1. 10 – Workstation Fleet Logistics
John Beckett
CPTE 433

2. What People See New Employees Existing Employees Workstation
Prepared and waiting
Workstations being delivered (and removed)
Workstations are replaced on some sort of schedule

3. What Employees Don’t See
Shouldn’t
Designation of what model will be delivered
Purchasing of workstation & accessores
Installation
Network connection
OS loading
Applications loading
…and so on

4. Processes in Fleet Management
Purchasing: Acquiring from vendors
Prep: All the steps needed to transform a purchased machine into a useful workation
Delivery: Take it to user location and set up
Platform: Determine what hw/sw will be used, automate installs
Network: Configure jacks, plan capacity, connect
Tools: Program the “glue” that makes it all work together
Project Management: Coordinate all these efforts

5. Purchasing Team Acquire machines in bulk
Based on business plans: projects, hiring
Control the inventory of purchased-but-not-installed machines so we can implement quickly but waste is minimized
Tracking orders
Contract negotiation

6. Prep Team Labeling OS installation Application installation
Localization
Keyboards, power plugs
If prep is failing on one machine out of many, set it aside and deal with it separately

7. Delivery Team Physical placement of machines
Laptops may merit a sign-off process
Consider alternating people between prep and delivery, to increase synergy and relieve monotony
Avoid the “those idiots” trap
This is an opportunity to connect with users – walking them through an intro document

8. Platform Team Defines the final product: all technical aspects
Define and create prep room
Work with purchasing to select new, deprecate old
Tech support to prep team
Different platform teams for each major OS?
Shared infrastructure
Meet together often

9. Network team Defines how computers connect Major tool is DHCP
NAC: Network Access Control
If a machine isn’t in your network config, it shouldn’t work – major tool is DHCP
Special relationship with prep and delivery team so that a machine works properly when it is plugged in the first time

10. Tools Team Automation of tasks in fleet management
New-hire delivery
Refresh
Forecasting & ordering
Project Management Dashboards
Remote Logistics
Smaller sites may “get by” using spreadsheets

11. Project Management A project is defined in terms of outcome
E.g. “Deliver 12 machines for new hires in Marketing by this Friday”
Project may have milestones to track
Workstations each week
When each application is made available

12. Program Office Houses the Project Management teams
Probably have a PM team for each ongoing project
Creates standards for how projects are to be managed
Defines how workstations should look to users
Represents all these teams to management
Creates and monitors metrics for end-to-end quality
“Continuous improvement” is a major goal
Beware of local optimizations that merely deflect a challenge from one team to another
Coordinates cross-training

13. Configuration Management Database
All configuration information should be in a central database
All configuration files and scripts should be automatically derived from this central database
When a new machine is configured, the process should be controlled by the CMDB
The CMDB is a major tool for researching:
Network capacity needs
Refresh cycle

14. Small-Scale Fleet Logistics
In a small company, this may not be enough work for even one person. You should still have:
Vendor list: contact names & numbers, history
Installation procedures: Bullet list of steps
Delivery checklist: What to take with you when delivering a machine
Welcome letter

15. Full-Time Fleet Coordinators
Hopefully you’ll need to scale up
Perhaps you’ll have it run by a power user instead of an SA

16. Refresh Costs Exercise
Months
Hires
People
Latops
Laptops
For New
Refresh
100
150000 3 20
120
30000 6
140 9
160 12
180 15
200 18
220 21
240 24
260 27
280 30
300 33
320 36
340
Totals
510000
390000
Grand Total
900000

17. Beyond the Text: Real Cost of Workstations
Purchase cost
Integrating into your environment
Problems each design has
Employee non-productive time
Installation
Training
Updating
One company estimated this at $14,000 per year – study done decades ago

18. Beyond the Text: Refresh Costs
Not Refreshing Enough
Refreshing Too Often
High rate of malfunctions
New functions simply won’t work
Slow performance
High employee costs
Lost business to competition
Excessive capital costs
Excessive installation costs
Can’t keep track of all the types of computers and their unique needs
Excessive training costs
What to do with discarded equipment?
You are aiming for some sort of “sweet spot” on the curve