End of Year VDI Auditing & Planning

For organizations that already have virtual desktops, the end of the year is the perfect time for audits and planning. Taking the time to evaluate an existing desktop virtualization program is a key part of planning appropriately for the future. If you don’t know the current state of your virtual desktops, you risk continuing to build on a shaky foundation.

Performing a virtual desktop audit over the next few months can help identify areas of improvement and ensure the program is still running as intended. This process is key to resource and budget allocation and will set teams up to plan accurately and appropriately for the next 12 months.

When auditing your virtual desktops and planning for the next year, consider these key areas:

• Golden Images
• Desktop Performance
• Applications
• Growth Predictions

Golden Images

Auditing golden images is key to ensuring that they’re still what you need and are ready for a new year. While you might think nothing has changed, an audit may uncover that some GIs have grown out of scope while others are no longer needed. Reviewing environment analytics can help you determine how well golden images and desktops are performing and identify potential areas of improvement.

When inventorying golden images, ask questions like:

• Are all golden images adequately fulfilling their intended use case?
• Has a golden image been stretched out of its intended use case and should a new GI be created to fit the expanded need?
• Are computing resources adequate or should they be adjusted?
• Are there any golden images that can be retired?
• Are golden images up-to-date on all security and control requirements?

Desktop Performance

Nothing will sink a virtual desktop initiative as fast as poor user experience. Being able to monitor and evaluate desktop performance is key to a healthy program. Performance monitoring should happen in real time and be reviewed throughout the year, but IT teams should make a special point to include a performance review in end-of-year audits.

When evaluating performance, ask questions like:

• Does desktop performance generally meet expectations?
• Do computing resources need to be adjusted to improve performance?
• Is performance consistent across offices and/or remote staff?
• Is there a common problem that can be address/corrected on a wide scale?
• Does the majority of issue resolution happen within an acceptable time frame?

Applications

A desktop is nothing without applications, but application bloat is a very real thing. Reviewing application usage metrics can provide real world data to help you make smart decisions about the applications in-use. Remember to review applications on a company-wide and use case basis. While an app might seem like it’s not used very much, it might be business-critical to a subset use case.

When auditing applications, ask questions like:

• Are there any applications that are underutilized and can be eliminated?
  Review applications on a Golden Image basis. Some applications might be needed by a certain use case but can be removed from other GIs.
• Are all software licenses being used? Is there room to scale back seats/licenses?
  This is an important discussion to have with individual department heads as well, as they are increasingly the ones in charge of team-specific software and applications.
• Does a particular application help one department be more productive and would other departments benefit from also having access to that app?
• Are there any particularly heavy applications that are effecting desktop performance?
• Are there any particular applications that cause the majority of support issues? Can that application be replaced or the issues addressed on a wide scale?

Growth Predictions

Auditing and planning go hand-in-hand. An audit is fine, but it’s not a complete job if you don’t use that audit to also plan for the future. During the last months of the year, it’s critical to roadmap projected growth (and reductions). While things may change during the year, understanding anticipated need will help you ensure the proper infrastructure, golden images, endpoints and other necessary features are in place to support growth before it’s needed.

When assessing potential growth, ask questions like:

• What growth do you anticipate over the next year?
• Will that growth be supported by existing golden images or will it require new GIs?
• Is the virtual desktop infrastructure ready for increased usage?
• Do you have enough software seats/licenses to support the increased headcount?
• Are new applications being considered?
  Either for existing use cases or anticipated new use cases. Remember to consult department managers regarding applications.
• If a reduction is anticipated, will those desktops be reallocated or will your environment need to be scaled down?

Taking the time now to properly audit your existing environment and measure it against anticipated need will make managing and maintaining your virtual desktops much easier in the new year (when things are bound to get busier).