How can I test an unknown estate?
A client reached out to me recently to ask for some advice on how to accelerate their Windows 11 Migration. They have around 100k laptops and desktops across several countries.
The Windows 11 build and deployment method was already established. ManagementStudio had already been used to systematically issue tests and track defects of the critical Business Applications on the new platform. That process was mature, and most applications were considered ready.
Device lifecycle was understood and ManagementStudio helped to identify machines that were not compatible with Windows 11 according to the compatibility data published by Microsoft.
Finally, about 900 devices had already been upgraded to Windows 11 following an appeal for pilot candidates sent out by department heads. During that process a few devices had to be rolled back due to issues with applications, some Business Applications and more worryingly manually installed specialist applications. The business provides services to many customers on their sites and, as such, install many applications specific to that site only, unknown to central I.T.
However, a business risk has been raised that has prevented the required deployment rate from being achieved.
Some of these “Unknown Applications” had failed in the pilot causing a service interruption and requiring the upgrade to be rolled back. These applications are unmanaged but can impact the service delivery if they do not work. The Pilot numbers were so low that there was no real risk to service delivery, but a wider rollout would lead to a potentially large number of issues.
The Solution
The business uses Intune and has the ManagementStudio Intune connector installed. The connector can return “Discovered” applications as well as “Managed” and the unlock leans on the discovered applications.
Because the pilot was far-reaching, we had a great deal of data available in ManagementStudio. Simply put we ran ManagementStudio Datamining reports:-
- Identify all Windows 11 Devices.
- Tag all the discovered applications linked to the Windows 11 Devices.
- Identify Windows 10 machines that ONLY have apps already running on Windows 11 Devices.
This process identified over 15k devices that should be considered ready for upgrade. It is a huge unlock. Some of those devices are being replaced.
The project team now have a target list to start migrations and plan hardware refreshes confident that manually installed apps are already in use elsewhere.
