Win7 project synopsis 6sigma

2. Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2010 upgrade pilot

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From February–April 2012, I project managed a pilot for the upgrade of all (5000) Departmental

corporate computers to a new standard operating system (SOE) including Windows 7 platform and

Microsoft Office 2010 suite.

To begin planning the project I met with the Department's ICT Assets business unit to determine the

scope of the pilot, objectives and responsibilities of the stakeholders, timeline and boundaries. I

performed a physical audit of the pilot group's existing infrastructure and developed a project plan

enabling management to understand the impact on the pilot group, but also the impact of the

outcome of the pilot on the all the Department's corporate employees. I also prepared a single

dynamic survey using the Department's online survey tool, with the survey questions adapting

throughout the project for my participants to record information relevant to the stage of the project

while enabling reporting from the project to be performed from a single source. The survey also

included a comprehensive software audit to enable me to ensure purchased licensed software was

not lost during the upgrade.

My pilot group included 56 users (about 1% of the roll-out) with variable–minimal experience or

exposure to the components of new SOE. The pilot participants' original computer hardware had an

average age of 4 years with Windows XP (age 9 years) and Microsoft Office 2003 (age 9 years). I

provided all pilot group participants with several Help-using-Microsoft-Office-2010 guides prior to

the project's initiation.

After identifying and mapping the pilot group's existing infrastructure, I identified power users with

high IT literacy and high load computer activity and used the results of the initial release of the

survey to identify potential project champions among the pilot group. These participants would

receive the 20 only brand new computers able to be provided by ICT Assets with their existing

computers re-allocated to average skill and need users. Remaining participants were identified as

low complex computer use or need and would be negligibly impacted by the project.

2. Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2010 upgrade pilot

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Before impacting any participants, I installed x6 example machines with the new SOE for all

participants to have the opportunity to practice their regular work on the new environment.

In phase 1 of the project, I upgraded champions and power users with brand new machines, and

gathered feedback on the implementation over a 2 week period. I then managed phase 2 (2 weeks),

using feedback from phase 1 to mitigate potential issues, and upgraded average users with re-

allocated power users machines. In phase 3 (2 weeks), I upgraded the remaining low

complexity/impact users with re-allocated average users' machines. During each phase the survey

was open and advertised to all upgraded users at that time to collate issues and recommendations

for immediate response. Two weeks after full implementation, I re-released the survey to all pilot

group participants for post-project status and overall implementation feedback. I wrote a final

report for management and submitted the report to the ICT Assets business unit to inform and guide

the Department-wide corporate roll-out.

With the change management project already impacting users I used the opportunity to

concurrently make additional upgrades to the business unit infrastructure including upgrading many

participants' computers to dual monitors and/or larger monitors, to install web-cameras, and to

install desired software applications on the users' new computers.

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Dual monitors also increase the efficiency of an individual staff member by up to 100% by doubling

the amount of visible desktop and doubling the number of application windows the staff member

can concurrently view and edit. Dual monitors reduce OHS&W risk by significantly decreasing the

number of mouse-clicks a user performs per day to achieve the same result, and by increasing the

user’s mobility in their workstation. Dual monitors also reduce costs through reducing the need to

print documents with content being referred to in newly created or edited documents.

Results from the initial release of the survey to the pilot participants provided a benchmark

confidence rating of 2.77 out of 5 on an ordinal scale for using Windows 7 and 2.72 out of 5 for using

Microsoft Office 2010.

The survey asked the same question to the same pilot participants two weeks following the

completion of the project with the results showing a 30% increase in confidence; rating 3.57 for

using Windows 7 and 3.55 for using Microsoft Office 2010.

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The majority of participants (66.67%) reported some or a significant improvement in the efficiency

and/or productivity of their work from the upgrade to Windows 7 SOE. The majority of participants

(69.23%) also reported their computer’s turning on (from off) boot up speed to be noticeably faster

or very quickly following the upgrade to Windows 7 SOE. This represents a significant increase in

productivity achieved from this project as staff are waiting significantly less time for their computer

to turn on each day or reboot when required.

Realisable benefits include a increase in productivity and efficiency from all staff with reduced time

waiting for computers to think, boot-up, and reduced hardware failures; with a saving of 5 minutes

per day per user extrapolating to 18 hours per year @ASO5 average employee salary ($41 per hour)

= $738 per annum (times 5000 corporate employees = $3.7M increase in capacity/workload

capability for the Department).