Frank Russell Company

Prior to the Clean Slate project, Russell supported three generations of technology and the underlying infrastructure of servers to manage file, print and email services. During the previous four years, desktop applications used at Russell had increased by 92%; Microsoft Access database development and usage had increased at an alarming rate; production servers had increased by 500%; and Internet capabilities supported 45 extranets, including six in foreign languages.

Russell recognized the need to reduce total costs of ownership by consolidating applications and services. Senior management set the tone by setting goals for an environment that had unified standards and was scalable, flexible, and efficient.

The Clean Slate project was launched to meet these changing needs, resulting in several key deliverables for the Clean Slate team:

• Implementation of Active Directory
• Migration of File and Print Services from Novell to Windows 2000 Server
• Application Consolidation and Testing
• Implementation of Terminal Services environment for application publishing
• Upgrade to Windows XP and Office XP

Ensuring Success

Since the Clean Slate project would impact every associate’s computing environment throughout the enterprise, understanding each business unit’s application usage was critical to the success of the project. Russell also wanted to ensure that communications were thorough and timely, issues were managed as they arose, documentation was accurate and complete, and end users had the training and support necessary to make the Clean Slate project a success.

To supplement their internal staff, Russell selected Trillium Consulting to provide various IT consulting services. “Trillium’s contribution exceeded our initial requests, and enriched the quality of the entire process through the excellence of your personnel and your ideas for management, implementation, and communications. Your team provided key resources in multiple areas, including: business analysis, developing and maintaining effective project management and communications, issue tracking and resolution, technical and end-user documentation, help desk support, deployment coordination, and user support for both pre- and post- migration,” said John Stingl, Chief Technology Officer and Clean Slate Program Manager.

Project and Issue Management

One Trillium team member participated as a project lead on the core team. By recommending the initiation, development and documentation of key processes and procedure flows, as well as assisting with the development and implementation of communications and support plans, Trillium ensured that end users, technical leads and project teams were kept informed and up-to-date. Trillium also played a key role in the monitoring and troubleshooting of issues that arose throughout the project. Stingl commented: “Trillium’s creative solutions, such as developing an innovative issue management process, proved critical to the success of the project.”

Technical Documentation - The Write Idea

To support the Clean Slate project, Russell needed technical and end user documentation covering the entire IT environment that was accurate, up-to-date, and easy for the targeted audience to locate and understand. Trillium Consulting’s technical writers led planning and review meetings for major documents; interviewed key personnel to gather accurate information; created design, configuration and operations documentation for technical personnel; produced extensive end user materials, including “tips and tricks” and “how to” articles; and worked with Russell personnel to deploy a “user-friendly” online tool for searching documentation related to the computing environment. “The documentation Trillium created was very thorough,” said Stingl, “reflecting an in-depth understanding of our computing environment.”

Business Analysis

As work on the project progressed, Russell identified that a key factor for success was understanding which applications were used by the business units and how those applications were utilized. Trillium’s team members interviewed Russell associates to document all requirements, software applications used, integration of applications, add-ins, etc., then communicated that information to the technical teams. The standard computing environment was then designed based on the needs of the user community.

Migration and Deployment Coordination

Once migration schedules were established, requirements assessed, and communications completed, Trillium’s team conducted pre-migration meetings with the points of contact (POC) in each business unit and IT Account Managers to review the migration process. Next, associate manifests were created and reviewed for accuracy, and daily deployment efforts were coordinated. In addition, new computer equipment was configured, and the delivery of equipment to associates was scheduled.

Training for Immediate Productivity

User acceptance of the new computing environment was critical to the success of the Clean Slate program. To train associates on the new features and functionality in Windows XP, Office XP and in the remote connectivity tools, users attended demonstrations during an “expo” and at regularly scheduled “open enrollment” sessions. Hands-on sessions, deskside training, Q & A sessions, and customized training for individual business units resulted in increased productivity and efficiency with a minimal amount of down time, and ensured end users understood the benefits the new environment offered.

Enter the SWAT Support Team

Both pre- and post-migration support was provided to end users by a “SWAT” team. During the pre-migration “handshake,” team members introduced the role of the SWAT team; reviewed the migration process and associate responsibility checklist; verified the migration details; explained the major changes in the new computing environment; set appropriate expectations and explained benefits of the new environment; assisted with copying or moving all local files and shortcuts; addressed the associate’s questions and concerns about the migration and new environment; and scheduled a time for post-migration support.

During post-migration support, SWAT teams verified the associate could log on to the network, change their password, and use key applications; configured application settings as specified by the business unit; explained the new locations for files that had been moved; mapped network drives and printers as needed; configured PDAs and synchronization software; demonstrated off-line laptop usage and synching of files; and demonstrated a new Remote Access method and configuration.

SWAT team members also attended deployment meetings and communicated pre- and post-migration issues that were discovered during visits, initiated Help tickets on behalf of associates when issue escalation was required; and provided periodic “walk-through” support after migration to ensure issues were resolved.

“The pre- and post-migration user support that Trillium’s ‘SWAT’ provided was invaluable for maintaining business unit support of the project. The team worked with each associate to ensure comfort with the new environment and address any problems or issues that arose,” Stingl said.

The Results

The Clean Slate Program was a two-year effort that has given Russell an investment in technology that directly supports its business and allows resources to focus on building and expanding investment management research rather than on technology support.

Following a proven project methodology with process and procedure flows, issue management, communications, documentation, and follow-up support resulted in a project that was on time and on budget.

“The exceptional quality of service provided by Trillium enabled Russell to successfully migrate more than 1,000 employees to our new computing environment,” concluded Stingl.

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