Title
Information Technologies Department recommending the Board receive and file a status update relative to implementation of the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Project.
FUNDING: General Fund, with significant cost recovery in future year(s) through the A-87 Cost Plan.
Body
DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION
Information Technologies Department recommending the Board receive and file a status update relative to implementation of the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Project.
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Background:
The Information Technologies Department began looking at the implementation of VDI back in June of 2015. On March 22, 2016, the Board received a presentation and approved a three-year project to implement VDI throughout the County. The goal of the project is to provide a secure, flexible, and cost effective solution that the County can support and maintain over the long term.
Pilot Phase:
Phase 1 of the implementation plan included the acquisition of the initial hardware and software to support up to 200 users. During this phase the IT Department and our outside consultant attempted to build and transition the end-users of the Board of Supervisors, Parks, AQMD, and the Public Defenders offices to Windows 10. The end-user experience in Windows 10 was not stable and bugs with Windows 10 were being worked out by VMware. As a result, the project was stopped and re-engineered to transition end-users to Windows 7. This caused a 30 to 45 day delay in the rollout, but overall produced a much better end-user experience. By the end of Phase I, 61 users were converted.
Phase II:
In conjunction with the Building A & B renovations and moves, Phase II of the VDI rollout included the Chief Administrative Office, Human Resources, Risk, Auditor-Controller, and Treasurer/Tax Collector departments. While converting a significant number of end-users to the VDI environment, a noticeable decline in logon speed occurred. It was discovered that the initial hardware solution did not meet our employees’ environment needs. Through monitoring, troubleshooting, and working with our vendor as a business partner, our vendor stood by their product and provided additional hardware at no cost to the County to meet our employees’ needs. At the end of Phase II February 17, 2017, 171 employees have been converted to VDI.
Phase III:
Phase III of the project is currently underway, previously reported infrastructure upgrades have been completed; this includes implementing the new Nimble storage solution and software upgrades. The IT department and County Counsel conversions to VDI have been completed. The District Attorney’s office is continuing to test the VDI environment and will begin department wide rollout in mid-July. Data gathering and account creation for departments in the next phase of the move (Recorder Clerk, Assessor, and Surveyor) is currently in progress; with user conversions estimated to begin in mid-July.
Challenges:
County departments using State applications are going to be required to convert to the Windows 10 platform at the end of the 2017 calendar year. In preparation for this, IT is currently in the final stages of Windows 10 testing, and is planning to use Windows 10 as the primary operating system for VDI conversions going forward. Current VDI users on the Windows 7 platform will be converted to Windows 10 after successful testing of their department-specific applications.
Project Cost:
|
Approved Project Budget |
Original Budget |
Updated Forecast |
|
Initial Year FY 15-16 |
$440,000 |
$426,785 |
|
Year 1 FY 16-17 |
$677,500 |
$324,871 |
|
Year 2 FY 17-18 |
$664,000 |
$785,376 |
|
Year 3 FY 18-19 |
$598,000 |
$842,468 |
|
Total Expenditures |
$2,379,500 |
$2,379,500 |
ALTERNATIVES
N/A
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Information Technologies Department
CAO RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Board receive and file the update report.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
No change to Net County Cost. Funding for these purchases are included in the FY 2017-18 Recommended Budget and will be included in future budgets for all affected departments.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
None
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Infrastructure
CONTACT
David Russell, Information Technologies