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Journey from XP to Windows 7
Microsoft® Windows 7 – Dealing with Planning and Migration Challenges
 
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Windows 7

  
Introduction

Windows 7 is the new version of Microsoft Windows launched in October 2009. This is a focused and an incremental upgrade to the current version with a goal of being “user-centric” unlike its predecessors.

Windows 7 is much leaner and faster compared to the previous version. Adoption of Windows 7 means getting through the application compatibility and migration without any business disruptions. This is where ITC Infotech can offer its services both in addressing application incompatibilities and in migrating to Window 7 seamlessly.

Several concerns have been voiced by customers with regard to application compatibility as there are differences in architecture between Windows XP and Windows 7. Partnering with Microsoft, ITC Infotech has been working with customers in resolving the application incompatibilities through the ACF program. Application Compatibility Framework (ACF) is a program designed to help customers resolve the application issues and ease their migration to Windows 7. ITC Infotech has developed a methodology to help customers mitigate application issues around Windows 7 through a proven framework – AC F.

Business Need
What is ACF?
  • ACF is an initiative that teams Microsoft with service partners to help our customers overcome application compatibility challenges while moving to Windows 7.
  • Application Compatibility Factory (ACF) helps enterprise customers assess and remediate Line Of Business (LOB) and custom applications quickly and cost effectively.
  • ACF partners have access to deep technical training, the latest technical information and an evolving remediation database.
  • ACF can benefit customers who are deploying Windows 7 and have or have not identified potential application compatibility issues.
  • ACF program has unblocked over 1.4 million desktop seats and tested and remediated over 55K applications
Our Solution
ACF Methodology

Our team, at ITC Infotech, will study the specific business requirements as well as the system requirements in order to provide an efficient query management application, which would form a base for our application. Depending on the type of application running across the organization, our application would form an interface with these applications, thereby enabling seamless integration of all the applications. This would enable the availability of right information at the right time.

Project Initiation: Starting off the project kick-off meeting, we identify the desktops that participate in the ACF program. The objective is to identify those desktops that represent the customers’ application environment.

Collecting Information: Data collection packages (DCP) will be created for obtaining the information related to the applications deployed on the participating desktops. The DCPs will be in the form of MSIs and this will be deployed to the target desktops using the standard deployment tools within the customers’ environment. The DCPs will be configured to collect the data over a period of three days and outputting the logs to a common repository.

Analysis & Prioritization of Data: This is a very good time to determine what applications are required going forward and provides an opportunity to clean out the applications repository. Once the data starts coming in, it is recommended that a rationalization exercise be carried out to weed out multiple versions of same applications, applications providing similar functionality, security updates etc. The final list is then prepared and a sign-off is obtained.

The next step is to prioritize the applications based on their criticality to the business. This exercise is carried out in conjunction with the customer to identify and categorize the applications.

Test & Remediate: The next steps are to test the list of applications as per the ACF framework. These steps will involve understanding the application behavior on Windows XP and what its impact is on Windows 7. Based on the analysis, an assessment is carried out and it is based on the following:

  • Compatible
  • Has Minor Issues
  • Incompatible

The remediation strategy will involve making use of Shims that are already published by Microsoft. The fix will be created for the apps with issues and tested. The application is then patched with the shims and published making it compatible with Windows 7. The toolkit has compatibility modes built-in with previous versions of Windows and this provides additional remediation.

Business Benefits
  • Packaged assessment & remediation offering
  • Enablement – Application compatibility technical training, tools, and methodologies
  • Co-investment in free services provided by Microsoft and delivered by one of our valued ACF Partners
  • A number of business critical applications remediated (dependent on complexity)
  • Detailed plan for full app compatibility remediation based on application mix
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