1. Introduction A strategy was required to be able to maintain desktop configuration and reduced support cost. Hardware and software capabilities continually are beyond what is required to do daily tasks. The organization is preparing for sun setting of the current desktop configuration; an opportunity has presented itself for an architectural and operating change. Objectives The objective is to define a strategic direction for thin clients. Methodology Define an architecture and service offering for thin clients. Solicit a group of experts to prepare a direction statement on thin client. Design an architecture that supports a reduction in desktop and support costs while supporting the business process. Validate that concept and offering will work in the end user environment. Establish a communication plan for management with each major benchmark receiving a status approval before moving onto the next stage. Thin Client Management Thin Client Communication Matrix Information Collection – Planning, Needs Assessment Team chartered. Members: architects, project managers, specialized end users, management and financial analysts. Initial objectives, scope of project and preliminary deliverables defined. Through meetings and e-mail stakeholders and end-users provided minimum requirements. Planning included architects from the business unit as well as the enterprise level. An information analysis was performed to identify those common and extremes requirements that will be utilized for design purposes. During the planning stage a needs assessment of services to be offered by the thin client platform was preformed. Interviews were conducted between business focals and information technologists to gather requirements. The needs assessment identified a number of services or workstation processes. (S/WP) Financial information regarding cost and hardware availability was also collected and compiled. Develop Statement of Work Prepare Pilot Design Sponsor Customer Buyoff Information Analysis Following the needs assessment the S/WP’s were examined for appropriateness. A S/WP’s that was not good candidate for the thin client technology was eliminated. I.e. high graphic applications. Remaining services/workstation processes were grouped into common functional pools. The Team then prioritized the S/WP’s within each pool based on cost, ease of migration, hardware availability, and political factors. The top four S/WP’s within each pool were selected. These findings were reviewed by management, after review the next stage was an opportunity evaluation. An opportunity evaluation was conducted with the deliverable being a business case. The business case included a description of the system, circumstances of the projects (funding, availability of members, support concerns) and conclusions. Preliminary architecture drafted. Management re-organization and re-prioritized of projects and funding cut. Thin Client Darcy MacPherson University of Washington Lessons Learned Re-organizations happen, treat every meeting as a mini project and have documentation completed. Team did not have enough financial information to determine service level charging. Recruit a financial analyst on charter team. Allow enough time for interviews, meet one on one. While time is always short, this personal attention creates much value to the individual and the evaluation. Team needed to determine communication priority of status information. Place positives before negatives when relaying team experience. Some things cannot be controlled no matter the level of sponsorship or buy in. Fix time constraints do not allow for flexibility. Users “Thin is In” Applicatio n Server Thin Client Managemen t Stakeholder s Level of service s Refres h lifecycl e Single Develop ment Environ ment Manage ment Custome rs Support Resulting ROI Architectur e Data Server Management Direction Architectural Planning Needs assessment Interviews Analysis of information Draft design Gather Requirements Management Reorg Activity Stopped Communicate What To WhomMethod Email, Interviews, Project Plate, Virtual meetings How Often Daily, Weekly, etc By Whom Charter, Statement of Work Team Stakeholder Sponsors Email, Word document Bi-weeklyProject manager SurveyTeam Email, On-line survey OnceTeam Project Deliverables Team Sponsor Email, Project Plate Bi-weeklyProject Manager, Architects, Financial Analyst, end-user Communication & Operations Plan Team Sponsor Email, status meetings, project plate WeeklyProject Manager, Architect, Representative Next Steps Regrouping of membership Define clear boundaries for Thin usage Provide regular review and status with Operational Management with Architecture Management Validate business case as part of service offering plan Define and expand team to work goals and objectives Deliverables Statement of Work Opportunity Evaluation Architecture Diagram