Project Management

Project Management

Roadmap

Most companies don’t have sufficient time or resources to migrate every user group in one go. As such, it is important that the user groups identified are prioritized so that the business receives the

maximum value from their investment as soon as possible. To achieve this, you need to compare the business impact and time to value of each group:

• Business impact – Consider the impact that desktop virtualization will have on each user group and rank them accordingly. It is important that you double back here, and use the business drivers identified at the start of the project to make sure that you assign an appropriate ranking. Don’t just assign ratings based on how highly the business values each user group; instead focus on which user groups offer the most benefit to the company after virtualization. It’s a subtle but important difference.

• Time to value – For each user group, estimate how long it will take to implement the chosen FlexCast model based on the findings from the Capabilities Assessment. For example, you might find that a company already has a XenDesktop solution that can be leveraged to support those user groups that require a hosted VDI desktop resulting in a low time to value. Alternatively, the business might have no prior experience with XenClient resulting in a longer time to value. Compare application sets, user requirements and user numbers when differentiating between user groups that have been assigned the same FlexCast model. 

Note: If there are limited skills available in-house to implement a chosen FlexCast model, consider hiring external resources so that Time to Value can be reduced for the associated user groups.

Representing this information in a graph provides an easy way to visualize the results:

When it comes to assigning the implementation order, start from the top left hand corner of the chart and work your way to the bottom right hand corner. This way you start with some quick wins that offer a high-level of value to the company.

Once the project roadmap has been created, update the project plan so that it incorporates the prioritized roadmap.

Experience from the Field

Utility company – A large utility company realized that there would be a long time to value for user groups that had been assigned with a hosted VDI FlexCast mode, because they had no prior experience or training with this technology. To address this concern, the utility company engaged with Citrix Consulting who provided Consultants with previous experience of successfully deploying XenDesktop.

Build the Right Team

Desktop virtualization is a fundamental change that requires close collaboration between various business and technical teams in order to be successful. For example, the virtualization and desktop

teams need to work together to ensure that the virtual desktop image meets user needs while also being optimized for the datacenter. Failure to build a cohesive project team that consists of the right roles and skill sets can negatively impact performance, availability, user experience and supportability while also increasing costs and risk.

The following tables identify the business and technical roles required during an enterprise virtual desktop deployment. Although the list may seem quite large, many of these roles are only required

for a short time and multiple roles may be performed by a single person. The project manager and Citrix Architect are considered  to be full time roles with other team members being brought in only

when required. The project manager role is key to ensuring that the right people are involved in the project at the right time.

Design Overview

Designing a desktop virtualization solution is simply a matter of following a proven process and aligning technical decisions with organizational and user requirements. Without the standardized

and proven process, architects tend to randomly jump from topic to topic, which leads to confusion and mistakes. The recommended approach focuses on working through five distinct layers:

The top three layers are designed for each user group independently, which were identified during the user segmentation section of the assess phase. These layers define the user’s virtual desktop and how users access their desktop. Upon completion of these three layers, the foundational layers (control and hardware) are designed for the entire solution. This process guides the design thinking in that decisions made higher up impact lower level design decisions.