Business challenge: Ensure the roll-out of new technology does not impact the delivery and quality of council services.
The solution: De-risk the implementation of a new server infrastructure using a dedicated Microsoft QuickPlan Service for a migration from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows Server 2003.
Business benefits: Reduced implementation time and roll-out risks, which will enable the council to quickly maximise its IT investment.
Operating previous generation systems has far wider implications than just the IT department. It can impact everything from compliance and customer service to productivity and profitability.
As a result, organisations constantly have to consider refreshing and upgrading their IT infrastructures to ensure they can meet the needs of their customers. This cycle of change poses the IT department a significant challenge, as refresh projects often require a commitment of considerable funds and resources – and come with high risks.
Aberdeenshire Council provides a range of public services, including housing, planning, and education to a population of more than 227,000. The delivery and performance of these services is becoming increasingly reliant on the council’s IT infrastructure. It is essential that the systems used by the council’s 11,000-plus staff are supported by a robust and scalable infrastructure, which is cost-effective and simple to manage and maintain.
Like many organisations, Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure has evolved rapidly in the past couple of years with the advent of new initiatives, such as e-government. The council’s IT department faced an ever more difficult challenge with a non-standardised server environment spread over 40 sites. As Alistair Reid, infrastructure manager at Aberdeenshire Council, explains: “Our existing estate was based on a range of hardware and operating systems, which was becoming increasingly complex and costly to support. We recognised that by implementing a more standardised and centralised server environment we could make efficiencies and potential savings.”
To address these issues, and leverage existing remote management tools, the council decided to embark on a challenging refresh of its entire server estate. The refresh involves the roll-out of Windows Server 2003 to more than 100 servers, the implementation of Active Directory and deployment of 27 new HP servers. “This is one of the largest IT projects we have undertaken, and we recognised early on that we did not have the necessary skills in-house to cope with the complexity and scale of the migration,” says Reid. The council turned to Computacenter, which had assisted on a number of IT projects in the past. “We wanted to work with a trusted IT services partner that had proven infrastructure integration skills,” adds Reid.
Computacenter introduced the council to Microsoft’s innovative Consulting Offerings Program, which includes a portfolio of QuickPlans. These provide organisations with best practice guidance during a series of interactive sessions on design, testing and implementation for a number of core technologies.
Rod Gilmour, senior technical consultant at Computacenter, comments: “We used a combination of the QuickPlans for Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory to help de-risk the server migration, and ensure it was delivered in the most efficient and cost-effective way. A thorough risk assessment is central to the QuickPlan service, and as a result we were able to identify any potential problems with the migration in advance of starting the roll-out.”
The QuickPlan service took just two weeks and has helped to reduce the overall implementation time by a couple of months. Reid explains: “As we went through the QuickPlan, it became more and more evident that we needed support from a partner with extensive infrastructure integration experience. If we had attempted the project on our own, and without the QuickPlan, it would have taken us a lot longer to implement the new environment.”
Following the QuickPlan service, Aberdeenshire Council and Computacenter developed a comprehensive project plan for the server migration. Once fully implemented, the new server infrastructure is expected to deliver a range of value and business benefits, as Reid confirms: “As a result of having a more robust and responsive infrastructure, we will be able to free up IT resources from fault resolution to more strategic projects. The new environment will also enhance efficiency across the entire council, and we will be able to improve the service we deliver to end users.
