Durham District School Board
Microsoft Application Virtualization Moves School Board to the Head of the Class
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Company Overview
With 106 elementary schools and 26 schools, the Durham District School Board, located in Ontario, Canada, needed to update and manage the 14,000 PCs used by students and teachers. Many of the computers had different hardware platforms and application packages, which complicated management for IT staff.
Business Challenge
When it came to repairing or updating computers with new applications, the IT department often had to plan for multiple days of work. In the high schools alone there were hundreds of PCs in computer labs making it difficult for the board to update and deploy PCs efficiently.
“It could take up to an hour to setup a computer,” said Wilson Chan, Manager, Technical Services, Durham District School Board. “We were wasting a lot of technician time travelling to individual schools and troubleshooting problems if the applications didn’t work properly.”
This made it difficult for technicians to tackle other IT tasks. Everything from routine network management to strategic IT evaluations took a back seat to PC management.
This situation also affected teachers and students. Due in part to the heavy PC burden, the IT department faced a backlog of help tickets, and sometimes weeks would pass between the time a ticket was submitted and the time the issue would be resolved. The school board needed a more efficient software management method that would allow the IT department to update and fix PCs more quickly.
“Providing students and teachers with seamless access to technology is our core mandate,” said Chan. “If we didn’t have to spend up to a half hour driving to a school to fix an application problem, we’d have more time to ensure our network connections were operating as efficiently as possible, and we’d have time to review our infrastructure. We needed a way to deploy and fix software remotely so we could have more time to support the entire organization.”
Staff and students would also benefit from a new application delivery model. Teachers often had to relocate classes from computer lab to computer lab in order to access certain software. The computers in lab 1 might have a 3D-design program, but no mathematics software. Computer lab 2 might have the math program, but no 3D. If the teacher wanted students to use both, logistics became an issue.
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Solution
In July 2007, after researching options to alleviate the application management challenge, Durham selected Microsoft SoftGrid® Application Virtualization. A component of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), SoftGrid turns Windows®-based applications into centrally managed virtual services that can be delivered to any workstation or portable computer across an organization.
Applications are assigned to users via Active Directory membership. When users logon to their PCs, they instantly receive the latest version of the application streamed to their desktop from a centralized server. When application updates or patches are required, changes are made on the server and then effortlessly streamed to the individual user’s PC. Applications are installed locally in a virtual cache so users get the capabilities of a rich powerful desktop and can have full offline access to the application. Virtualizing applications also practically eliminates application-to-application compatibility issues.
“SoftGrid helped us transform our applications into services, available whenever and wherever they’re needed,” Chan said. “We’re saving money, providing better service levels, and now we’re able to address application issues more quickly than before. With SoftGrid, it’s almost like our application environment went to summer school and came back in September smarter than ever.”
Business Benefits
Since implementing SoftGrid, the Durham District School Board has been able to lower its IT costs, improve help-ticket management and application licence control, and provide staff and students with easier application access.
Reduced IT Administration Costs
The implementation of SoftGrid has helped Durham reduce its IT administration costs by offsetting some of the expenses previously associated with PC management. For instance, now that the school board can deploy applications remotely, the technicians don’t have to spend as much time traveling to the individual institutions to address application deployment issues, upgrades and patches. Instead, the organization rolls out the enhancements from a central server, allowing the technicians the time to consider other tasks, such as network optimization and planning. As a result, the school board can apply resources to other IT-related issues, and funnel funds into ensuring the staff and students have access to the best educational technology tools available.
Faster Technology Management
Since the school board spends less time on basic PC management, the organization has more time to manage other IT related issues.
“Our backlog of help desk requests has become more manageable,” Chan said. “Now our list of work to complete is about half what it used to be, and it’s taking us half the time to deal with each help ticket. In the worst situations, we used to get to tickets three weeks after they were submitted. Now, even during September, the busiest time of the year, we’re tackling tickets within a matter of days.”
Improved Application Access
Durham students and teachers are also benefiting from SoftGrid. Now that technicians have sequenced 90 applications within the virtualized environment, users can access any of the productivity applications, educational tools and design programs licensed by the board. This means a teacher in computer lab 1 doesn’t have to relocate the entire class to computer lab 2 because the workstations in lab 1 don’t contain the applications she wants to access. With full access to applications from any computer, SoftGrid helps educators teach new skills more efficiently and in a less disruptive manner.
Greater Licence Control
Since implementing SoftGrid the board has gained better visibility into its application licences. Durham now has a better understanding of how many people use certain applications, allowing it to better manage and plan its software expenses throughout the school year.
“SoftGrid helps us develop a better picture of our IT expenses, ensuring that we are getting the most out of our IT investments,” Chan said. “Now we can better invest our savings in critical, strategic IT projects.”
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For More Information
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For more information about Durham District School Board products and services, call 905-666-5500 or visit the Web site at: www.durham.edu.on.ca
