Microsoft will discontinue extended support for Windows XP April 2014, yet more than half the organizations that plan to migrate off Windows XP to Windows 7 have not done so. In this brief whitepaper, you’ll learn more about the “state of migration,” the issues that have slowed migration, and the significant risks incurred by those organizations that fail to migrate from an unsupported operating system. This report reviews the high-level stages in a migration process, and then identifies ways to cut time and costs from migration even if your teams have already started the migration process. These leverage points are clearly identified, and will be useful for all who are not in the very last stages of a Windows XP migration.

1. “‘Those that fail
to implement
a migration or
contingency
plan over the
next couple
of months
will risk...
compliance
issues.’”
– Kevin Beadon,
as quoted by
Archana Venkatraman
“Firms not ready for
Windows XP end-of-life
could face compliance
risks,” Computerweekly,
May 20131
Windows XP to Windows 7 Migration:
Workflow Changes that Radically Save Time and Costs
A SCALABLE SOFTWARE WHITEPAPER
Executive Summary
With less than a year until Microsoft discontinues extended support for Windows XP, more than half the
organizations that plan to migrate off Windows XP have not yet done so. In this brief whitepaper, you’ll
learn more about the “state of migration,” the issues that have slowed migration, and the significant risks
incurred by those organizations that fail to migrate from an unsupported operating system. This report
reviews the high-level stages in a migration process, and then identifies ways to cut time and costs
from migration even if your teams have already started the migration process. These leverage points are
clearly identified, and will be useful for all who are not in the very last stages of a Windows XP migration.
The current “state of migration”
Microsoft will end extended support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. Despite Microsoft’s Support
Lifecycle policy defining the end of life for XP way back in 2002, and despite a steady drumbeat of
press and analyst coverage, many organizations have delayed migrating.1
If your organization has
not yet completed its migration from Windows XP to Windows 7, you’re not alone. According to
Dimensional Research, more than 50% of organizations surveyed stated their migrations were not
complete; nearly 10% who planned to migrate had not yet started their migration.2
Why are so many so far behind? While the specific reasons are as different as the organizations
themselves, the overarching issue is complexity. The Windows XP to Windows 7 migration is both an
infrastructure migration and an application migration, and it impacts end users at all levels within the
organization. See the diagram on page 2 for a summary view of where migration impacts may be felt.
The clarity within complexity: migrate, or incur significant risks
Despite the complexity of migration, migrating off Windows XP is an imperative for one reason: risk
reduction. As of April 8, 2014, extended support will no longer be available, and no further security
patches will be issued for Windows XP. This makes ANY device not migrated but still active and
able to connect to networks a possible entry point for hackers and attacks. Further, business-critical
systems that are not made compatible with Windows 7 will be similarly vulnerable to attack.3
There are additional reasons to migrate from Windows XP before extended support expires:
• Reduced productivity. Fewer and fewer new applications, peripherals, and tools are
backwards-compatible with earlier versions of Windows. Every device not running or compatible
with Windows 7 slows the organization’s ability to adopt and deploy new technologies by
increasing the variety of items needing maintenance, support, and asset management.
• Increased costs. Failure to migrate legacy applications and systems that are critical to the
business mean more time and resources will be spent managing and servicing device and
application heterogeneity.
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2. Even if delaying the migration seems to have delayed incurring costs (estimates for migration
costs per device range from <$100 to $1200+) the drag from increased heterogeneity will quickly
become significant.5
As noted by Patricia Adams, Research Director at Gartner, “Heterogeneity creates tremendous
amounts of development, testing, support and maintenance costs, and these costs hinder
adoption.”6
Further, now that time is running out, IT has less negotiating leverage with its services
providers if IT needs to outsource.
Microsoft does provide tools and information to help IT departments migrate from Windows XP to
Windows 7. There are indications, however, that Microsoft’s tools (or how users have implemented those
tools) may compound the challenges facing organizations. “Respondents indicated less satisfaction
when using Microsoft’s tools for migration compared with new tools. … 29 percent of respondents...said
they had lost data using Microsoft’s tools,” versus 11 percent reporting similar issues with other tools.2
Accelerating migration while holding the line on costs and resources
For those organizations that are behind, IT faces a perfect storm of cost overruns and project risk:
• Microsoft’s migration timeline projections—12 to 14 months7
• Time remaining (as of the date of this report’s publication)—roughly 10 months
• Typical costs per machine / device, without increases due to time pressure is <$100 to $1200+
By rethinking and rationalizing the process, however, it is possible to meet the XP deadline while
holding the line on costs—even for those firms that have not yet started. And for those organizations
that have already started, it’s not too late to curb spending while staying on track for migration.
The opportunity to recover lost time is not as challenging as most think. The leverage points for
acceleration lie within the migration process, and the process itself is fairly well defined and documented.
First, let’s take a high-level “before” and “after” view of a sample migration process and timeline.
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Fig. 1. Operating System Migration
projects have impacts throughout an
organization and across a myriad of
IT functions.4
“27 percent
using Microsoft’s
migration tools
reported that
applications did
not work after
migration vs. 10
percent using
newly purchased
tools.”
– Kurt Mackie
“Survey: XP Migrations
Mean a Hard Slog
for Organizations,”
Redmond Channel
Partner, May 20132

3. The three phases of a migration, and key migration leverage points
Phase 1. Assess and Optimize (Leverage Points: Rationalize to Cut Scope and Prioritize)
• Asses your environment and plan your deployment.
• Discover devices across the network to create and capture a thorough, accurate inventory.
• Determine hardware readiness through reports, and prepare for rationalization.
• Prepare applications for prioritization and rationalization.
o Identify business-critical applications, and of those, the applications supported on Windows 7.
• Evaluate costs and SLAs, and identify potential risks.
• Rationalize and prioritize hardware and software for migration by business-critical and end-user-critical criteria.
o Test applications on Windows 7 and with each other to ensure compatibility in your environment.
o Remediate application issues through policies, packaging, virtualization, or—if absolutely necessary—
debugging and code changes.
o Identify hardware that cannot support 64-bit Windows 7, and replace or “smart decommission.”
Review and Train
• Review your IT team’s skill sets, and if needed train and remediate skills.
• Review the situation analysis and findings with stakeholders.
• With stakeholders, define and implement your communications plan.
Design and Build (Leverage Points: Expedite MSI Packaging, Reduce Reliance on Images)
• Define and create the Standard Operating Environment (SOE).
• Build standard Windows 7 images.
o Create standard images with settings and configurations for multiple users.
o Include applications that are required on all computers in the base image; create a generic image.
Phase 2. Prepare and Capture (Leverage Points: Review Rationalization for
More Scope Reduction)
• Capture user settings and state, including:
o Their unique network, application, operating system, data, and permission settings.
o Printer and network drive mappings, favorites and bookmarks, and any customizations and BYOD
preparation needed for migration.
o Rationalize and prepare alternatives for phased migration.
• Ensure rationalization decisions and phases are communicated clearly.
Pilot and Test
• Define a pilot and prepare for testing by encapsulating templates and files into an automated job or workflow.
Fig. 2. “Before optimized processes”
Traditional approaches require more
time for the major stages in an
Operating System Migration project
than modern, streamlined approaches.
See Fig. 3 for an example of an optimized
project, and key leverage points.
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PHASE1
5MO.
Asset Inventory: Assess HW
and SW for 64-Bit Readiness
Rationalize and
OptimizeAssess & Optimize
Situation Analysis, Internal
Communications, Training
Check Stakeholder
Engagement, IssuesReview & Train
Define and Create the SOE,
Standardize Configurations
Package, Install, or
Virtualize ApplicationsDesign & Build
PHASE2
4MO.
Prepare & Capture
Pilot & Test
Validate Application Preparation,
Capture User Settings
Review Personality
Variables
Define a Pilot and Deploy
to the Pilot
Test and QA
PHASE3
4MO.
Review & Migrate
Measure & Report
Check Pass/Fail Acceptance Testing
Results, Get Go-Ahead
Migrate, With On-
Going Assessments
Assess the “State of the Migration”
Relative to Business Goals
Report on
Benchmarks, Savings
“Nine out of ten
applications
were used less
than 10 percent
of the time
with unused
(but licensed)
applications
costing an
estimated $500
(APS322) per
desktop...”
– John Dunn
“Windows XP Migration
Worries Exaggerated by
‘Dead’ Applications,”
CIO Magazine Online,
May 20138

4. • Create and test a simple process flow for deploying the image, installing prepared applications, capturing user
settings, and restoring user settings.
• Test the phased pilot and debug as needed.
Phase 3. Review and Migrate (Leverage Points: “Intelligent Decommissioning”)
• Capture user settings.
• If any additional servers were purchased, make network adjustments (such as enabling multicasting) as needed.
• Perform “intelligent decommissioning” of at-risk machines not prioritized for migration—remove them from
internet and network access, “quarantine” to reduce access risks.
Measure and Report
• Identify the total number of migrated systems in the initial (business-critical) phase, and their numbers for
subsequent phases.
• Report problems encountered during migration and provide overall migration status (this is in addition to the
regular communication plan).
• Perform post-migration inventory and verify licenses; assess impact on business goals and savings.
Retool the process in order to accelerate migration projects
It is possible to get your migration project back on track by applying the simple principles
noted below. This “best practices” approach to cutting time out of your migration requires applying
rationalization principles and seeking increased agility within each phase of the process. These four steps
below summarize the leverage points in Figure 3, showing how to cut costs and time from your migration.
1. Robust Inventory and Usage. According to CIO Magazine, a robust inventory and usage
analysis revealed that in many cases a “surprising fifty percent of applications on XP [machines]
were not used at all.”8
Even if you are mid-process, unless you are 100 percent certain you have
performed a thorough, accurate inventory that accounts for usage, you may be abe to cut more
scope. Recheck your inventory and usage assessment to avoid migrating endpoints and applications
that have had limited or no use, and those that are not compatible with Windows 7 or 8.
2. More Packaging Agility. By optimizing MSI and App-V packaging, you can remove friction from
your migration, reducing installation issues and speeding time-to-installation and thus deployment.
Smart packaging stabilizes client endpoints, reduces the number of installations to be executed
PHASE1
4MO.
Asset Inventory: Assess HW
and SW for 64-Bit Readiness
Rationalize and
OptimizeAssess & Optimize
Situation Analysis, Internal
Communications, Training
Check Stakeholder
Engagement, IssuesReview & Train
Define and Create the SOE,
Standardize Configurations
Package, Install, or
Virtualize ApplicationsDesign & Build
PHASE2
3MO.
Prepare & Capture
Pilot & Test
Validate Application Preparation,
Capture User Settings
Review Personality
Variables
Define a Pilot and Deploy
to the Pilot
Test and QA
PHASE3
3MO.
Review & Migrate
Measure & Report
Check Pass/Fail Acceptance Testing
Results, Get Go-Ahead
Migrate, With On-
Going Assessments
Assess the “State of the Migration”
Relative to Business Goals
Report on
Benchmarks, Savings
Inventory time
saved, accuracy
improved
MSI packaging
time cut, enables
rapid builds for
“shim packages”
Rationalizing and
prioritizing hard-
ware and software
saves time
Automated,
accurate, complete
reporting saves
time
Fig. 3. “After optimized processes”
Less time is needed after
optimization for the major stages
in an Operating System Migration
project—possibly even less time
than noted.
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“The bottom line
is that running
Windows XP
[after April
8, 2014]...on
anything other
than a desktop
with no network
connection,
floppy drive,
USB ports, or
CD drive is an
outright liability,
bordering on
irresponsible.”
– Gabe Knuth
“How Windows XP end
of life will affect your
desktop applications,”
TechTarget, April 20139

5. About Scalable
Scalable Software, an innovator in IT Asset Management software since 1999, publishes the WinINSTALL suite of products and is the
company behind Asset Vision®
, a unified Cloud-based ITAM tool. Asset Vision drives expense out of IT, slashing the cost of administering,
supporting, and updating traditional on-premise ITAM solutions. Asset Vision’s agentless discovery easily populates, reconciles, and
normalizes IT assets. Along with its comprehensive Software Asset Management layer, it swiftly enables accurate compliance reporting,
reduces waste through application usage analytics, and precisely identifies unused software and features on all types of devices, even in
BYOD scenarios. For more information: www.scalable.com or info@scalable.com.
© 2013 Scalable Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Scalable, the Scalable logo, Asset Vision, WinINSTALL, and Scalable LIVE!
are registered trademarks of Scalable Software, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. 2013WP00505
www.scalable.com 1-866-722-5225 sales@scalable.com 5
FOOTNOTES AND REFERENCES
1. Microsoft Lifecycle Policy, http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle.
For various press and analyst coverage, see articles like http://
www.computerweekly.com/news/2240183957/Firms-not-ready-
for-Windows-XP-end-of-life-could-face-compliance-risks and
http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2434216
2. Dimensional Research, study commissioned by VMWare and
cited by Kurt Mackie, “Survey: XP Migrations Mean a Hard Slog
for Organizations,” Redmond Channel Partner Online, May 7,
2013, http://rcpmag.com/articles/2013/05/07/vmware-survey-xp-
migrations.aspx
According to Netmarketshare, the number as of April 2013 is
closer to 40%: http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-
system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0
3. Richard Edwards, Principal Analyst at Ovum offers a contrarian
view in Hannah Breeze’s article “Ovum: Life after XP support axe
will be no different,” Channelweb Online, April 10, 2013, http://
www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2260550/ovum-life-after-xp-
support-axe-will-be-no-different
As noted in the comment by Sam Golden, Ovum does not
address the fact that “any zero-day exploits in XP discovered by
hackers after that date will not be patched by Microsoft…leaving
companies open to potential injection of malware or sensitive data
being stolen.”
4. Diagram based on internal Scalable Software data and
“Integrating Software Asset Management Tools into the IT
Management Architecture,” Enterprise Management Associates
(EMA), June 2012.
5. Information sourced from Randy George, IDC, “Practical
Migration: How to Master Your Win 7 Roll-Out,” 2010, http://
reports.informationweek.com/abstract/7/2794/Enterprise-
Software/research-windows-7-migrations.html; Steven J. Vaughn-
Nichols, “Upgrading to Windows 7 isn’t Cheap,” IT World, Aug
26, 2010, http://www.itworld.com/windows/118759/upgrading-
windows-7-isnt-cheap
6. Patricia Adams, Gartner, “MarketScope for the IT Asset
Management Repository,” Oct 12, 2011, “MarketScope for the
IT Asset Management Repository,” http://www.rightstar.com/
wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/01/Gartner_MarketScope_
ITAM_Repository.pdf
7. Rich Reynolds, general manager for Windows Commercial
marketing, quoted by Paul McDougal in Informationweek: “It
takes anywhere from 12 to 14 months to do the planning and
remediation.” “Windows XP at 10: No Life Support,” Oct 25,
2011, Informationweek Online, http://www.informationweek.
com/windows/microsoft-news/windows-xp-at-10-no-life-
support/231901575
8. John Dunn, “Windows XP Migration Worries Exaggerated by
‘Dead’ Applications,” May 9, 2013, CIO Magazine Online, http://
www.cio.com/article/733073/Windows_XP_Migration_Worries_
Exaggerated_by_Dead_Applications
9. Gabe Knuth, “How Windows XP end of life will affect your
desktop applications,” April 2013, TechTarget Search Virtual
Desktop, http://searchvirtualdesktop.techtarget.com/opinion/How-
Windows-XP-end-of-life-will-affect-your-desktop-applications
manually, and helps remediate application packages that are incorrectly configured or don’t work
at all, saving time and end user frustration.
3. Prioritizing and Triaging, then “Smart Decommissioning.” It makes sense that hardware and
software involved in processes essential to the organization should be prioritized for migration, but
your teams should leverage inventory and usage data to further cut scope. Not everything deemed
essential by end users is truly essential, and of those essential endpoints and applications, not
all will be compatible with Windows 7 or 8. As noted in CIO Magazine, “the level of application
incompatibility when moving from XP was around 20 percent.” Once hardware and software
has been prioritized for migration, determine what needs to be temporarily or permanently
decommissioned to reduce the risk of exposure to malware and hacks.
4. Agile Reporting: Communicating What Matters, When It Matters. Highly customizable
reporting on usage, inventory, and migration progress as shown by updates to inventory ensures
stakeholder communications can be executed quickly and updated frequently. By reducing the
need for manual, spreadsheet-based reporting and analysis, manhours are freed up for work on
the migration itself, rather than on spreadsheet updates.
These four adjustments in migration workflow—leveraging rationalization, using more effective
packaging processes, prioritizing business critical hardware and software, “smart decommissioning” to
reduce risk, and enabling more agile reporting—will enable organizations to catch up on their migration
if behind, and will help wring costs out of migrations already in process.
Introducing a new tool for Windows 7 migration, based on proven technology:
WinINSTALL Migration Performance Package (MPP)
WinINSTALL MPP was purpose-built to accelerate Windows XP to Windows 7 migrations. This
solution combines Scalable’s WinINSTALL and Survey (or our SaaS offering, Asset Vision Optimize)—all
proven tools—to help IT teams expedite migrations by cutting time and costs from key leverage points
in the migration process.
Learn more about Scalable’s WinINSTALL MPP tool at www.scalable.com/wininstall-mpp, or email
us to request a demo at sales@scalable.com.