Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Dutch Local Government Organisation Sees Help-Desk Calls Drop by Nearly 50 Per Cent Following Infrastructure Upgrade
Overview
Country or Region:The Netherlands
Industry:Local Authorities
Customer Profile
The Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) represents Dutch local authorities. VNG promotes its members’ interests with the central government and negotiates collective agreements with publicsector unions.
Business Situation
The company’s IT support staff spent too much time answering help-desk calls, and fixing problems with their legacy infrastructure. VNG also wanted to create a more efficient system of IT management.
Solution
With the help of Microsoft Global Alliance Partner, Getronics, the organisation upgraded to Microsoft Windows ServerTM 2003 and migrated desktops to Microsoft Windows® XP Professional. ITmanagement was also outsourced to Getronics.
Benefits
IT expenditure down by around€84,000 (U.S.$101,000)
IT help-desk calls drop from 7,000 to 4,000
Employees get greater IT support
IT staff access desktops remotely
Personnel have secure VPN connections / “The savings on our annual IT budget showed clearly the advantages from migrating to the new infrastructure.”
Gerton Kotterman, Manager of ICT Infrastructure, VNG
The Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) saw the advantages from upgrading its existing operating system. It created an infrastructure that supports new ways of working and reduces IT operating and maintenance costs. Under the previous system, IT support staff not only had to manage the whole infrastructure, but also answer an increasing number of calls about software failures.VNG implemented Microsoft® Windows ServerTM 2003, part of Microsoft Windows Server SystemTM integrated server software, with the Active Directory® directory service, and migrated desktops to Microsoft Windows® XP Professional. In addition, it deployed Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 collaboration and messaging server, which included Microsoft Office Outlook® Web Access. VNG also outsourced responsibility for IT management to Microsoft Global Alliance Partner Getronics. This immediately led to a 12 per cent fall in IT expenditure, equal to around €84,000 (U.S.$101,000). And, since the migration, personnel are increasing productivity, highlighted by IT help desk calls dropping from 7,000 to less than 4,000 a year.
Situation
The Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) represents Dutch local authorities. VNG promotes its members’ interests with the central government and negotiates collective agreements with public sector unions. The organisation handles tens of thousands of requests each year from its membership on local authority issues, and supplies examples of model by-laws to help authorities draft legislation. VNG operates from a single location, based in The Hague, and has 550 employees.
VNG’s network architecture was using the Microsoft® Windows NT®operating system version 4.0, with employees’ workstations running on Microsoft Windows® 98. Personnel were increasingly calling IT support staff through a help desk to fix software failures, and asking for more complex applications for vital business tools such as e-mail messages. They wanted to access their e-mail while out of the office.
IT personnel could not complete any management tasks remotely, such as installing software updates and enforcing Group Policies across the network. “We wanted a solution that would make management more efficient,” says Gerton Kotterman, Manager of ICT Infrastructure, VNG.
VNG also considered that its existing IT budget was excessive. It understood that expenditure could be reduced by giving responsibility for management of its infrastructure to a third party.
Yet, VNG did not want to implement any infrastructure changes that would jeopardise the overall level of reliability and integration achieved across its architecture. “Finding products and functionality that are proven and compatible was important to us,” says Kotterman.
Solution
VNG turned to Microsoft Partner Getronics to design and deploy an infrastructure migration. “It was only logical that VNG approach Getronics. We have been contracting the management and maintenance of our computer server park to the partner since 2001,” says Kotterman. The organisation also asked Getronics to take responsibility for its IT function after the partner won a Europe-wide tender for management of the service.
VNG implemented the Microsoft Windows ServerTM 2003 operating system, part of Microsoft Windows Server SystemTM integrated server software. It upgraded desktops to the Microsoft Windows® XP Professional operating system, Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, and the Microsoft Office FrontPage® 2003 Web site creation and management tool. The solution will meet its business needs for years to come. “I did not want to face having to migrate again in a couple of years’ time,” Kotterman says. Before agreeing to upgrade to Windows Server 2003, Kotterman did his research. “I discovered many major businesses, such as the Dutch airline KLM, had implemented the new infrastructure. I was impressed by the positive response,” Kotterman says.
A team from Getronics, coordinating the project, produced a plan for the transition process. The plan included renting servers temporarily to minimise disruption to day-to-day duties, while the new infrastructure software was deployed.
During implementation, the coordinating team set up the Active Directory® directory service. With Active Directory in place, system administrators can assign applications network-wide and implement updates throughout the whole organisation centrally. The group also customised the new environment to integrate with a new deployment server solution from software developer Altiris.
In addition, Getronics deployed Internet Information Services (IIS) version 6.0, Microsoft SQL ServerTM 2000, and Microsoft Internet Security Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000. Getronics’s own personnel replaced the existing in-house IT help desk team and VNG staff have received training in Windows XP. Indeed, training began two months before the transition and has continued for more than a year following deployment.
Benefits
The new solution is delivering a cost-efficient IT infrastructure that provides greater and safer access and applications with greater business benefits. “IT support in the workplace is now very good and the system as a whole has become much more robust,” says Kotterman.
Immediate 12 Per Cent Reduction in IT Costs
VNG has benefited from a saving of around €84,000 (U.S.$101,000) on an annual IT budget of €700,000 (U.S.$847,000) by deploying Windows Server 2003 architecture with Windows XP, plus outsourcing the help desk function. “The savings on our annual IT budget showed clearly the advantages from migrating to the new infrastructure,” says Kotterman. Getronics has also promised that savings will continue to grow—in the second year they will fall by a further five per cent.
Reduction in Help Desk Calls
VNG personnel are no longer suffering software failures, and this, in turn, is leading to staff making fewer calls to the help desk and being more productive. The number of help desk calls have fallen by nearly 50 per cent from 7,000 to less than 4,000 a year.
Because of fewer calls, the number of staff dedicated to answering enquiries about system breakdowns has been cut from four to three. In addition, the remaining staff
have more time for helping personnel better use new client software. For example, they are advising workers how they can integrate recently allocated personal digital assistants (PDAs) with their desktop applications. Overall, employees are pleased with the applications in Office Professional Edition 2003, saying they are simpler to use.
Centralised Access to Desktops
IT support staff can manage servers and desktops centrally through the Remote Desktop for Administration in Windows Server 2003. “Thisgreatly simplifies our management infrastructure which was an important objective in the migration,” says Kotterman.
The IT team is also using Active Directory for centralising management tasks, such as resetting passwords and configuring e-mail accounts. Using Group Policy, team members can enforce access directives on users and computers. In addition, using Windows Server 2003, they can quickly install new software through Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS), and prevent data loss by creating additional copies of file and folders in Microsoft Shadow Copy Client.
Remote E-Mail Across a VPN
Personnel can access the network securely outside the office because of a newlycreated virtual private network (VPN), and they now have laptops available for remote working. Establishing VPN connections with the new infrastructure for all employees was a simple operation.
Kotterman says: “It was an easy job taking no more than half an hour to connect each new desktop. The impact was enormous. We offered personnel a little executable via e-mail, which configured VPN connection to the network.”
By using Microsoft Office Outlook® Web Access in Exchange Server 2003, employees can view e-mail messages, calendars, contacts, tasks, and public folders from remote locations. “E-mail performance has definitely improved. Many employees have been thrilled by the functionality and new Web access,” says Kotterman. VNG is better protected against the risk of viruses and worms entering the network via e-mails through ISA Server 2000.
Continuing Development in Infrastructure
VNG plans to integrate further infrastructure software to gain more benefits from the new environment. “We are still upgrading or implementing new features like Microsoft [Office] SharePoint® Portal Server 2003,” says Kotterman.
The Web-based application can publish standard file formats online. In fact, for Kotterman, the interoperability of Windows Server 2003 has always been key. “When you look at other products on the market, you see that they do not include the same level of services. This is why I prefer Microsoft products.”
With the integration potential of Windows Server System, VNG is considering the deployment of Application Service Library (ASL), an emergent application management tool. It will give a better insight into the impact on costs of system modifications.
Microsoft Windows Server System
Microsoft Windows Server System is a comprehensive, integrated, and interoperable server infrastructure that helps reduce the complexity and costs of building, deploying, connecting, and operating agile business solutions. Windows Server System helps customers create new value for their business through the strategic use of their IT assets. With the Windows Server operating system as its foundation, Windows Server System delivers dependable infrastructure for data management and analysis; enterprise integration; customer, partner, and employee portals; business process automation; communications and collaboration; and core IT operations including security, deployment, and systems management. For more information about Windows Server System, go to: