APRIL 18, 2006 Vol 3, Issue 11
	BDD – the Path to Desktop Deployment Nirvana version française Microsoft's Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) details best practices and provides prescriptive guidance on processes and commercially available tools that can be used to reduce desktop software deployment costs, eliminate time-consuming and error-prone manual tasks, improve IT staff productivity and minimize end-user disruption. by Jay Parkes Desktop Deployment Framework Gives Organizations a More Automated, Managed and Responsive IT Environment For most companies today, the Microsoft® Desktop is a strategic business asset that can help increase employee productivity, automate business processes, leverage existing assets and build an advantage in their day-to-day operations. Upcoming releases of Windows Vista and the Office 12 suite, for example, promise significant increases in collaboration and user productivity. Getting those desktops out to users, however, and keeping them updated with the latest operating system, office productivity applications and security software can be quite burdensome. Application compatibility issues may be too difficult to overcome, for example, or take too long to resolve. Managing all the possible combinations of desktop images is often quite costly, given current hardware complexity; and the user disruption that typically accompanies major desktop rollouts and upgrades is generally not acceptable. In addition, for organizations to be agile, business units need the ability to deploy applications without major IT involvement; and with the advent of zero-day worms and viruses, IT departments require the ability to rapidly deploy fixes and new builds. Current Build Processes No Longer Adequate Many organizations have a desktop build process that relies on significant deployment technician intervention and manual keystrokes, with very little automation. This approach to deployments and updates not only costs too much – more than 60 per cent of total desktop TCO over a five-year period comes from labour costs – but also takes too long and can lead to numerous system anomalies. These problems are further magnified by the large number of system images, checklists and custom deployment techniques that require ongoing support. If any of this sounds familiar to you, perhaps it's time to reconsider how your organization does deployments! Microsoft's Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) offers an effective alternative. BDD is a collection of tools and processes that simplify the planning, building, deployment and ongoing maintenance of desktop software, especially Windows and Office. BDD also provides organizations with an effective framework in which to implement Zero-Touch Installation (ZTI) and Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP). BDD Eases Desktop Management Pain BDD is primarily intended for organizations that want to create a totally managed desktop environment, or already have one that needs to be maintained or upgraded. BDD is available in two flavours – a Standard Edition, for organizations with 250 or more desktops who are using software other than SMS 2003 to perform deployments; and an Enterprise Edition, for those with 500 or more desktops who are using SMS 2003 to manage their desktops. BDD provides central management and process automation by leveraging a number of commercially available software tools such as Systems Management Server 2003 (SMS) and Windows Server with Active Directory. The Enterprise Edition of BDD also uses Microsoft's User State Migration Tool (USMT), for example, to convert user data files and to capture and restore user operating system and application settings such as screen saver preferences, Web browser favorites and so on. The Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) is another tool prescribed by BDD to perform an application inventory (leveraging SMS's inventory capabilities) and to assess whether existing desktop applications will be compatible with Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and with the soon-to-be released Windows Vista. Using ACT will minimize risks associated with changes to the operating system and help speed the deployment of XP SP2. Achieving Desktop 'Deployment Nirvana' Administering and managing today's enterprise networks can be time-consuming and complex. Although many common administrative and management tasks can be delegated to managers within your organization, you will likely still want these tasks to go through some form of approval process before completion. Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) lets you delegate administrative tasks (known as ZTP services), acquire the appropriate approvals and accrue charges for the ZTP service. You can also allow end users to perform ZTP services, which, in the BDD context, would typically include installing an application or upgrading their operating system. ZTP, which is only supported by the Enterprise Edition of BDD, was designed to address three scenarios – deploying a new desktop, refreshing the software on an existing desktop and replacing an existing desktop. BDD describes best practices and provides prescriptive guidance for using the technologies required for ZTP, including: SMS 2003 SP1a (for application deployment), SMS 2003 OSD Feature Pack (for operating system deployment), Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 (provides the ZTP workflow and approval process), Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (provides the ZTP user interface), Microsoft SQL Server (database where ZTP configurations are stored), and Authorization Manager (for performing ZTP services). BDD Offers Significant Business Value Microsoft's BDD framework offers tools and processes that can be used to reduce desktop software deployment costs, eliminate time-consuming and error-prone manual tasks, improve IT staff productivity and minimize end-user disruption. As a step toward achieving a more automated, managed and responsive IT environment, BDD can play an important part in moving your organization closer to achieving what industry analyst firm Gartner calls a "real-time infrastructure" that is more agile, service oriented, easily managed and exhibits costs that align with business requirements. Gartner's framework for assessing the state an organization's infrastructure in this respect is its Infrastructure Maturity Model, which is described in the September, 2005 issue of the Tuesday Technology Report. Leverage Our BDD Experience The complexity associated with desktop deployment is not in picking which tools to apply in which scenarios, but rather in wrapping the right processes around the tools. With many BDD implementations already to its credit, Compugen's team of trained and certified consultants and technicians has the experience to get your BDD environment up and running quickly, enabling you to take full advantage of the often-confusing array of tools and technologies at your disposal. Click here to find out how Compugen can help you use Microsoft's BDD approach to significantly reduce the time, cost and complexity of your next software rollout or migration.