Define the User Groups

Define the User Groups

Once the data capture is complete, you’re ready to start dividing up the users into different groups based on a common set of requirements. This allows a FlexCast model to be assigned to each user group without compromising on performance or functionality.

User Segmentation

Users are often classified as task workers, branch office workers, mobile workers and the like. Unfortunately, this classification is too broad to offer meaningful segmentation because users can

simultaneously be described as task workers, mobile workers, and branch office workers. Instead, group users together that have the same requirement for:

• Primary datacenter (B) – Each user will have a primary datacenter assigned that will be used to host their virtual desktop, data, and application servers. Identify the datacenter that the user should be assigned to rather than the datacenter they are currently using. Users will be grouped based on their

primary datacenter so that a unique design can be created for each one.

• Personalization (B) – Personalization requirements are used to help determine the appropriate FlexCast model for each user group. For example, if a user group requires complete personalization, a Hosted VDI desktop with Personal vDisk will be recommended as the optimal solution. There are three classifications available:

• Security (B) – Security requirements are used to help determine the appropriate FlexCast model and policies for each user group. For example, if a user group requires high security, a Hosted-

Shared Desktop, Pooled Desktop or On-Demand Apps FlexCast model will be recommended as the optimal solution. There are four classifications available:

• Mobility (B) – Mobility requirements are used to help determine the appropriate FlexCast model for each user group. For example, if a user group sometimes connects remotely, the Streamed VHD FlexCast model will not be selected because it requires a high-speed local network. There are four

classifications available:

• Desktop Loss Criticality (B) – Criticality will be used to determine the level of high availability, load balancing and fault tolerance measures required. There are three classifications available:

• Workload (T) – Collecting user performance requirements will allow the desktop virtualization infrastructure to be accurately sized and an appropriate FlexCast model to be selected.

Note: Performance thresholds are not identified based on processor, memory or disk utilization because these characteristics will change dramatically following the application rationalization and desktop optimization process. In addition, it is likely that the user’s management tools and operating system will change during the migration process. Instead, workload is gauged based on the number and type of applications the user runs.

(T) Technical Characteristic

(B) Business Characteristic

Experience from the Field

Utility company – A large utility company collected data on every user in their organization. During the user segmentation process it was realized that the organization’s existing role definitions were

sufficiently well defined that all the users within a role shared the same requirements. This allowed a significant amount of time to be saved by reviewing a select number of users per group. 

Government – A government organization discovered that there was significant deviation between user requirements within each role, particularly around security and criticality. As such, each user

needed to be carefully reviewed to ensure that they were grouped appropriately.

The fastest and easiest way to identify your user groups within the user assessment workbook is to filter the results based on these key requirements. Once you have identified the users within one group, transfer the relevant information to the user segmentation worksheet within the assess spreadsheet.