Salisbury NHS Trust

Windows 10 Case Study During Covid-19

“APPtechnology delivered exactly what we needed, added value throughout the project and adapted quickly to Covid-19 challenges”
Jon Arnold – Programme Manager – Salisbury NHS Trust

About Salisbury NHS Trust

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust provides a wide range of clinical care which includes general acute and emergency services to approximately 225,000 people via 26 hospitals across Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire.  Their main base for IT operations is Salisbury District Hospital.

The Project

Windows 7 was end of life but covered by a one-year support extension negotiated at central government level with Microsoft. Just under 3,400 end user devices and an estimated 750 applications had to be migrated to Windows 10 before incurring the costs of a second support extension.

Salisbury procured APPtechnology’s application solutions via the G-Cloud framework, enabling them to engage quickly against a known cost model.  As the Windows 10 strategic partner of choice for the UK’s largest government department, APPtechnology have extensive engagement experience of operating under G-Cloud contracts.

Challenges

Salisbury had a small, knowledgeable and skilled team, however they were engaged with other projects and BAU alongside the Windows 10 transformation. An experienced support partner was needed to mobilise quickly.

A deadline of 7 months was given to complete application migration work to allow physical migrations to be delivered prior to December.
The existing application portfolio had little or no documentation, an outdated distribution system, and limited installation media. This, combined with the lack of onsite personnel for the majority of the project presented significant challenges to the Trust.

Critical equipment was dependant on legacy software which involved interviewing end users during business hours and assisting them with identifying the critical configurations needed.

There was limited estate audit information to help match applications to end users and devices.

Many applications were bespoke to either the NHS or Salisbury and our expertise helped create packages with traceable ‘DNA’ to reduce downstream costs as the Trust moves to Evergreen management principles.

The Solution – Delivery

A mobilisation session agreed and documented processes and procedures, creating the ‘playbook’ to ensure all teams shared common quality standards.

APPtechnology then mobilised an onsite team of discovery consultants to interview end users, capture each applications ‘DNA’ and diligently document installation instructions for the packaging team.

Applications were sent to our offsite packaging team to create deployable packages conforming to the agreed standards. Reporting was automated, and live governance dashboards were available via our web portal. Inhouse and remote teams shared our online portal to track and prioritise applications in real time.

Each application was backed by an extensive warranty enabling Salisbury to test deployments at their own pace.

Covid 19

Mid project Covid 19 became a Global pandemic and Salisbury District Hospital became the main Covid treatment site for the Trust.  This could have brought the project to a grinding halt had we not worked together to implement a continuity strategy.

Because refreshed processes and governance had been embedded from the start of delivery, we were able to transition to remote application discovery services.

Working remotely with daily governance and delivery management, APPtechnology discovery consultants continued to interview and work with end users to gather important application intel. The steps taken enabled us to continue to hit project performance targets despite the move to remote discovery.

Project Legacy

With APPtechnology services Salisbury NHS Trust successfully discovered and packaged 500 applications for Windows  10 in just 4 months.

The project has delivered a new definitive software library with up to date installation information, media and licencing, reducing downstream application workloads. Applications are now better mapped to end users so licencing costs can be tracked and controlled.

New packaging standards are now in place updated with APPtechnology industry insight and best practice guidance.

We also provided bespoke transitional packaging training for Salisbury’s packaging team. Our solution remains available for Salisbury to dial up as required given any spikes in activity.

About APPtechnology

We’re a flexible and friendly supplier with countless years’ experience.  We take the wisdom gained from our wide range of clients and apply these to your project.  We ensure you’re aware of the project hurdles and help you clear them!

Our services are delivered and managed from the UK, and our UK offices are there for your assurance of professionalism and availability.

Our application solutions include;•

• Win 10 project/programme management
• Application packaging
• Legacy application Solutions
• UAT Management
• Microsoft Endpoint Manager (Intune / SCCCM / Autopilot) implementations
• MEM managed services
• SC cleared resourcing