Migrating to Windows 7 and Office 2007 is a massive undertaking, no matter your company size. Preparation is vital to a successful transition. Using the information and data points we’ve culled from many successful migrations with our mid- to enterprise-size clients, we have organized this collection of best practices and common occurrences:

Most Common Support Calls

Many corporate workers have been using Windows XP for some time now, so a learning curve with Windows 7 is inevitable. Below are some factors that will affect your employees’ productivity with the new operating system:

• Elimination of the Quick Launch toolbar and the Vista sidebar (if applicable)
• A new taskbar with icons only
• Changes to auxiliary apps like Windows Movie Maker and Windows Mail
• New features like Federated Search, Windows Mobility Center, Aero Peek, Jump Lists

Best Practice – Provide consolidated training on these features before deployment or make sure Windows 7 experts are standing by and are readily available the day of deployment. Downtime is costly.

As for Office 2007, its radically different interface will result in an even steeper learning curve. The design is such a departure that your employees will hit snags just trying to figure out how to perform basic tasks like saving and formatting. Here are some issues that may cause problems:

• Inability to customize the Ribbon and Office bar
• Finding infrequently used features
• Confusion resulting from the new version’s contextual menus and mini-toolbars
• Macros being disabled
• New file formats and “compatibility” mode
• Understanding the new multiple template types

Best Practice –With Office 2007, the hard part will be getting end-users back to the point where they can complete the tasks they have done for years without issue. The bulk of that work needs to be done prior to deployment or within the first few weeks after installation. Provide pre-migration training, plus on-demand, expert support during and after launch. Without such measures, your in-house IT staff will likely be bombarded with calls, which will take them away from more critical migration issues.

Call Volume

The magnitude of support needs when Windows 7 and Office 2007 hit a desktop environment almost guarantees that internal IT staff will be overwhelmed. Besides the increased call volume, once the callers connect to IT, it is unlikely they will get the assistance they need; most help desk generalists do not have the knowledge, experience or training to solve the range of Windows 7 and Office 2007 questions. An inundated help desk means longer hold times, more call backs, a higher call abandonment rate, increased downtime and decreased service levels.

Here’s a snapshot of migration call volume: It will remain linear throughout the migration, with peaks cresting most noticeably during the initial installations. During months 1-3, our clients have experienced a 50 percent spike in “how-to” support calls. You can expect the same.

The number of calls will begin to decrease at about month 4, and will continue to lessen through month 6, when the volume drops to 30 percent. After six months, levels will return to those experienced pre-deployment.

Best Practice – Don’t bother hiring extra full-time IT staff for a migration; training new hires up to the expertise level needed in such a short amount of time is near-impossible. Instead, bring in a migration partner that employs Microsoft-certified consultants, offers 24x7 support on more than 160 applications, and charges you according to actual use.

Training and Support

In past upgrades, an information worker’s knowledge of how to get to the features in the previous version was 95 percent effective in the new version. For Windows 7 and Office 2007, it is zero percent effective. In our experience, we’ve found that providing training and support during the critical times in a migration can mean the difference

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