Evaluating Your Desktop Management Processes

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Analyzing your current configuration management processes helps you to identify ways you can improve service and reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO).

You need to assess your desktop environment and evaluate the current methods your organization uses for installing operating system, applications and service packs. You also need to evaluate the backup processes in place and determine the level of security to provide for desktops.

For a worksheet to help you evaluate your desktop environment, see "Worksheet A.4 Assessing Your Current Desktop Environment" (DMEUSE_4.doc) on the Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 Deployment Kit companion CD (or see "Worksheet A.4 Assessing Your Current Desktop Environment" on the Web at https://www.microsoft.com/reskit).

Large organizations typically support hundreds of software applications as well as multiple versions of operating systems. To help reduce the cost associated with client computing, you can implement standards for corporate-wide software such as virus protection, e-mail, word processing, and spreadsheets — and then retire obsolete or unnecessary software.

To develop your client application standards, examine the operating system types and the versions your organization has installed, the commercial applications your organization uses (such as word processing software), and the line-of-business applications that your corporation has developed for tasks such as managing clients or filling orders. For a worksheet to help you assess your organization’s software standards, see "Worksheet A.5 Evaluating Software Standards" (DMEUSE_5.doc) on the Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit companion CD (or see "Worksheet A.5 Evaluating Software Standards" on the Web at https://www.microsoft.com/reskit).