4-page Case Study - Posted 1/9/2009
Views: 297
Rate This Evidence:
University Streamlines IT and Enhances Connections Between Students and Teachers
The University of Memphis (U of M) is dedicated to providing a quality education experience and a superior technology environment. The university IT department manages more than 100 applications on 1,500 desktop workstations in computer labs and smart classrooms across the campus. IT staff had to install and update software manually on each workstation, creating extra work and affecting workstation efficiency. The university wanted to reduce the workload for its IT staff while improving service for users. U of M also wanted to take advantage of enhancements in Microsoft® Office Enterprise 2007, but continue to support teaching methods that rely on Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003. The university deployed Office Enterprise 2007 with Microsoft Application Virtualization, streamlining its IT management and maximizing the connections among students, teachers, and information.
Situation
Founded in 1912, the University of Memphis (U of M) is today the flagship of the Tennessee public university system. Situated on a beautiful 1,100-acre campus in Memphis, Tennessee, U of M enrolls almost 21,000 students in undergraduate, masters, and doctoral programs and awards more than 3,000 degrees annually. The university employs approximately 2,500 educators and administrative staff, including 850 full-time faculty, and has an annual operating budget of U.S.$395 million.
 |
Once users get introduced to the new look and organization of Office Enterprise 2007, they really like it. |
 |
|
Jeremy Dennis
Local Technical Support Provider
University of Memphis |
|
|
U of M is dedicated to providing high-quality educational experiences for its students and to pursuing knowledge through research, artistic expression, and interdisciplinary scholarship. The university strives to maintain a superior technology environment to help promote degree completion and career development, advance research, and support the administrative functions of the university.
To help meet these goals, the university IT department maintains 1,500 desktop workstations in 50 computer labs and more than 200 classrooms—called smart classrooms—connected to the university computer network throughout campus, and another 1,000 personal computers in administrative offices. Students use the computers in labs and smart classrooms to access the applications they need to complete assignments, conduct research, and manage their course work. With more than 100 applications installed on 1,500 workstations distributed across campus, the university IT staff works hard to meet the needs of more than 20,000 users.
IT staff had to install and update software manually on each workstation, creating extra work and sometimes affecting workstation efficiency for end users. It took weeks for the IT staff to develop the computer image that included all the software applications, save it to disks, and install it on each computer. To keep up with updates and demand for new applications, IT had to refresh the image three times per year, during every semester break. Because it was so difficult and time consuming to install updates, students and instructors would sometimes spend the majority of the semester using outdated applications. The university needed a way to reduce the workload for its IT staff, while providing better service for end users.
One of the most important and useful set of tools U of M provides for users is the Microsoft® Office suites. Students and faculty can use Office Word to do their word processing, process data with Office Excel® spreadsheet software, develop presentations with the Office PowerPoint® presentation graphics program, send and receive e-mail with the Office Outlook® messaging and collaboration client, or use any of the whole suite of tools in the Microsoft Office system. U of M has used the Microsoft Office suites for many years, updating to new versions as they became available and offering users advanced features through familiar technology.
U of M was using Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, and wanted to take advantage of enhancements and updates in Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, including a new user interface, greatly increased productivity capabilities, and savings in storage space with new file formats. The University wants to offer students the advanced technology tools that are being widely adopted, to adequately prepare them for workplace environments. However, many professors were using lesson plans and textbooks that referenced tools and processes in the 2003 release, or that were not default in Office Enterprise 2007.
The university needed to deploy both Office Enterprise 2007 and Office Professional 2003 on the computers in labs and smart classrooms, providing students and faculty the enhanced features in Office Enterprise 2007, while preserving the capability to teach and learn using Office Professional 2003. “We wanted a way to stay up with the most current technology, and at the same time still support existing textbooks and teaching methods,” says Adam Sugg, Sequencing Engineer at the University of Memphis.
Solution
The University of Memphis decided to use Microsoft Application Virtualization to automate, simplify, and streamline its IT management system. Rather than manually install application software onto every computer in the labs and smart classrooms, U of M places the software on central Application Virtualization servers, assigns application rights to users, and then delivers the virtual applications on demand to the individual desktop computers. Using Application Virtualization, students and faculty with a valid account can log on in a lab or smart classroom and have immediate access to the applications as if they were traditionally installed on the computer.
|
We wanted a way to stay up with the most current technology, and at the same time still support existing textbooks and teaching methods. |
|
|
Adam Sugg
Sequencing Engineer
University of Memphis |
|
|
Starting in 2006, the university began a three-phase implementation project. During the 2006-2007 school year, the university IT staff deployed Application Virtualization in the computer labs and smart classrooms, virtualizing more than 100 applications, including Office Professional 2003. In the 2007-2008 school year, the university began updating to Office Enterprise 2007 and virtualizing applications on managed desktops in the school administration and support offices. In phase three, the university will update its environment with Application Virtualization 4.5, and connect students remotely through any computer with an Internet connection to the same virtual applications they can access in the computer labs.
Using Application Virtualization, the university can assign rights for some applications to specific users, so they can access those applications from any network computer. To update applications, administrators simply update the package on the central Application Virtualization servers and only the changes are delivered, reducing network traffic. The next time a user launches the application from any workstation, the update is downloaded, with no physical software installation required.
Because the university IT staff did not have to install the software onto each workstation, U of M used Application Virtualization to deploy both Office Professional 2003 and Office Enterprise 2007 in all 1,500 computers in the labs and smart classrooms, and an additional 500 staff computers. Originally, the IT staff published Office Professional 2003 as the default icon on client desktops, but users could access Office Enterprise 2007 through the Start Menu. In 2008, the IT staff used Application Virtualization to reverse the order, making Office Enterprise 2007 the desktop icon while still allowing access to Office Professional 2003 in the Start Menu.“It was so easy, that most users were unaware we had made the switch,” says Sugg.
The university instituted training for Office Enterprise 2007 for faculty and staff while providing access to online training for students. But few users required training, and more than 90 percent are now choosing Office Enterprise 2007. “I think we’ve had less than 20 faculty or staff use the free training,” says Jeremy Dennis, Local Technical Support Provider at the University of Memphis. “Once users get introduced to the new look and organization of Office Enterprise 2007, they really like it.”
Benefits
By deploying the Office Enterprise 2007 and other applications with Application Virtualization, the University of Memphis has simplified the management of its computer labs and smart classrooms, reduced the workload for its IT staff, and maximized the connections between students, teachers, information, and educational processes. With Office Enterprise 2007, instructors can manage their courses, interact with students, and collaborate with other instructors easily and efficiently. Students can complete their assignments and manage their coursework productively because they are able to easily collaborate with their teachers and fellow students.
|
With Application Virtualization, we’re saving time and work, but our main focus is providing the best tools we can to make the education experience better for our students and faculty. |
|
|
Sar Haidar
IT Project Manager
University of Memphis |
|
|
Productive Technology
With the enhanced user interface in Office Enterprise 2007, students and teachers can use everyday tools much more easily. Because the interface is more intuitive, with commonly used functions no longer buried in submenus and previously complex activities simplified to better integrate across Office Enterprise 2007, students, teachers, and school administrators are taking advantage of new features and previously unused functionality.
“The best thing about Office 2007 is the new Ribbon menu,” says Philip Barnett, a student worker at the University of Memphis. “I can find things easily without having to search through complicated drop-down menus.”
Better Connections
U of M used Office Outlook 2007 to preconfigure accounts for each user so that students and faculty could send and receive e-mail messages in the computer labs and smart classrooms. “Whenever a user logs on to a lab machine, they just double-click on Outlook,” says Sar Haidar, IT Project Manager at the University of Memphis. “Then it pulls up their information and account settings, and they have their e-mail up and running.” Using Office Outlook 2007, students can easily address queries to professors or share notes and collaborate with other students on assignments. And with new search features in Office Outlook 2007, users spend less time manually finding information.
Efficient IT Management
Prior to Application Virtualization, U of M IT staff spent weeks, three times a year, building the hard drive image and installing it manually on each of the 1,500 workstations across campus. Now it only has to refresh the image once a year, and can deliver applications in a fraction of the time.
It took the IT department months to manually install Office Enterprise 2007 on 80 staff computers. With Application Virtualization, It made Office Enterprise 2007 almost instantly available to every computer in the computer labs and smart classrooms. “We replicated Office Enterprise 2007 to the App-V Management Server in the morning, and by that afternoon we had it deployed to every computer in all the labs,” says Sugg.
Because the University uses Application Virtualization to deliver programs separately from the computer image, software applications can’t affect each other’s performance. That precludes the need for time-consuming compatibility tests that were required when the University manually installed the applications on the computers.
Because IT can install and update applications almost instantaneously, it can manage the computer labs more dynamically, updating programs as needed, rather than waiting until semester breaks to refresh the entire system. Students and teachers no longer have to use applications that are out of date or not safeguarded by the latest security patches while they wait weeks or even months for updates. “After we deployed Office Enterprise 2007, professors requested some Excel add-ons to be installed by default. They didn’t want their students to have to hunt for the add-on; they just wanted it to show up in the Ribbon,” says Haidar. “With Application Virtualization, that was a change we could make for all the students very quickly by updating the package with the requested add-ons.”
By saving documents in the new file formats of Office Enterprise 2007, U of M expects to use 20 percent to 50 percent less storage space per file. With more than 20,000 users on 2,000 workstations, the university anticipates saving a significant amount of storage space and bandwidth in its network.
Cutting Edge Education Environment
By deploying two versions of the Microsoft Office system simultaneously, U of M can allow students and teachers to move forward with the latest features and technologies while providing users the opportunity to adjust to the change. “Now we can offer updates on a timely basis and run multiple versions of applications so that students have access to new tools while still supporting existing teaching systems,” says Haidar. “With Application Virtualization, we’re saving time and work, but our main focus is providing the best tools we can to make the education experience better for our students and faculty.”
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, go to:
www.microsoft.com/office
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
For more information about University of Memphis products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.memphis.edu
