Analyse this: Microsoft's Infrastructure Optimisation tool for the NHS

NHS IT managers who want to upgrade their infrastructure can be faced by a bewildering number of priorities. To help decide between them, Microsoft has created an Infrastructure Optimisation tool.

This is a questionnaire designed to identify any gaps in an organisation's infrastructure and recommends how to overcome these shortfalls.

IT departments in the NHS often make a virtue out of "getting by." But measures that appear to save costs in the short term can often cost in the long run by increasing the workload on IT staff, triggering poor performance and opening up gaps in security.

Most IT managers know this. "The majority of NHS IT departments are looking for ways of working smarter," says Richard Lane, an NHS technical specialist at Microsoft. "They need to identify projects that will take cost and effort out of managing their IT infrastructure."

Microsoft's infrastructure optimisation tool

Identifying such projects is not easy. IT managers are faced with a bewildering set of technology steps, all of which interact with each other. In response, Microsoft has created an Infrastructure Optimisation self-assessment tool that helps to build a "profile" of an organisation's IT infrastructure.

"The tool tells us what you are trying to do as an organisation, and classifies your infrastructure into one of four types."

The tool consists of a series of questions that IT managers and colleagues can complete; initially on a spreadsheet. These probe what kind of IT provision an organisation has, and where the biggest gaps are between expectations and achievement.

It also looks at how well an organisation is using its existing IT investment to squeeze out more value, how well it can manage costs and risks, and how well it can respond to - or even thrive on - change.

"It's a toolkit that helps the user to deliver whatever the business throws at them, by looking at core infrastructure, collaborative tools and system development." says Adam Collins, Microsoft solutions specialist at Lynx Technology, a partner specialising in the NHS.

"The whole point of the profile is that not everyone has the same goals, and not everyone is at the same stage of IT development. The tool tells us what you are trying to do as an organisation, and classifies your infrastructure into one of four types."

True to type

These types can also be seen as `IT personalities'. They are:

• Basic: There is a variety of desktops and servers in use. Management tends to be manual - and unpredictable. IT staff have to think on their feet to deal with crises.
• Standardised: There are common specifications for servers and desktops. Administration is easier, IT is starting to be automated and handled centrally. Patches are often the first thing to be automated - improving security without a massive investment in manpower.
• Rationalised: More tasks are automated, so policies can be enforced across the network, improving security and flexibility. Typically, network security is provided through virtual private networks and an identity management scheme. The IT department is confident enough to offer service level agreements to the organisation
• Dynamic: IT management is fully automated, so users' environments are tailored to meet their needs. IT knows its worth and delivers measurable business benefits, helping the organisation to move with new demands, improving the cost-effectiveness of the organisation as a whole.

"If an organisation has a particular requirement, the model will also match it against the functionality provided by different versions of Microsoft's infrastructure products, and offer guidance on getting there with the minimum number of steps."

"We encourage trusts to profile themselves against the model," says Mr Lane. "That will generate an analysis of where they currently sit on the maturity model, and also a roadmap of the technologies they could consider implementing to increase their maturity and reduce their total cost of ownership."

Prescription for change

With the roadmap, IT managers should be in a position to work out the next steps they could take, measure the benefits and work out the costs with an IT partner.

If an organisation has a particular requirement, the model will also match it against the functionality provided by different versions of Microsoft's infrastructure products, and offer guidance on getting there with the minimum number of steps.

"If, for example, you need to mobilise the workforce to make staff more effective outside the office, the tool will generate recommended steps," says Mr Collins. "And for them it will highlight the underlying operating system requirements."

A small number of NHS organisations have already used some or all of the components of the Infrastructure Optimisation tool. One of them is Stockport Primary Care Trust, which set out to develop its IT infrastructure in September 2006.

"We had to go for a phased approach, which is no surprise - we had several interconnected systems" says IT manager Caroline Cross. "But we do now have a clear upgrade path, which shows us the way forward."

Checklist of actions

Here are some ideas to make your IT more cost-effective. The Infrastructure Optimisation tool can be used to find out which might be right for your organisation:

• Standardise desktops and servers so they can be managed centrally.
• Install patches and software automatically, not by hand.
• Use a standard software image for desktops and servers, so staff can move flexibly, and servers can be restored quickly in the event of any problems.
• Track hardware and software assets.
• Measure load and plan capacity increases.
• Consolidate servers onto reliable, more cost-effective hardware.

The Infrastructure Optimisation tool is in the process of being refined and will be available in an online interactive format in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please forward any questions to nhsio@microsoft.com.