Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/9825
Our biggest implementation issues haven’t been associated with Office 2010, but rather with Windows 7 x64. We’ve had to do a lot of testing to ensure that all of our applications worked in a 64-bit environment with no admin rights. For the most part, all of our applications have run without problems. If you’re contemplating going down this road, be prepared to spend a lot of time testing your applications. We have had only a few issues with Office 2010, and for that good news, we can commend the features introduced in Office 2007 that helped pave the way. From a security perspective, we have tried to follow Microsoft’s lead. We digitally sign all of our macros and templates, and we place them in the proper trusted locations. “Our biggest implementation issues haven’t been associated with Office 2010, but rather with Windows 7 x64.” SELLING CHANGE Marketing is a critical element in the success of any new rollout. By successfully informing users about the rollout, we were able to get them excited and prepared to actively participate. We came up with a “Hollywood Movie Premiere” marketing theme that we carried through all stages of the launch. TRAINING AND DOCUMENTATION The ultimate goal of this rollout has been a successful transition to Office 2010. In order to meet this goal, we had to keep our users informed and trained throughout the deployment cycle. In that we’re an IP Firm, many of our attorneys are fluent in emerging technologies 16 Microsoft ILTA White Paper and usually jump right into them. We knew that if we could get our users familiar with features in Office 2010, it would not seem so overwhelming to them when it was rolled out firmwide. For the last year, we’ve been encouraging our employees to participate in the Home Use program for Office 2007. The Home Use program is a great tool offered by Microsoft with Enterprise Agreements. We hoped that the use of Office 2007 would familiarize our employees with the new interface in Office. For the cost of shipping, our employees can purchase Office for use in their homes. The biggest challenge in migrating from Office 2003 to Office 2010 has been the fluent UI or Ribbon. By introducing Office 2010 at the users’ pace, they felt less intimidated by the change. With this plan in place, we minimized and eliminated dips in productivity and gave our users confidence to use the tools they rely on every day. Expert support and training before, during and after deployment is the key to a successful migration. We needed to tackle the steep learning curve and minimize downtime so our users could regain the confidence and knowledge necessary to remain productive. Creating good documentation goes hand in hand with providing effective training. We partnered with a professional training company, and their expertise was invaluable to our process. Education, documentation, support and on-going training is critical in all stages of the deployment: