

said Noakes. “And management has noticed.

We’ve gotten great comments on our 

cost-cutt ing creativity and improved 

application packaging turnaround t imes.” 

Shamra NoakesClient Infrastructure Manager

The City of Oklahoma City

Customer Profle: The City of Oklahoma City is a local government organizationproviding essential services such as public safety, police and re to a population of more than ahalf million people.

Challenge: The City of Oklahoma City’s IT department needed to quickly and effect ively migrate applications to Microsoft ® Windows 7 and implement Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V™).

Solution: The City of Oklahoma City chose AdminStudio to automate application readinessfor application migrations.

Benefts: Saved time and reduced costs to prepare applications for migration. Packagingtime was cut from 50 man hours to two – more than a 95% reduction in man hours per application. This translates roughly to $1,300 savings in staff time for each application, and$97,000 for their entire Windows 7 Migration. AdminStudio also automated the process toconvert applications to the App-V format.

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All told, the whole process could take ustwo to three weeks per application.” With75 applications to package, that wouldhave commandeered all the resources forher lean-to-the bone, two-person staff forthe foreseeable future.

“We want to get Windows 7 rolled out byApril of next year, which would have beenunfeasible. Honestly, we needed a toolthat would do it for us automatically.”

 Automating Applicat ion PackagingDelivers ROILike so many other IT Departments facingcan’t-miss deadlines with fewer resources,Noakes’ team needed an automatedsolution to centrally prepare and deployapplications in a reliable, consistent

way. A quick Google® search turned upAdminStudio™ from Flexera Softwareas one of the leading applicationreadiness solutions on the market. Noakesliked what she saw and scheduled ameeting wit h a sales representative.“AdminStudio did everything we needed –it integrated with Microsoft® System CenterConguration Manager® and convertsto App-V, which was nice because that’sour infrastructure. We bought it withina week.” Noakes and her team tookadvantage of an available training course

to become immediately productive.

AdminStudio’s ability to run automatedtests on MSIs, identify Windows 7-relatedproblems, and x errors automatically,was key in helping Noakes’ team packagethe City’s applications for Windows 7.The system’s ability to Test for Windows7 Compatibility was also important forstreamlining the process, “We ran this onseveral of our applications that would noteven install on Windows 7 and the auto-resolve xed most of these issues with t heclick of a button.”

The team was also impressed byAdminStudio’s ability to create ResponseTransforms. “It makes it easy to pushout applications that require non-standard installations through our SCCMenvironment. I also like that the product isintegrated with the InstallShield editor. This

lets me open up and view otherMSI’s to help me determine how theapplication is installed, so I can planor troubleshoot the installation oruninstallation of applications.”

Other features also helped the IT teamstreamline the packaging process bylett ing them quickly migrate software toMSI, edit for package customization,do conict testing and resolution, andautomatically correct package validationand QA issues. “AdminStudio comesalong and it has the Microsoft® WindowsInstaller® [MSI editor],” said Noakes.“So now we pop the MSI editor in andfollow the prompts. Within 30 minuteswe have the transform le that you canpackage with Microsoft System Center

Conguration Manager – and you’redone. It also lets you edit the table to makea silent install without having to go back inand try t his command or that one, like weused to. AdminStudio does it all for you.It’s like having an additional headcountthat does not hing but applicationpackaging – cheaply.”

Noakes says that with AdminStudio’shelp, her two-person team is well aheadof the department’s scheduled Windows7 migration targets. But perhaps most

impressive is the time and cost-savingsthey’ve achieved since implementing t heproduct. “We installed AdminStudio andstarted using it right away. It used to takeus about 50 man hours to package andready an application. Now it takes abouttwo -- more than a 95% reduction in manhours per application. This translatesroughly to $1,300 savings in staff time forjust one application, and $97,000 for ourwhole Windows 7 Migration!”

Of course, Noakes points out thatAdminStudio delivers value beyond largeprojects like Windows 7 migration – butalso helps contain costs for their day-to-day application packaging needs.“We get called upon to repackage oneto two applications per month – and weuse AdminStudio for all our repackagingneeds. That amounts to about $2,600per month in ongoing savings. It’s part

of our long-term infrastructure, and letsus turn around application requests rightwhen they come in the door withoutwasting weeks and months to make sureeverything’s going to work right. Withthis tool in place, we’ve moved from areactive, project oriented approach, to aproact ive holistic approach resulting incontinuous application readiness.

Simplifying Application VirtualizationLike many organizations, City of Oklahoma City sees applicationvirtualization as a way to lowercomputing and application managementcosts and become more nimble. However,preparing and converting applications forvirtualization can be a daunting task inand of itself.

The City of Oklahoma City, like manyorganizations, t hought t heir Windows7 migration project would be a goodcatalyst to jumpstart t heir applicationvirtualization efforts. However, theysoon discovered the signicant timeand costs associated with manualapplication virtualization projects.“Before AdminStudio, once we’d havean application packaged and get allthe commands to work properly, we’dhave to go back in and do manual

sequencing to see if it would even workwith App-V,” recalled Noakes. “It wouldtake an additional three weeks to a monthof someone’s time just to determine if an application was App-V-compatible.”Noakes pointed out that because onlyabout 60 percent of the City’s applicationscould be virtualized, a signicant amountof staff time was wasted doing manualanalysis on applications that, it might turnout, could not even be packagedfor App-V.

AdminStudio’s ability to automateconversion to the App-V format, therefore,presented compelling additional value.“The system compressed both Windows 7packaging and application virtualizationinto a single, automated process,”said Noakes. “

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Noakes says that her department simplycould not have made the progress it hason virtualization wit hout the tool. “Wewouldn’t have had the time to go backand determine if the application was acandidate for App-V without AdminStudio.The fact is, we would have barely had theresources to package the application andmove on. AdminStudio, on the other hand,does all the conversion for you. You don’thave to go to another virtual machine andreinstall the application.”

 A Win-Win for the Organization, andthe IT TeamThe City of Oklahoma’s investment inAdminStudio is paying off in expected,and unanticipated ways. Clearly savingt ime and money was the impetus for

purchasing the product – and in thatrespect, it has more than paid for itself in only a short time. “I would highlyrecommend AdminStudio. It is inexpensive,and yet it allowed us to save theequivalent of two employees.”

And that win has translated to adifferent type of payoff – recognition bymanagement for a job well done. “Wewouldn’t be nearly so far in our Windows7 rollout or application virtualizationefforts without AdminStudio,” said

Noakes. “And management has noticed.We’ve gotten great comments on ourcost-cutt ing creativity and improvedapplication packaging turnaround times.”

 About Flexera SoftwareFlexera Software is the leading providerof strategic solutions for ApplicationUsage Management; solutions deliveringcontinuous compliance, optimized usageand maximized value to applicationproducers and their customers. FlexeraSoftware is trusted by more than80,000 customers that depend on ourcomprehensive solutions- from installation and licensing, entitlement and compliancemanagement to application readiness and enterprise license opt imization - tostrategically manage application usageand achieve breakthrough results realizedonly through the systems-level approachwe provide. For more information, pleasego to: www.exerasoftware.com

Flexera Software LLC1000 East Woodeld Road,Suite 400Schaumburg, IL 60173 USA

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