Business Impact Article - Posted 5/1/2008
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BBC Worldwide Delivers U.K. Desktop Deployment in Six Days
The IT team at BBC Worldwide delivered a U.K. deployment of Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 in just six days.
BBC Worldwide deployed Microsoft® Office Professional Plus 2007 to 1,800 employees in February 2008. The IT team took advantage of an in-house pilot programme to plan the deployment and to develop a comprehensive user training strategy, which encouraged employees to quickly adopt the technology.
BBC Worldwide is the commercial arm of the BBC, based in the United Kingdom. The company’s wide remit—including development of global channels, new content, consumer magazine titles, and digital media—has helped to treble profits in the last three years. Recent acquisition of the Lonely Planet franchise looks set to support the brand’s operations in Australia and the United States.
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The experience has provided us with a clear path for future upgrades. We’re now ready to use the same approach when BBC Worldwide looks to upgrade to Windows Vista later in 2008. |
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Martin Oliver
IT Project Manager
BBC Worldwide |
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Martin Oliver, IT Project Manager at BBC Worldwide, explains: “Our employees work to tight deadlines and across all time zones. We want them to work with modern technology so they can be more efficient.”
Employees rely on Microsoft Office tools—such as Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client—to communicate important information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But e-mail is not the only widely used business tool. “Most employees use a Microsoft application as part of their role. For example, marketers use Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2007 for presentations, and financiers rely on Microsoft Office Excel® 2007 for spreadsheets,” says Oliver.
It was Oliver’s role to ensure a seamless global rollout to 1,800 employees. He first developed an in-house pilot programme among users with no prior experience in the new technology. “It was a logical step, and helped us to efficiently plan the global deployment and minimise user downtime during the installation,” he says. Based on the feedback from pilot users, the project team also developed an employee training programme to quickly familiarise users with the new software. “We wanted employees to immediately take advantage of the powerful new features available in Office Professional Plus 2007, and use them to work faster and more effectively.” By planning a targeted training programme and providing structured support in the period after installation, the team also reduced the number of helpdesk calls, which saved time during the busy transitional period.
Compatibility Tools Help Employees Prepare for Rollout
In October 2007, the project team began preparing for the phased migration by deploying the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint file formats. “The Compatibility Pack was an important addition to the deployment because it helps to ensure that employees can easily open, edit, and save files and applications in all document formats, using the Open XML formats in the 2007 Microsoft Office suite,” says Oliver.
Pilot Testing Key to Planning a Seamless Deployment
In November 2007, the team members created a test pilot among 150 IT users. This gave them an opportunity to assess the impact of the upgrade on the company’s existing infrastructure.
After surveying all the applications used at BBC Worldwide, the team only needed to investigate 32 applications to see if they required modifications to make them compatible with the Office 2007 suites. “It was less complicated than we initially expected. Out of the 32 applications needing attention, only five required significant work pre-deployment,” he says.
Oliver was also surprised at the minimal time his team spent on ensuring macro compatibility. “Approximately 4 per cent of macros needed some modification, and in many cases this was because their paths were hardcoded using the old file extensions—so users could easily fix their own macros,” he says.
The pilot was also used to test improvements delivered by the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1. “We incorporated the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1 from the outset in the main rollout because it successfully resolved issues such as delays in opening calendars and e-mail messages in Office Outlook 2007.” By the end of February 2008, the project team had deployed Office 2007 to all U.K. employees and started on the global desktop deployment.
Training Strategy Helps to Ensure High User Adoption
Although Oliver and his team were confident that new features in the 2007 Microsoft Office suite could help employees to work more efficiently, the test pilot revealed that lack of knowledge and familiarity prevented users from adopting the technology quickly. “With that in mind, user training became an important part of the deployment strategy,” he says.
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Bytes Technology helped BBC Worldwide devise a programme aimed at generating interest and encouraging employees to work with their new desktop tools immediately.
The 10-day training programme included:
• One 45-minute seminar for each employee.
• A pre-seminar drop-in bar for employees to discuss their issues and concerns with a trainer.
• A post-seminar drop-in bar for employees to follow up on queries that emerged during training.
• Floor managers on hand to assist employees for the day following deployment.
• An online training portal for users to refer to as needed.
After participants had completed their training seminar, the 2007 Office suite was then installed on users’ desktops. “We used the Group Policy feature in Active Directory services to individually install the software, personal settings, and applications. This way, people were ready to start using their new software and regular applications just 40 minutes after installation,” says Oliver.
To complete its impressive training efforts, the project team also decided to install the Microsoft interactive command reference guides into the desktop build for BBC Worldwide employees. These free guides compare the location of features in the 2003 Microsoft Office suite with their location in the 2007 release. They can be downloaded as animated demonstrations or used online at Microsoft.com. “The command guides are fantastic reference features for employees who regularly use a specific function and want to know where it is located on the new desktop,” he says.
Employees Quick to Incorporate Productivity Tools
It has been less than a month since the global rollout, and already employees are finding that the new features support their productivity. “Users love many of the new features that are offered in the Office 2007 suites, from the simple To-Do bar in Office Outlook 2007 to the impressive SmartArt functions in Office PowerPoint,” says Oliver.
BBC Worldwide employees have also been quick to incorporate enhancements in other Microsoft Office applications. Oliver says: “With Office PowerPoint 2007, users can change the theme of a presentation, or insert a 3D image, at the click of a mouse. Features such as this add an attractive new dimension to their work.”
The deployment and strategy have proved a great success for the project team. “The experience has provided us with a clear path for future upgrades. We’re now ready to use the same approach when BBC Worldwide looks to upgrade to Windows Vista later in 2008,” says Oliver.
Microsoft Office System
The Microsoft Office System is the business world’s chosen environment for information work, providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.
For more information about the Microsoft Office System, please visit:
www.microsoft.com/office
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published May 2008
