Project Management AD Migration Case Study

As one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the U.S., the healthcare customer had approximately 9,300 computers in seven hospitals, 40 clinics and three business offices with roughly 7,500 of those computers using the "Novell Client" for login authentication and drive mapping. In an effort to ease its infrastructure support requirements and enable advanced integration with its enterprise applications, the company needed to migrate both its file and directory services from the current Novell Directory Services (NDS) environment to an existing Microsoft Active Directory (AD). 

CHALLENGE

With approximately 7,500 computers utilizing legacy NDS, the healthcare company’s environment presented various challenges that required: Major logistical coordination to keep business continuity for 24/7 healthcare environment Small IT team without the expertise to execute migration at such a large scale Uninterrupted access to user file shares following migration  A full user adoption plan once all workstations were migrated to AD for log-in authentication No common desktop platform for deployment of business initiatives such as single sign-on

SOLUTION

Working closely with the client and client’s Support team, Sparkhound consultants devised a flexible approach to hit an aggressive migration timeline, ensure 24/7 business continuity and a seamless end-user experience: Sparkhound’s Enterprise Deployment Model provided a systematic approach systematically for achieving each project milestone, knowledge transfer to IT staff and immediate employee adoption Sparkhound’s phased approach included pilot testing with three migration milestones to avoid interrupted access to file shares Configured all workstations to participate in the Active Directory and use Active Directory for login authentication and single sign-on

IMPACT

By understanding the healthcare company’s demanding industry and service of excellence, Sparkhound’s Enterprise Deployment Model safeguarded against interrupted service that could affect immediate and long-term business needs. By delivering rigorous and committed Project Managers, Sparkhound led a seamless migration within the timeframe and helped transfer all IT knowledge to the healthcare company’s Support Team, ensuring superior customer experiences internally and externally.