Office 2007: From the Trenches - ilta.personifycloud.comilta.personifycloud.com/.../productfiles/915/Office2007FromtheTrenc… · Notes 6.5. Outlook 2007. Autonomy iManage 7.x (DeskSite)

FROM THE TRENCHES: OFFICE 2007LESSONS LEARNED

Panelists:Joy Heath RushSteve RothBrian Donato

Hosts

• Honora Wade, ILTA User Support Peer Group, Vice President

• Asima Macci, ILTA User Support Peer Group, Webinar Coordinator

• Joyce Laiserin, Moderator

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Agenda

• Project Scope and PlanningGetting Started

• Performance and CustomizationDesktop

• Format, Compatibility, and New Features Applications

• Training and SupportRollout

• The Good, The Bad, The UglyLessons Learned

Project Background: Sidley AustinJoy Heath Rush

• Firm– 1,800 lawyers– 2,000 staff– 16 offices (6 in the US, 4 in UK/Europe, 6 in Asia)

• IT resources– 7 IT staff devoted to project– Major focus of 5 QA Analysts– 13 training staff– 18 IT Service Desk staff (7 x 24)– Managed by PMO– External resources

• Minimal for development• Trainers, IT Service Desk, and Deployment Techs for rollout

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• Old Applications • New ApplicationsOld Applications New Applications

Office 2003 Office 2007

DeltaView 2.9 WorkShare Compare

SoftWise Innova Payne Forms AssistantPayne Numbering Assistant

No Change:Autonomy iManage 8.3 (DeskSite and WorkSite)Payne Metadata


• Project timeline– Planned duration—21 months– Actual duration—27 months– All offices piloted simultaneously– Rollout by region (US, UK/Europe/Asia)

• Noteworthy– Heavy reliance on PSTs– Laptop hardware became a concern– Significant remote access component (VPN and Citrix)

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Project Background: Arnold & PorterSteve Roth

• Firm– 750 attorneys– 1,300 computers– 7 offices

• IT resources– 70 IT staff– 12 training staff– 20 additional support staff

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Project Background: Arnold & PorterSteve Roth

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Old Applications

Old Applications New Applications

Office 2003 Office 2007 / Exchange 2007

Notes 6.5 Outlook 2007

Autonomy iManage 7.x (DeskSite) Autonomy iManage 8.2 (DeskSite)

DeltaView WorkShare Compare 5.2

Adobe Professional Nuance PDF Software

Arnold & Porter Tools Payne Forms AssistantPayne Numbering AssistantPayne Metadata

Project Background: Arnold & Porter Steve Roth

• Project timeline– Planned duration—300 days– Actual duration—300 days– Office 2007/Notes > Exchange/Hardware refresh

• Rollout strategy– New desktop rollout and laptop hardware upgrade– Complete re-image over weekends– Re-imaged 1,500 PCs over 5 weekends

• Noteworthy– Simultaneous—and successful—Office 2007 deployment and

Notes to Exchange conversion

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Project Background: Vorys SaterBrian Donato

• Firm– 375 attorneys– 875 total users– 7 offices

• IT resources– 35 IT Staff– 4 internal trainers – 16 external trainers for floor support

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Old Applications New Applications

Windows XP Vista

Office 2003 Office 2007

Open Text DM 5.105 Open Text DM 5.2 / Autonomy iManage 8.2 (FileSite) *

DeltaView WorkShare Compare 5.2

Adobe Professional Nuance PDF Software

*Fully transitioned to Autonomy iManage by end of year


• Project timeline– Planned duration was a 18 months starting in March of 2007– Still going – 200 users are on Office 2007

• Noteworthy– Switched DMS– Changed rollout plan to adapt

• Initially—planned to rollout 40 users per week• After change in DMS—rollout all offices in about a month

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GETTING STARTED: PROJECT SCOPE AND PLANNING

JOY HEATH RUSH

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Getting Started: Preparing for Success

• Project management– Project documentation– Team structure/accountability, status reporting

• Guiding principles• Stakeholder buy-in• Key dependencies• Elevator talk• Measures of success

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Getting Started:Key Decision Points

• OS choice• File format choice• Upgrade methodology• What survives?• Integrated applications• Non-Standard applications• Handling of locally stored data

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Getting Started: Pre-flighting

• Pre-Deployment survey• Hardware review• Which group, which non-standard• The VIP process

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Getting Started:Communication and Training• Communication

– Internally —project team; rest of IT– Other admin departments– Lawyers

• User feedback– The double-edged sword

• Decision-making and exception processes• Marketing and pre-learning

– All audiences– Pre-training

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Getting Started:Decision-Making and Strategies

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Getting Started:Review

• What was successful?– Upfront investment in project team structure, project

documentation, and communication of guiding principles– Detailed communication plan

• What would we do differently?– Greater focus on performance issues

• Approach• Emphasize its importance• Earlier in the project

– Spend more time upfront on the “feedback loop”

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DESKTOP: PERFORMANCE AND CUSTOMIZATION

STEVE ROTH

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Desktop: Office 2007 Performance

• Office 2007 will be slower than older versions

• Add-ins!! – Every vendor adds one– Final image has 18(!!!) Word

add–ins

• Suggestions– Test for problem add-ins – Question necessity– KISS principle

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Desktop:Outlook Performance

• size, Size, SIZE!!!• Notes > Outlook

– Biggest change: No more 30 gb mailboxes– Need for archiving/message management solution

• Mailbox size– Prefer to keep mailboxes under 3 gb

• 3 gb mailbox can have 4 gb+ offline cache– Prefer <10,000 items in a folder (Inbox)– Huge difference in workstation vs. laptop disk speed

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Desktop:Outlook Performance

• Cached mode vs. online mode• Windows desktop search indexer• Load time vs. daily usage• Office SP2 Outlook speed enhancements

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Desktop: Customization Overview• Install full Office 2007

– Many new features aren’t appropriate in a law environment (e.g., SmartArt)

– Strategy• Install all features in case a disabled feature is ever needed• Support as much as possible• Users use only what is needed

• Ribbons—homegrown or outsource?– Payne Tools– Ribbons require DLL programming (C#, etc)

• Prepare to work a lot with developers

• Group policies vs. Office Resource Kit vs. direct registry modifications

Desktop:Customization Word• Existing templates and macros

– Templates can be converted directly– Macros may be a significant issue if Ribbon is built

in-house

• AutoText– Can be carried over in the 2003 Normal.dot– Word will automatically convert them

• Custom dictionary– Beware 2007 switch to Unicode text format over ASCII

• Outlook profiles– Most settings on the Exchange server– A&P: Multiple Outlook Address Books

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Desktop:Customization Word

• Issues with Word and add-ins– Word likes to disable add-ins– Commands from add-ins may not “stick” to the

Quick Access Toolbar

Desktop: Review

• What was successful?– “Ruthless” approach to customizations– Taking “logical opportunity for change” to retool and streamline

other aspects of the desktop– Duplicating 2003 settings as much as possible, while sticking

with the 2007 UI• Treating 2007 strictly as a UI change

• What would we do differently?– Hit the PST issues harder sooner, particularly in terms of remote

access

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APPLICATIONS: FORMAT, COMPATIBILITY, AND NEW FEATURES BRIAN DONATO

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Applications: XML vs Binary Format

• XML Advantages– Reduced size– Increased stability– Improved data recovery– Enhanced security

• Binary Advantages– All existing content– Inbound content overwhelmingly in binary format

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Applications: File Format Considerations

• Client issues– Have all clients installed the Compatibility Pack?– Can they?

• Limitations on Collaboration– Excel

• Technical issues– Will file format impacts how add-ins work– How file format impacts existing templates

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Applications: Document Management

• Relationship between the DMS and the conversion plan

• Time required to test the integrated environment

• Issues– Older versions of DMS may not handle xml files– Compatibility Pack is not a conversion tool

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Applications: Decisions and Considerations

• Default to binary (.doc) format– All Office applications?

• Considerations– User skills to manage multiple formats – Support for collaboration– Performance expectations with Office 2007

• Moving to the future– Criteria for making the switch to XML

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Applications: New UI

• Quick Access Toolbar• Style Gallery

• Zoom scroll bar

• Custom status bar

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Applications: New UI

• Live Preview• Excel

– Better filters

• User reaction

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Applications: Compatibility and Training

• Potential compatibility issues• Collaboration with clients• Additional training that focuses on file

format issues

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Applications: Review

• What was successful?– Deep dive into file format decision– Selection of binary (.doc) format as the default– Combination of Citrix environment and Compatibility Pack to

handle short-term compatibility and interoperability issues

• What would we do differently?– Treat DMS, not Office, as the critical application– Test integrated applications earlier– Assess impact of each add-in earlier– Pay more attention to training and support of Excel and

PowerPoint

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Rollout:Training and Support

• Objectives for training– New application skills– Improve existing skills– Compatibility issues

• Audiences and length of training– Attorneys– Staff– IT Support staff– Document specialists– Groups requiring specialized training (e.g., IP, Marketing)

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Rollout:Training and Support • Documentation and handouts

– Reference manual– Quick reference cards or other printed job aids– Online resources– What do users really use after they leave training?

• Presentation methods– Instructor-led classroom training– 1-on-1 (if so, who?)– eLearning—Custom/Microsoft Tools

• Floor support– Any metrics as to how many resources?– For how long was floor support available?– Did you use external resources?

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Rollout:Training and Support

• Challenges– How did you market training?

• What was the key to success?

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Lessons Learned: The Good

• Applications– Outlook: Most used; least changed– Outlook: Better handling of OST files (quicker crash recovery)– Outlook: Instant search (requires Windows Desktop Search or

Exchange 2007)– Excel: Fabulous new features

• Users– Most users adapt easily to new UI– For occasional users, the new UI is easy to use– Reduced headaches xml and reduced document corruption– Notice client appreciation that firm is using the latest applications

• IT– Puts you on a fully-supported platform– Excellent platform for SharePoint integration

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Lessons Learned:The Bad

• Applications– Performance and stability are not as good as Office 2003– Users can’t customize the Ribbon (will be available in Office 2010)– Outlook: Instant Search removes reason for users to reduce mailbox size– Word 2007: Documents open more slowly– Reduced stability of add-ins

• Users– Expert users take time to get “up to speed”– Some laptop users experience slower Outlook performance– Resistant to thinking about document exchange again

• IT– Increase in complexity increase support challenges– Learning curve for internal developers– Less mature platform more significant bugs to work out with vendors

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Lessons Learned:The Ugly

• Applications– Application integration requires thorough testing– DMS may be less stable– Third-party support is less than optimal– Outlook: Performance of large mailboxes– QAT: Users rely on it, but are frustrated by the loss of icons

• Users– Excel and PowerPoint: Compatibility is challenging—no matter what the file

format– Some users will be slower and less stable—”Why did we change?”

• IT– Managing user expectations on performance– Solving stability issues is more complex due to large number of add-ins– Expect to use some IT goodwill during the rollout

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Wrap Up

• Thank you for joining us.

• Please complete the evaluations.

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