With Help from Expert Consultants, Global Nonprofit Trims Costs By 38 Percent

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1 Microsoft SQL Server Customer Solution Case Study With Help from Expert Consultants, Global Nonprofit Trims Costs By 38 Percent Overview Country or Region: United States Industry: Nonprofit organization Customer Profile Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is a global organization that manages humanitarian assistance programs in nearly 100 countries. CRS has approximately 5,000 employees worldwide. Business Situation To reduce the management burden on IT staff, trim operating costs, and promote faster, easier communication among employees, CRS wanted to consolidate multiple domains on a single system. Solution Faced with a complex environment and the logistical challenge of coordinating with 151 field offices, CRS chose to partner with Microsoft Consulting Services. Benefits Faster path to project success Lowered costs by 38 percent Improved reliability of services We couldn t have completed such a large-scale, multicountry migration project, especially with as low an error rate as we experienced, without help from Microsoft Consulting Services. Dan Carr, Director, System Operations, Maintenance and Support, Catholic Relief Services To trim IT costs and help its global workforce stay better connected, Catholic Relief Services wanted to standardize on a single, cloud-based system. After evaluating the challenges involved in migrating user accounts spread across 76 separate domains, CRS engaged Microsoft Consulting Services. By using the Microsoft Consulting Services migration methodology, together with its own sophisticated migration, reporting, and communications processes, CRS successfully consolidated 4,525 accounts in a single instance of Microsoft Exchange Online. The organization also navigated challenges that could have substantially delayed the project. Now, CRS benefits from a 38 percent reduction in the cost to provide service while improving service reliability and enabling staff worldwide to more effectively carry out the CRS mission.

2 Situation Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was organized under the name War Relief Services at the height of World War II. Its original charter was to help resettle refugees and care for those whose lives and livelihoods were devastated by the conflict. Today, CRS seeks to break the cycles of poverty and violence that affect the lives of millions of people around the globe. Through its network of 151 field offices, it teams with local partners to deliver agriculture training, education and health care outreach, disaster response coordination, microfinance services, and much more. Sprawling Infrastructure Creates IT Management Burden Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, CRS has approximately 5,000 employees in nearly 100 countries. For CRS, is an indispensable tool. Staff members depend on this service to handle everything from corresponding with donors to directing aid efforts in the critical hours following a natural disaster or other emergency. Throughout its history, the organization has needed to rapidly set up operations often in remote locales in response to emerging crises. As a result, its infrastructure has become highly decentralized over the years. Some offices maintained onpremises instances of Microsoft Exchange Server; others relied on local hosting providers to access Exchange Server. And, for expedience, staff in regions prone to power outages and other threats to server reliability were permitted to use public web-based services for day-to-day business activities. In addition, in 2010, the CRS IT team initiated the migration of 850 accounts to Microsoft Exchange Online. But even these accounts were spread across five separate instances of the application, which complicated management. Recently, IT leaders identified the use of 76 distinct simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) domains across the organization. Maintaining this infrastructure consumed a substantial amount of time and money. In fact, executives found that IT administrators in certain regions spent 40 to 50 percent of their time each week troubleshooting issues. Additionally, the organization spent US$4 per employee to provide service. That figure only accounted for software licensing and hardware expenses, but not labor costs. The management of all of these different domains was untenable, says Dan Carr, Director of System Operations, Maintenance, and Support at Catholic Relief Services. The executive team couldn t send a broadcast message to all employees and expect that everyone would get it. If the message was marked urgent, we d immediately receive a flood of help-desk calls from people saying that they hadn t received the , and that they had only found out about the message by talking to colleagues. We spent 15 to 20 hours each week responding to these kinds of issues. Collaboration Challenges Also, without a single infrastructure, the organization lacked the benefit of a global address list. Employees in Kenya, for example, were not able to easily find the address of a coworker in Europe or the United States through their client. Instead, they typically searched their Inbox, hoping to find a message sent from the person that they needed to reach. To simplify IT management and promote greater employee productivity, CRS wanted to find a way to provide service to its

3 We knew right away, based on the complexity of our environment, that Microsoft Services was the only viable candidate for the job." Dan Carr, Director, System Operations, Maintenance, and Support, Catholic Relief Services 5,000 employees through a single system. At the same time, Carr and other executives were eager to lower the cost to deliver this mission-critical application. In evaluating a technology partner, IT leaders considered the complexity of the organization s IT architecture and its own experience with large-scale IT projects. Executives knew that CRS needed assistance from a partner with deep solution-area expertise, a rigorous deployment methodology, and a network of global resources. Solution Executives decided to adopt Microsoft Online Services, a set of communication and productivity tools, including Microsoft Exchange Online, that are delivered as a monthly subscription service. In the fall of 2010, CRS reached out to Microsoft Services, a global team of advisors and technical professionals dedicated to helping organizations make the most of their investments in Microsoft technologies. We knew right away, based on the complexity of our environment, that Microsoft Services was the only viable candidate for the job, says Carr. CRS engaged the Microsoft Consulting Services team, a unit of Microsoft Services, for assistance in transitioning accounts for 4,525 employees to Microsoft Exchange Online. Microsoft Consulting Services provides fixed-price engagements for organizations looking to migrate 2,400 users or more to Microsoft Online Services solutions, including Exchange Online. Architecture Assessment and Strategic Planning Microsoft Consulting Services adheres to a methodology that incorporates specialized cloud migration tools, processes, and best practices across three distinct phases: plan, prepare, and migrate. This approach has been used in the deployment of Microsoft Online Services offerings to more than 2 million people worldwide over the past several years. As a first step in working with CRS, the Microsoft Consulting Services team organized a strategy briefing with key CRS stakeholders, including leaders of the business and IT organizations. This meeting provided an opportunity for Microsoft consultants to better understand the organization s long-term objectives and align the solution delivery plan to those priorities while also helping coordinate efforts between internal groups at CRS. Next, consultants from Microsoft performed a comprehensive technical review of the CRS messaging infrastructure. Consultants focused on identifying and documenting necessary changes to the Active Directory environment at CRS, in addition to any required changes to client computers. As part of this review and planning phase, the Microsoft Consulting Services team worked with CRS to outline strategic considerations, such as which CRS regions should be transitioned first and how much data could be moved during each migration session. Another key component of the Microsoft Consulting Services methodology is the use of a meticulously crafted project communication plan. Consultants from Microsoft drafted a set of documents for CRS stakeholders to use at each step in the project. This included a 70-page master plan document for IT leaders and step-bystep instructions for employees on how to connect to their new accounts. It was invaluable to us to have Microsoft deliver a ready-made communications plan at the start of the project, says Carr. I can trace back a lot of the success that we enjoyed to being able to work from such a thorough plan, which was based on Microsoft realworld experience in helping customers

4 Figure 1. CRS teamed with Microsoft Consulting Services to create a database query application, which CRS used to help prepare its field offices for migration to Microsoft Exchange Online. around the world optimize their environments. Deployment: The Need for a Flexible Approach As CRS experienced firsthand, the consultants on the Microsoft Consulting Services team are experts at tailoring the methodology they use to meet the unique requirements of each deployment scenario. For example, as a first step in preparing to migrate mailboxes to Exchange Online, CRS worked with the Microsoft team to validate employee profile data across the entire CRS organization. We quickly realized that we needed to find a better way to collect and verify basic data, like each employee s address and whether PCs in a given environment met the minimum specifications, says Carr. To overcome this obstacle, Igor Nikolovski, Network Architect at CRS and the technical lead for the migration project, worked with Microsoft consultants to develop a database query tool. CRS used this application to efficiently compile and analyze user account information for each office. As Figure 1 illustrates, the organization also used this tool to automatically generate daily status reports to give executives a clear view of the progress of the project. The team from Microsoft went above and beyond to adapt the plan to fit our circumstances, says Nikolovski. From the very beginning, we knew we had a partner that we could count on every step of the way. In another example of how the Microsoft team assisted CRS in navigating unforeseen difficulties, consultants advised on how to migrate user accounts in regions where low bandwidth was a problem. CRS faced the challenge of how to enable employees in remote field offices to move large amounts of data stored in archive folders to Exchange Online, despite slow Internet connectivity speeds in these regions. To ensure rapid migration velocity, the

5 With every new or unexpected challenge we faced, Microsoft consultants were there with a creative solution to keep our migration project moving forward. Dan Carr, Director, System Operations, Maintenance, and Support Catholic Relief Services Microsoft team recommended that CRS avoid moving archive folders as part of the initial deployment. Instead, employees were asked to manually transfer data from their personal archive folders to their new mailboxes in Exchange Online. With input from Microsoft on how to optimize deployment in low-bandwidth environments, we trimmed days off this phase of the project, while minimizing the impact on local networks, so our people could stay productive, says Carr. Connection with an External Deployment Partner CRS also needed to migrate 850 accounts that were already running on five separate instances of Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite. The Microsoft Consulting Services group connected CRS with BitTitan, a member of the Microsoft Partner Network that offers a proprietary migration tool called MigrationWiz. This tool helped simplify the process of consolidating Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite accounts on a single SMTP domain. We were very impressed by the effort that the Microsoft Consulting Services team made in connecting us with an external partner to handle a portion of the work, says Carr. Microsoft clearly demonstrated to us that they were committed to helping us complete our migration project in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible. In late 2011, CRS completed activation of all remaining accounts in Exchange Online. Now, CRS employees can access a global address list to locate and contact colleagues around the world in a matter of clicks. Employees also enjoy mailboxes with greater storage capacity, which greatly reduces the need to perform periodic archiving operations. And IT administrators spend less time managing multiple SMTP domains and troubleshooting resultant issues. Benefits As a result of teaming with Microsoft Services to assist with its agency-wide migration initiative, CRS was able to quickly adapt to unique deployment challenges and transition 4,525 user accounts to Microsoft Exchange Online with minimal disruption to service. We couldn t have completed such a largescale, multicountry migration project, especially with as low an error rate as we experienced, without help from Microsoft Consulting Services, says Carr. Reduced Risk, Surer Path to Project Success By working with the Microsoft Consulting Services team, which brought both handson deployment expertise and connections to an extensive network of partner resources, CRS minimized the complexity of its migration project and avoid costly delays. For example, with access to a comprehensive communication plan developed by Microsoft, CRS was able to move forward confidently with the migration of user accounts in even its most remote field offices. In addition, the organization benefitted from expert guidance on how to efficiently transition accounts in areas with slow Internet connectivity. Finally, through its use of MigrationWiz from Microsoft partner BitTitan, CRS quickly consolidated its existing Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite environment on a single domain. With every new or unexpected challenge we faced, Microsoft consultants were there with a creative solution to keep our migration project moving forward, says Carr.

6 Lowered Service Delivery Cost by 38 Percent CRS conducted a comparative analysis of the cost to provide service using onpremises infrastructure versus using Microsoft Exchange Online. Executives found that, by eliminating the need to maintain physical servers, and by reducing software licensing expenses, the organization has slashed the cost to deliver service from US$4 per employee to US$2.50 per employee. This represents a total cost reduction of 38 percent. This figure does not account for savings related to the increased IT labor efficiency that CRS has experienced. Before making the move to Exchange Online, IT staff in some of our field offices spent up to 50 percent of their time on issues, says Carr. Now, they have 15 to 20 hours back each week to focus on higher-value initiatives, projects like improving network security or enabling greater worker mobility. Improved Reliability of a Mission-Critical Application Employees in any CRS regional or field office can now take advantage of a highly reliable service, which they can access through their PC or on the go through a mobile device. All they need is a standard Internet connection. Through such features as a global address list and the ability to create distribution groups that link CRS employees anywhere in the world, staff can now connect with greater ease. is essential in coordinating the kinds of humanitarian services that we provide, says Carr. Now, regardless of where our people serve, they have access to worldclass communication tools to help carry out the CRS mission.

7 For More Information For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: Microsoft Services Microsoft Services is a global team of professionals who are dedicated to helping customers maximize the value of their investment in Microsoft software. Microsoft Services touches customers more than 715 million times a year, helping them plan, deploy, support and optimize our technologies. They also work closely with Microsoft Partners by sharing their technological expertise and product knowledge on a regular basis. For more information about Microsoft Services, go to: For more information about Catholic Relief Services products and services, call (877) or visit the website at: Software and Services Microsoft Services Microsoft Consulting Services Microsoft Online Services Microsoft Exchange Online Third-Party Software MigrationWiz This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published April 2012