Introduction

Managing a software migration is a complex process. In some situations migration is not a choice—it is a necessity. Fixing the Y2K bug, for example, necessitated countless software and hardware migrations. Other situations will not be mission-critical but may be a productive means of increasing your return on investment and reducing total cost of ownership.

In the very best of circumstances, software migration can be a simple, straightforward activity involving upgrading everyone in your enterprise to the latest and greatest version of Product X. We all know that circumstances rarely conspire to be simple and straightforward, though. And migration planning is an activity that can require an enormous amount of time, money, and technical resources to achieve the desired objectives.

This white paper will look at the entire migration planning process, concluding with best practices that will eliminate a great deal of the difficulty that you might otherwise encounter.

What is software migration?

Are you thinking about upgrading your software to the newest version? Are you considering changing vendors? Are you investigating moving to a new operating system? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are dealing with a software migration.

• Upgrade: moving from one version of a product to another version of the same product. For example, if you are upgrading your enterprise from Express Software Manager 4.5 to Express Software Manager 5.0, you are performing a version-upgrade style of software migration.
• Vendor change: moving from one vendor's product to another vendor's product. If your company has been using cc:Mail and you decide to standardize on Microsoft Outlook, you are performing a product-change style of software migration.
• Operating system change: moving from one operating system to another operating system. An example of this software migration is moving your company to Windows 2000 from earlier versions of Windows.

As you consider software migration, you need to ask some of these questions:

• Why upgrade?
  Are new features essential or is the current version relatively feature-complete? If you don't upgrade, do you risk increased support costs? Will you run into compliance issues if you upgrade, and will the new version run properly on your OS? If you don't upgrade, will you run into compatibility issues? That is, for how long will you be able to run the current version? If you are considering an OS upgrade or change, will current software need upgrading as well?
• Why change vendors?
  Is your existing vendor dropping support for the product? Is the new product more reliable? Does it provide important features that are unavailable in the product you already own? Is the vendor more reliable? Are you rolling out to a larger group of people, requiring a product that is scalable and functions reliably in a large enterprise situation?
• Why change operating systems? Is your current operating system becoming obsolete? Does the new operating system provide important built-in features? (Windows 2000, for example, provides extensive mobile computing capabilities not available in previous versions of Windows.) Does the new operating system support your installed hardware base?

In addition to these questions, there are considerations that are common to all the types of migration:

• Performance issues
  Does the new software perform appropriately? Does it do what you want it to do in your environment?
• Usability
  Is the new software user friendly? Will you be looking at significant training costs for bringing users up to speed?
• Administration
  Is the new software going to require significant administration? If so, are you prepared to allocate the necessary people and resources?

The Migration Planner in Express Software Manager helps you identify which machines are ready for a planned software upgrade. You enter the parameters that you want Express to chart.

Factors that affect software migration

Users in your organization are likely to increase pressure to migrate as newer versions of software with new features become available. Management is likely to resist software migrations due to budget constraints or other budget concerns. Balancing the factors that influence your decision is the first step in planning a migration. According to the Gartner Group, the factors affecting migration decisions can be roughly divided into two categories:

• Push factors that relate to cost and compatibility issues
• Pull factors that relate to availability of new functionality, and marketing hype directed at end users

Identify and measure the impact of the push and pull factors specific to your environment over a period of time—several months to a year. This will help you determine the best time frame and the appropriate upgrade, software, or operating system for your migration.

Migration planning using IT asset management tools

IT asset management tools can assist you in migration planning. If used with an eye toward the very best practices, IT asset management tools can eliminate a great deal of the difficulty that you might otherwise encounter when planning a software migration.

Migration planning can be divided into the same basic categories as the different styles of software migration:

• Software upgrade
• Vendor change
• Operating system upgrade or change

Use asset management tools to help identify both your push and your pull factors:

Push factors relate to resource, compliance, and compatibility issues. Use automated inventory to:

• Gather version information about the software that is currently running in your enterprise.
• Gather information about the hardware resources for each workstation in your enterprise.
• Create software and hardware reports to help you identify version and compatibility issues.

Pull factors relate to functionality. Use:

• Inventory to determine which users actually have installed the software that you are considering upgrading.
• Metering technology to identify whether users regularly run the software that you are considering upgrading.
• Metering to identify how many users regularly run the software that you are considering upgrading. You may wish to upgrade only those users who frequently run the software.

Use the information gathered from running inventory and metering to help you make your decisions about migrating. Do you find users running software that is not compatible with the new operating system that you're preparing to roll out? Do you hand down hardware as new equipment comes in, thus creating a situation in which users need their hardware upgraded or adjusted? Do users make enough use of the product to make an upgrade worthwhile? Do all users need to be upgraded? Do the benefits of the new features outweigh potential compatibility issues?

The combination of inventory and metering can help you determine the efficacy and impact of software migration. Understanding the implications of a software migration is crucial to your decision to migrate, as well as to your planning process. Migrating one piece of software can necessitate other, more significant software migrations. Be prepared for this likelihood by investigating your enterprise with these specialized tools.

Based on the parameters that you entered, Express delivers a migration-ready report.

Best practices for software migration

Plan on using IT asset management tools as you move through the migration process. Look for an automated way to help you define minimum standards for migrating and to identify workstations that don't meet the standards. Use these tools to specify which workstations need the new or upgraded software, and, based on usage, to help you define a rollout strategy.

Consider the following steps to help guide you through your migration process.

• Thoroughly test the new software for performance and usability. Verify that it is the product you want to use.
• Identify minimum software and hardware standards for effectively running the product.
• Identify the PCs that meet the minimum requirements.
• Identify the PCs that do not meet the minimum requirements.
• Address the PCs that do not meet the minimum requirements by upgrading, adding memory, etc.
• Define a strategy for product rollout.
• Roll out based on usage. Roll out to frequent users first. Use metering to identify the most frequent users.
• Roll out based on department.
• Roll out alphabetically.
• Roll out based on physical location.

• Plan and perform the rollout.
• Verify that the rollout is progressing appropriately and that all users are receiving the software.
• Use inventory to assist you with this verification process.

Summary

Software migrations can be challenging to any organization. Their impact, however, can be minimized through a combination of astute planning, IT asset management tools, and best practices.

About Express Metrix products

Express Metrix software provides exceptional tools for asset management. Products include:

Express Software Manager

Express Software Manager is the comprehensive solution for asset management. Integrating the full power of Express Inventory and Express Meter enables you to control all desktops from one console.

Express Inventory

Express Inventory is a thorough, rapid, low-impact inventory tool that reveals all your desktop hardware and software without disrupting users. It discovers applications on stand-alone and remote PCs, as well as targeted hardware information, including support for WMI.

Express Meter

This highly advanced metering software tracks applications usage for informed decision-making and control. It offers several capabilities including automatic discovery of newly introduced applications, a lock-out feature to prevent the launch of unauthorized applications, the ability to limit access to server applications, and proof of license compliance for concurrent programs.