Eleven Mistakes

in Windows 7 Migration
A Camwood guide for large enterprises

01
Introduction
You can get there from here.

Microsoft Windows 7 is hot. On the consumer side, it quickly became the highest-
grossing pre-order in Amazon’s history (beating the seventh Harry Potter book). After
36 hours, 64-bit versions of Windows 7 Professional had sold out in Japan.
For enterprises, the reception has been nearly as positive, with most large companies
expressing a probable intention to start migrating within the next year or two.
The stakes are high.
Get your migration right and you’ll reach Windows 7 quickly at a
reasonable budget and without major disruption to users or your
business. Get it wrong and your entire enterprise will screech to a
halt, your support desks will light up like a Christmas tree and your
boss will call you in for a quiet word.

Full speed ahead? We hope this eBook helps you get it right. And, of course, we also
The only problem: big companies have thousands of applications and tens of hope you’ll get in touch to find out how we can help you achieve
thousands of users all over the world. Moving all these apps and users to a new what we call an Enlightened Migration™. But this isn’t about us.
platform is, to say the least, a non-trivial task. It’s about you and the challenge you’re about to take on.

This short eBook is designed to help the people charged with migrating some Happy reading!
of the biggest, most complex application estates in the world to Windows 7 – The Camwood Team
people like you.

It summarises eleven of the most common migration mistakes we’ve seen in our ten
years as the UK’s leading specialists in application logistics, the art and science of
managing application change.

Some of the mistakes will seem obvious to you. Others may raise an eyebrow. But
all of them are incredibly common in even the best-run IT departments. After all,
major migrations don’t come along every year, so few enterprises have developed the
systems and processes to master them.

02
The Eleven Mistakes

“43% of IT professionals surveyed reported that

operating system migrations impact the personal
lives of IT staff.”
Dimensional Research
Windows 7 Adoption Survey

“Invest the time to plan your migration effectively! 

It will pay dividends, many-fold.”
Steve Kolbe, Analysis

03
Mistake 1
Starting to think about apps too late.

Migrating to a new operating system like Windows 7 makes an impact on
every part of your IT operation, from hardware and networks to data centres
and server farms.
Many large enterprises focus on deploying the new operating system itself,
getting hardware upgraded and working out every infrastructure issue first –
the applications are an afterthought.
We’ve seen dozens of companies run a well-oiled OS and
hardware migration only to find that a lot of critical applications
just won’t run on the new platform. The result: deployment silos,
a proliferation of kiosk fixes and a fair amount of feathers flying
around.
Think apps first. The rest will follow.

What they’re not considering is just how large and complex their application
estate has become since the last big migration – and how decisions made
about applications will actually determine decisions about infrastructure
(more so than the other way around).
We firmly believe it’s far better to start with your applications strategy than
leave it to the panic stages. Here’s why:
Case in point
A major bank was well on the road to a 64-bit App-V platform - until
an analysis of their business-critical applications showed that only
30% would survive the move. Finding out early saved them a
world of pain.

Your apps strategy is actually your user strategy – and everything starts
with your users and what they need

Without a clear apps strategy, your infrastructure decisions will be

wrong – building a virtualised data centre for apps that won’t run in it is
expensive

Only when you understand your apps can you develop accurate
deployment strategies – if you think about an idealized deployment plan,
your apps just might not co-operate.

04
A Three-Phase Migration Preparation / Readiness Plan

Initiation Preparation Implementation

On your marks... Get Ready... Go!

Apps Retire Application Catalogue

Business Processes Upgrade Deployment Planning

Data & Dependencies Replace Business As Usual

Users & Usage Proactive Rationalisation

Target Platform Wave Planning

Change Management Application Processing

Processes
Function Test
Rationalisation
User Acceptance Test
against Target

05
 Mistake 2
Missing the opportunities that a major migration creates.
Everybody’s thinking about virtualisation and 64-bit computing. A move Action Point
to Windows 7 is the perfect time to consider these innovations so you can A rigorous application compatibility testing process will quickly
reach your ultimate ‘nirvana deployment’ sooner and at much lower cost. indicate the readiness of your application estate for whatever
target platform you have in mind (see Mistake 4 below).
A serious Windows 7 migration process should include at least an analysis
of 64-bit and virtualisation strategies and options.

You may not be able to leap to all three at once – but, managed properly,
your Windows 7 migration will make the move to virtualisation and 64-bit
much easier and ensure that it matches your business goals and enterprise
architecture strategy.

“Windows 7 is likely to be the last Windows

operating system with support for 32-bit
installations, and its arrival marks a decision point
for organizations to examine whether to move to
64-bit computing.”
Gartner, ‘Plan to Implement some
64-bit versions of Windows 7’
“Virtualization is your ticket to a smooth ride on
the Windows 7 OS-migration train. If you know
the virtual route, fewer things will break, conflicts
will disappear and time will remain an asset rather
than an enemy.”
IT Expert Voice

06
Mistake 3
Not rationalizing your application portfolio first.
You’d be amazed how many big companies waste millions migrating
applications that they don’t even use.
With total packaging and migration costs averaging £3,000-£3,500 per
application, it makes a lot of sense to rationalise your app portfolio before
even thinking about moving anything.
A recent 3,000-app migration we heard about unwittingly included 250 apps
that didn’t need to be carried forward – the cost: £750– £875k. And this
doesn’t even include the cost of licensing, support and management – all
wasted.
Lip service is no service
A lot of IT departments recognise the value of application rationalisation but
not many do it rigorously.
At Camwood, we’re firm believers in a thorough, scientific rationalisation
process that includes:
Discovery – bringing together 7-10 data sources (Active Directory,
deployment tools, software asset management software etc.) to find every
app on every desktop or server in every department.
Categorisation – so you know what kinds of apps you have, and which
deployment strategy you’ll use for each.
Context – working with users to map applications to business
processes.
Usage Survey – to see how much each application is actually
used (not just where it’s installed)
The goal: aggressive retirement of un-needed applications without
disrupting the user base.
The business case: significant savings on licensing, support,
management, hosting and, of course, migration.
Case in point
For one client, our rationalisation process identified 56 different
applications to do BACS transfers. Only nine were ever used and
only five needed to be taken forward.
Action point
Part of any pre-migration rationalisation process is determining
suitability for the target platform. You don’t want to retain all your
16-bit apps if they won’t even work on your 64-bit environment.
Time for an alternative serving strategy – or an app retirement.
07
Mistake 4
Skimping on Application Compatibility testing

A few migrations ago, you might have got away with a ‘fix on fail’ program.
Today, very few enterprises will even consider a major migration without
some application compatibility testing to see which apps will reach the
Promised Land.
Unfortunately, many people’s idea of ‘app compat’ testing is pretty
unscientific (picture a room full of techies installing apps and playing around
with them).
Any enterprise with more than about 300 applications needs serious,
automated application compatibility testing as a precursor to migration.
migration programs completed in half the expected time thanks to
automated application compatibility testing up front.
Action point
Don’t forget to look at Supportability issues in your compatibility
testing. An application that might migrate easily to a new platform
may also break its support agreement in doing so – potentially
costing a fortune.

The low-end tools on the market tend to approach app compatibility using
an ever-growing list of rules – essentially hard-coded if/then statements
that try to capture every known compatibility issue. More sophisticated
tools use heuristics to identify the components in each application that will
create conflicts on the target platform. We prefer this route as it’s proven
dramatically more accurate. “Make application compatibility the first priority.”
Bernhard Huber, Head of IT Workplace Systems, BMW
A powerful application compatibility exercise will show you at a glance which
apps are ready for Windows 7 (and whatever virtualisation platform you
choose); which need a bit of remediation; and which will need to be treated
as exceptions.

Knowing this up front lets you focus your testing and packaging efforts
where they’re most needed, saving months and millions. We’ve seen major

08
 Mistake 5
Underplaying the discovery phase

We’ve seen hundreds of major migrations and one principle always holds Change Processes
true: successful migrations are front-loaded projects, with a lot of thinking Detailed knowledge of migration workflows as they apply in your
before the doing part kicks in. enterprise.

The discovery phase is where you collect everything you know about your
application estate and bring it together into one place.
We call this approach Total Application Awareness™ because it completely
clarifies your current app estate and its relationship to your business. The
idea is to bring together six kinds of knowledge:
Users & Usage
Who’s using what apps, how often and why.
Applications
Exactly what applications you have, by department and location.
Business Processes
How your apps map to your processes.
Target Platform
In-depth understanding of the platform you’re migrating to
(Windows 7 in this case) and how it interacts with applications.
Data & Dependencies
The relationships between apps and between apps and
databases.
With this kind of rigorous discovery, you’ll migrate faster and
at lower cost; drive down outsourcing & packaging costs; and
minimise disruption to users and the business.
Without it… you’re flying blind.

“Companies looking to adopt Windows 7 should

start the planning process as soon as possible to
avoid unnecessary delays and costs.”
ComputerWorld UK

9
Mistake 6
Forgetting about your web apps

In a few years, software as a service has gone from interesting to
indispensible. Chances are, your users depend on hundreds of web apps
and website services to help them do their jobs.
Unfortunately, most companies who move to Windows 7 will forget all about
the impact on their web apps. The result: problems that tend to fall under
the ‘emergency’ heading.
Case in point
One manufacturing company migrated their web apps well
but forgot about the in-house apps they were running for their
suppliers. On switchover day, they found they’d locked out their
suppliers at a critical time.

With Windows 7, you’ll be moving everyone to Internet Explorer 8 (then 9).

Most web apps will be fine with that. Others won’t.

One example:
In most cases, Internet Explorer 8 deals intelligently with backwards
compatibility: if IE8 detects an “IE=EmulateIE7” tag on the website it will
change its behaviour to imitate IE7– as long as the website has this fix. If
not, it may not work and your users could lose functionality in their app.

It’s essential to use as much discipline in your analysis of web apps as you
do for normal apps.

At Camwood, we use an intensive, lab-based approach. The idea is simple:

mobilise an environment, deploy an agent to collect data and start taking
web apps through their paces in a structured way. The process flushes out
99% of web app issues in very short order.

10
Mistake 7
Trying to migrate without a management platform.

A major migration, like the one to Windows 7, is a complex machine with
lots of moving parts and process dependencies.
Trying to migrate to Windows 7 using the ad hoc, manual processes that
may have (just barely) worked when moving to Windows XP is asking
for problems. Today’s app estates are far too complex, diverse and
inter‑dependent.
We’d never consider running a major migration without some kind of
collaboration and workflow platform – ideally one designed specifically for
migration, packaging and testing processes (general workflow tools can be
used but there’s a lot of pain in configuring your processes into them).
The ideal scenario is a single data depository that every step in the
migration chain uses – a single source of truth about your application estate
and the progress that each app is making through the migration.
Ready, steady migrate
Our own platform, the App Migration Manager™, was developed
over ten years of managing migrations end-to-end. It plugs into
all the migration acceleration tools we use (App-DNA, Scalable
Survey, Juriba Dashworks, etc) as well as the client’s chosen
databases and tools.
If a migration project is a factory, App Migration Manager™ is the
ERP. You wouldn’t want to run a factory without ERP would you?
The Pencil Game
We’ve got a quick, fun demonstration that drives home the need
for a migration management platform. If you’ve got sceptics in
your team, call us in and we’ll run it for you.

The idea is simple: if you know exactly where each app is in the process,
you can identify bottlenecks, see productivity peaks and troughs and
keep your most expensive resources (often the packagers) working at full
efficiency.

“IT managers should realize,
however, that if they want to
run XP mode clients, they
had better make sure that the
processors in their desktop
machines can support
hardware virtualization,” says
Mike Karp of Infrastructure
Analytics, “Most low-end
processors cannot.”
Mistake 8
Failing to understand the target platform.
This is a tricky one. Before you migrate to any platform, you really need
to understand it inside-out. The trouble is, it’s not easy to understand a
platform inside-out if you’ve never actually used it in anger.
Your choice: dedicate a lot of resources into researching and working with
Windows 7 (Microsoft has some excellent resources to help); or get a
partner that has crawled all over Windows 7 and knows exactly what the
implications are for applications.
Shameless plug
At Camwood, we’ve been closely involved with the Windows 7 launch to
major enterprises in the UK as a key partner in Microsoft’s Technology
Adopter Program.
We’ve already worked with Microsoft key accounts – from BAA and Atkins
to Marks & Spencer, Aston Martin, Baillie Gifford and the Isle of Man
government – to establish readiness for Windows 7.
At the time of writing this, there aren’t many companies in the UK that ‘get’
Windows 7 in an applications context better than Camwood.
Some Windows 7 Gotchas
Here are just a few things to look out for when thinking about migrating your
apps to Windows 7:
• Windows Help (.hlp) files are longer no supported in Windows 7, so
application Help menus may not work.  Microsoft supplies an optional
update to re-install Winhlp32, resolving this issue.
• If you’re thinking about deploying Windows 7 as 64Bit, you’ll need to
consider alternative serving strategies for any 16Bit applications
required on the new platform (16Bit software is not supported on
any 64Bit Windows platform).
• Applications often rely on runtime files present on the platform. If
the application was designed for an older OS, the files it takes for
granted may be missing on Windows 7. Include these files with
the application when delivered to the new platform.
• Older methods for interacting with Windows Services are blocked
on Windows 7 to enhance security. Make sure you understand
the security implications before you re-allow this communication.
• User Access Control (UAC) protects the user from damaging
Windows 7, by restricting what applications can do.
Understanding the scope of these restrictions lets you provide
access to the functionality through a targeted, secure strategy.
• Applications leveraging custom credential prompts (GINA), will no
longer be supported on Windows 7. Consider newer compatible
versions of the product, or alternate serving strategies to provide
this functionality.
Action point: XP Mode?
A Windows 7 feature called Windows XP Mode is essentially a
virtualized environment that lets users run their XP applications on
Windows 7 desktops.
12
Mistake 9
Asking outsourcers to do what they’re not built to do.
Packaging and sequencing apps have become commoditised services,
often performed in bulk by outsourcers. That’s a good thing.
But bulk outsourcers aren’t set up to do the up-front discovery, planning and
validation work that’s essential for a successful migration. In other words:
even the best outsource packagers in the world are only as good as the
information you give them.
If you throw a bunch of apps over the wall without detailed guidance, you’ll
get back a significant portion of app packages that fall down on the new
platform.
Investing resources up front will multiply the speed, accuracy and efficiency
of your outsourced packaging resource.
Action point
Using an automated app compatibility process will identify apps
that need special attention. You’ll want to take many of these
exceptions into a special stream with a team of expert packagers
that really know what they’re doing (we have more than a few on
staff).
Action point
In our experience, up-front discovery and migration planning has
cut outsourced packaging costs by 15-60%, while increasing
quality.
13
Mistake 10
Throwing bodies at the problem.

We’ve seen this one time and time again. A big company starts its migration
march. At some point the applications part of the program hits the table. As
the compatibility, testing and packaging issues start to surface, panic sets in.

The knee-jerk reaction: throw people at the problem.

Unfortunately, people are expensive. Even more to the point, people were
never the problem, information was the problem (we’ve seen and run huge
migrations managed with a very small in-house staff).

Ramping up the headcount may be a natural safety net strategy but it’s
far from best practice. Keep it lean by using intelligence, automation and
insight.

A migration that starts as an ‘agile’ DIY project ends up with an expensive

consulting and packaging bill to clean up the mess.

A dollar spent in up-front discovery and analysis can save 8-15 dollars in
packaging and testing.

“Skipping a release (such as Windows Vista)

means that organizations will not be able to move
to the next release (Windows 7) leisurely, via PC
attrition.”
Michael Silver, Gartner

14
Mistake 11
Failing to leverage your migration assets for ‘business-as-usual’.

Managed properly, your Windows 7 migration program will generate some
incredibly valuable assets:
Intimate knowledge of your entire app estate
A workflow process for taking on and testing any new application
A populated platform to manage the process end-to-end
A reporting environment to track everything
It’s more than a shame to unplug these assets once the migration is
complete. It’s practically a crime.
Action point:
Your migration management infrastructure makes the ideal
foundation for an in-house Centre of Excellence for application
acquisition.
Case story:
For one client, best-practice processes reduced application
acquisition from 105 days to 17 days. A Process Benchmarking
exercise showed the way.

Best practice application lifecycle management calls for exactly these assets
to manage the on-boarding and testing of all new applications in business-
as-usual mode.

The benefits:
Accelerate your responsiveness to new application requests
Avoid application duplication
Optimise licensing and support costs
Ensure that every app works on its target platform

15
Conclusion
It’s a migration, not a death march.

Windows 7 represents a big step up for enterprise desktops (whether virtualised or

not). Getting there shouldn’t take three years and shouldn’t waste millions. More
importantly, it needn’t disrupt the entire business and frustrate your users.

The eleven mistakes identified here are some of the most common sources of
disruptive migrations. Avoid them and you’re more than half way to ensuring a smooth
journey.

Of course, you don’t have to go it alone.

Even if you’re determined to manage your migration using existing resources and
processes, you owe it to yourself to call in the experts for an exploratory conversation.
The issues that come up in just one meeting will help you plan your migration better
and avoid the big pitfalls.

Of course, the Camwood Windows 7 Migration team stands ready to help. Nobody
consults and provides services for more migrations.

But however you choose to go forward, we wish you a successful migration!

“Organizations faced with questions about whether

to skip Windows Vista and go directly to Windows
7 must understand that there is likely less time to
get off Windows XP than they think.”
Michael Silver, Gartner
Internet News, 24 March 09

16
About Camwood
Camwood helps large enterprises minimise the disruption and cost of major
application migrations and platform changes.

We call our approach Enlightened Migration™ and it’s changing the way
enterprises manage and migrate their application portfolios.

It’s all about faster migrations and change programs; lower support
and migration costs; and the smallest possible impact on users and
the business.

Camwood has over ten years’ experience in Application Logistics, including

application migration, rationalisation & virtualisation for some of the world’s
largest application estates.

Our unique combination of expertise, software and methodology make us

the preferred migration partners for the UK’s largest enterprises – including
Vodafone, Atkins, Tube Lines, Santander, RBS, Sainsburys, Lloyds TSB,
BAE Systems and HMRC.

No one understands application change better than Camwood. Talk to us.

info@camwood.com

17
Resources
Camwood Presentation Websites Videos Plan Now for Licensing Windows 7
Schedule a presentation on Windows 7 Migration IT Expert Voice Best Practices for Migration to Windows 7 See white paper
from Camwood’s application migration experts. A Dell-sponsored site about deploying Windows 7 A Dell/Microsoft-sponsored video with some useful
info@camwood.com in large enterprises stuff on migrating user data. From eWeek Labs eBook on planning for Windows 7 migration –
Go to site and Market Experts available for a limited time
Watch video See white paper
Vendor Resources A good article on why virtualisation and migration
The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit go hand in hand. Gartner’s Research VP Michael Silver
A simple tool for assessing your current IT Read article Watch video Blogs
infrastructure for a variety of technology migration Mike D’s Blog
projects – a good view of the hardware side of CIO.com Blog by Mike DiPetrillo, Principal Systems
things. A library of relevant white papers here: White Papers Engineer at VMware
Go to toolkit Go to website Sponsored papers from Gartner Go to blog

Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit
Tools and documentation to evaluate and mitigate
application compatibility issues.
Go to toolkit
Windows 7 IT Pro Guides
What’s New in Windows 7 and a Windows 7
Manageability Overview Guide.
Go to guides
Microsoft Windows 7 Virtualization forum
Go to forum
Citrix: Windows 7 Known Issues page
Go to page
VMware Tech Resource Center
Go to resource center
With Windows 7’s Arrival, Plan Migrations Now VMblog.com
Books See white paper Author David Marshall’s blog
Managing Systems Migrations and Upgrades: Go to blog
Demystifying the Technology Puzzle Planning for the Security Features of Windows 7
Charles Breakfield and Roxanne Burkey See white paper Gerben’s Blog on Virtualization
View on Amazon Tech consultant Gerben Kloosterman’s blog
Prepare for Windows 7 in 3 Phases Go to blog
Virtualization: The Complete Cornerstone Guide See white paper
to Virtualization Best Practices: Concepts, Terms, Chris Jackson – “The App Compat Guy”
and Techniques Plan to Implement Some 64-Bit Versions of Chris always has great insights.
Ivanka Menken and Gerard Blokdijk Windows 7 Go to blog
View on Amazon See white paper
Brian Madden
Sponsored papers from Forrester A great blog on virtualization. Follow him!
Go to blog
Windows 7 Commercial Adoption Outlook
See white paper

18
Feedback welcome!
Let us know what you think about the Eleven Mistakes eBook.
We’ll issue updates as we collect good tips from IT professionals.
info@camwood.com

Contact Camwood

Let’s talk about your migration:

Camwood Limited
4 Broadgate
London
EC2M 2QS

T: +44 (0)207 562 1220

Email: info@camwood.com