Healthcare Desktop Management Planning Timeline Comparison Prepared by Microsoft First published 22 March 2007
Prepared by Microsoft Copyright This document and/or software ( this Content ) has been created in partnership with the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Intellectual Property Rights to this Content are jointly owned by Microsoft and the NHS in England, although both Microsoft and the NHS are entitled to independently exercise their rights of ownership. Microsoft acknowledges the contribution of the NHS in England through their Common User Interface programme to this Content. Readers are referred to www.cui.nhs.uk for further information on the NHS CUI Programme. All trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Microsoft and Windows are either registered ed trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft Corporation and Crown Copyright 2007 Disclaimer At the time of writing this document, Web sites are referenced using active hyperlinks to the correct Web page. Due to the dynamic nature of Web sites, in time, these links may become invalid. Microsoft is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. The example companies, organisations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organisation, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, places, or events is intended or should be inferred. Page ii
Prepared by Microsoft TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction... 1 2 Assumptions... 2 2.1 Environment Assumptions... 2 2.2 Other Assumptions... 2 3 GPO Design and Implementation... 3 3.1 No Healthcare Platform Optimisation Guidance... 3 3.2 Healthcare Platform Optimisation Guidance... 3 4 Solution Analysis... 5 4.1 Chart Representation...... 5 4.2 Further Benefits of the Healthcare Platform Optimisation Guidance... 5 4.3 High Level Activities Breakdown... 6 APPENDIX A Document Information... 7 Page iii
1 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this document is to provide a comparison of the required timelines to design and implement desktop management primarily using the Group Policy functionality of Microsoft Active Directory. The Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance documents used to perform this process include: Healthcare Desktop Management {R1} Group Policy for Healthcare Desktop Management {R2} Healthcare Desktop Group Policy Templates {R3} Healthcare Desktop Group Policy Templates Release Notes {R4} Healthcare Desktop GPO Templates for GMPC v2 {R5} Healthcare Desktop GPO Templates for GMPC v2 Release Notes {R6} Healthcare Desktop Office GPO Templates for GMPC v1 {R7} Healthcare Desktop Office GPO Templates for GMPC v1 Release Notes {R8} The timelines provided in this document are for the design, development, testing and deployment of the Group Policy Objects (GPOs) detailed within the guidance along with the Active Directory Organisational Unit (OU) structure required to support them. It should be noted that the estimated timelines described in this document are based upon field experience of carrying out the design and implementation of the GPOs provided. The deployment timelines compare healthcare IT administrators with the following levels of experience and guidance: No prior knowledge or experience of the subject, and without any specific guidance Healthcare Platform Optimisation specific guidance of the type that an experienced consultant would provide The value of the Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance is that it provides healthcare-specific guidance around the designing, developing and deploying of Group Policy. As such, the guidance will help reduce the time taken to perform these activities within a healthcare organisation. Section 4.3 illustrates the activities that will be shortened through use of the Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance. These are indicative figures and should not be considered as definitive timelines for a specific project, because every design, build and deployment project will have its own unique situation and requirements. Page 1
2 ASSUMPTIONS For the purposes of this document, a number of assumptions are made regarding the healthcare organisation for which the GPOs, (detailed within the Group Policy for Healthcare Desktop Management {R2} guidance) will be designed and deployed. The assumptions are relevant to any size of healthcare organisation. 2.1 Environment Assumptions The following assumptions are made regarding the types of IT environment nt that are covered by the scenarios in this document: To utilise Group Policy for Healthcare Desktop Management,, a functioning Active Directory is required The client operating systems to be managed by Group Policy must be Microsoft Windows 2000 or later and be authenticating to the Active Directory 2.2 Other Assumptions The following assumptions are made regarding other factors within the healthcare organisation s environment that are covered by the scenarios in this document: The healthcare IT administrator has basic design, build, deployment, and administration skills around Windows Server and desktop operating systems The healthcare IT administrator has little or no prior Group Policy knowledge or skills Page 2
3 GPO DESIGN AND ESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION This section details the two scenarios considered when creating a Group Policy design and deployment timeline. The scenarios are: No Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance available 3.1 No Healthcare Platform Optimisation Guidance In this scenario, healthcare IT administrators with no prior knowledge or experience of Group Policy are to design and deploy Group Policy without any Healthcare Platform Optimisation specific guidance. They will be required to gain the skills necessary for the design and deployment using a combination of the following: Formal training courses Self-study Using the publicly available Microsoft documentation for Group Policy General research from the Internet 3.2 Healthcare Platform Optimisation Guidance In this scenario, healthcare IT administrators with no prior knowledge or experience of Group Policy are to design and deploy a Group Policy solution using the Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance below: Healthcare Desktop Management {R1} Explains how to manage and maintain the healthcare desktop once it has been deployed using Group Policy Group Policy for Healthcare Desktop Management {R2} Provides further detailed healthcare desktop guidance as well as recommended group policy templates for use in an healthcare environment Healthcare Desktop Group Policy Templates {R3} Provides an IT administrator with an importable set of templates for use with Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) version 1 to support Windows Server 2000 and Windows XP client Healthcare Desktop GPO Templates for GMPC v2 {R5} Provides an IT administrator with an importable set of templates for use with Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) version 2 to support Windows Vista Healthcare Desktop Office GPO Templates for GMPC v1 {R7} Provides an IT administrator with an importable set of templates that can be used to establish a Group Policy for Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office 2007. These can be applied for use with both Windows XP and Windows Vista Release Notes: Healthcare Desktop Group Policy Templates Release Notes {R4} Healthcare Desktop GPO Templates for GMPC v2 Release Notes {R6} Healthcare Desktop Office GPO Templates for GMPC v1 Release Notes {R8} These provide details for the minimum software and hardware requirements, install/uninstall notes and any known issues relating to the templates Page 3
These documents take the healthcare IT professional through the necessary steps to successfully plan, develop, deploy, stabilise and operate a Group Policy implementation within the healthcare organisation s network environment. This document does not cover aspects related to the actual desktop build and deployment activities. For information regarding the planning timelines around these activities, please refer to Planning Timelines Comparisons Healthcare Desktop Deployment {R9}. Page 4
4 SOLUTION ANALYSIS 4.1 Chart Representation Figure 1 displays the indicative numbers of required days to read the prerequisite requisite training material and then to design, test and deploy a managed healthcare desktop solution. Healthcare Desktop Management - Timelines to Deployment Without HPO Guidance Scenarios With HPO Guidance Training Design Develop Test Deployment 0 1 Figure 1: Timelines Comparison 2 3 4 5 6 Days 7 4.2 Further Benefits of the Healthcare Platform Optimisation Guidance The following additional benefits of using the Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance listed in section 3.2 should be noted: Supports rapid knowledge transfer to help reduce the learning curve of designing, deploying, operating and managing a standard healthcare desktop with inbuilt functionality such as Group Policy. Collates the numerous public references related to desktop management and specifically Group Policy into consolidated healthcare-specific documents. Provides order to the design and deployment of Group Policy and long-terthrough a logical design and deployment process. desktop management Identifies current best-practicedesktop management, based on industry experience, to minimise design-time and help for designing a Group Policy solution and long-term reduce risk. Identifies key design decisions pertinent to healthcare and provides design solutions which reduce desktop configuration diversity and aid desktop management across multiple implementations. Provides a standardised design and configuration approach to reduce the administration and management overheads of the system, thereby reducing overall support costs. Page 5
4.3 High Level Activities Breakdown The chart shown in Figure 1 is based on the data in Table 1, which indicates the number of days required to complete the following activities, with and without the Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance: 1. Technical learning activities 2. Design planning activities 3. Develop activities 4. Pilot testing activities 5. Live deployment activities These are the activities that are required in order to design a group policy solution, develop the GPOs, test the policies in a pilot lab environment and then deploy the policies to the live network environment. Activity No HPO Guidance With HPO Guidance Time Saved By Technical learning activities Design planning activities 5 6 2 The Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance contains hyperlinks to the current public best-practice documentation for Group Policy and provides additional information as required throughout the documentation; this helps to provide rapid knowledge transfer. 3 The Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance contains the required components which are logically structured into the appropriate order for approaching a Group Policy design in the most efficient, effective and comprehensive method. Criteria needed for making design decisions and flowcharts that provide a logical method of creating a Group Policy design are provided, thereby reducing the time required to reach design decisions. The Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance contains current bestpractice guidance and recommendations for Group Policy design decisions where required, thereby accelerating the design process. Develop activities 4 Pilot testing activities 3 1 The Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance provides a set of recommended GPOs as well as a set of GPO building blocks for commonly used areas of group policy. These include such areas of focus as security settings, look and feel, Internet Explorer, and so on. 2 The Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance contains recommendations on how to test a Group Policy design in a pilot lab environment before implementation into the live network environment, reducing the time needed to deploy Group Policy in the test environment. Live deployment activities 2 1 The Healthcare Platform Optimisation guidance provides procedures for how to import and export GPOs from a one domain to another, typically from test to live and using the Group Policy Management Console. Total Days 20 9 Table 1: Timeline Breakdown Note When additional Group Policy Objects are required on top of those detailed within the guidance, an additional amount time will also be required in the design, test and deployment phases. This additional time will be dependent upon the amount of user and business requirements specified, and subsequently the translation into actual Group Policy configuration settings. Page 6
APPENDIX A DOCUMENT INFORMATION PART I Abbreviation GPO HPO IT OU Terms and Abbreviations Definition Group Policy Object Healthcare Platform Optimisation Information Technology Organisational Unit Table 2: Terms and Abbreviations PART II Reference References Document Version R1. Healthcare Desktop Management: http://www.microsoft.com/industry/healthcare/technology/hpo/desktop/desktop.aspx R2. Group Policy for Healthcare Desktop Management: R3. Healthcare Desktop Group Policy Templates: R4. Healthcare Desktop Group Policy Templates Release Notes: R5. Healthcare Desktop GPO Templates for GMPC v2: R6. Healthcare Desktop GPO Templates for GMPC v2 Release Notes: R7. Healthcare Desktop Office GPO Templates for GMPC v1: R8. Healthcare Desktop Office GPO Templates for GMPC v1 Release Notes: R9. Planning Timelines Comparisons Healthcare Desktop Deployment: http://www.microsoft.com/industry/healthcare/technology/hpo/businessvalue/timelines.aspx 1.0.061013.000 1.0.070905.000 1.0.070905.000 Table 3: References Page 7