Reducing Compatibility Risks in EUC Migrations

Compatibility risks can delay, increase costs and reduce scope and adoption of new EUC platforms. Applications on EUC Platforms integrate with numerous infrastructure points and there can be many applications in an organization. This blog covers discovery methodologies and ways to tackle incompatible applications without getting stuck in extensive analyses and burdensome testing programs.

EUC Migrations can involve a change in operating system, data center, cloud, network, storage, management system and DaaS/VDI platform. Operating system changes bring in supportability and technical risks of the application not working. Data center, cloud and network change bring in risks such as capacity, network rules and latency which can break, slow or remove functionality.

Hardware is a key integration point for an operating system, whilst common items like keyboards, mice, headsets and cameras just work and others like custom printers and other devices may not.

A migration project looks at the risks in the following stages:-

·       Persona Definition

·       Critical Application and device inventory

·       Risk matrix analysis

·       Testing and Piloting

·       Remediation

A classic approach to EUC Projects is to take a detailed inventory of applications installed on PCs and VDI infrastructure. The datasets are enormous and take time to rationalize to create a meaningful output. Even then, there will be applications that are not in use. Software Asset Management solutions tackle the risks of analysis paralysis by identifying critical software in use rather than every installed and running item. SAM solutions provide organizations savings by optimizing software licenses and installs to those who use it .

Critical to all EUC Projects is the need to break down the organization in personas and use cases. The personas then allow the applications and devices to be defined as business critical with the need for a thorough testing and acceptance routine.

Physically monitoring and documenting a user’s interactions with their current environment to identify critical touchpoints and interactions will help document what needs testing and migrating. The analysis works well for standardized back office functions with repetitive but critical applications.

By categorizing applications by impact and likelihood of incompatibility, organizations can prioritize and appropriately resource items for testing and resourcing for remediation.

Testing needs to be proportionate to the potential business impact. A text editor only needs to be validated that it installs and starts, however, an ERP system will need more thorough testing by an SME across business functions and interactions. Knowing applications owners will help identify who has the capability to test applications.

Vendors provide requirement pages and support pages for applications to work on operating systems and DaaS environments. The recommendations can be as simple as a patch, policy, or may recommend another course of action. Endpoint security, audio video, Office and CAD software will have specific recommendations for DaaS and VDI platforms. Activation and authentication persistence need testing and potentially ways of persisting settings that the vendor recommends.

Removing complexity from an environment reduces costs and the security attack surface. There could be another solution in use at the customer that covers the same job, or an equivalent may be built into the operating system. A simple example is WinZip where the built in compression tool or 7ZIP could be used instead.

Where the technical debt of an item is too high, replacing legacy software or hardware can be the optimal solution. The security risks could be too high to maintain, or there are modern alternatives that improve productivity.  

Whilst the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit is no longer available, there are techniques that get an application running. Procmon can identify file, registry and network permission blocks and there are 16 bit DOS emulators that may get the oldest applications running. If the application is still required and the cost of replacement is too high, then vendors like CloudHouse provide an abstraction layer to get applications and hardware working whilst maintaining support required for business-critical applications.

Networking architecture requires planning and preparation for migrations, especially with a move to the cloud. SaaS application internet egress paths, client to DaaS, voice, video and internal networks all need planning for. On the client side, AWS provides Teams Optimization and the Amazon Global Accelerator (AGA) to improve the user experience. AGA improves user experience in regions with poor internet peering with Amazon.

Applications running in DaaS often require low latency connections to file, database and application servers. Migrating the application backends to be closer to the DaaS solution will improve reliability and performance of these applications. WorkSpaces Applications can be used to deliver the applications to users still on-premises and to remote locations to ensure ongoing optimal UX.

EUC Migrations can stall when critical stakeholders are not engaged. Working with users to UAT applications and assist in making business decisions to change assists adoption and brings people on the journey of co-creating a solution. Change management eases the impact on users, speeds adoption and reduces resistance.

Complex EUC migrations can be de-risked by the identification of business-critical applications and devices where effort should be directed. Having a remediation plan with stakeholders on board reduces friction points, accelerates migrations and reduces costs. When approaching discovery and analysis, keep a simple approach, engage stakeholders and be open to different approaches to minimize complexity, attack surfaces and the associated costs.