Once the IT basis is in place, there is more time for e-government
The efficiency of a client management system is already evident when it is "only" used to administer standard software. As in the case of the town of Aichach, which saves a fifth of its daily working time in the IT area with the new solution from aagon compared to the previous system.
In the IT departments of local authorities, the signs have been pointing to change for some time now. Every municipal administration has to think about its digitization strategy and face new challenges. For example: How can the topics of e-files, X-billing, electronic transaction processing and document management be implemented in order to meet the requirements for more citizen-friendliness arising from e-government? But there is also the traditional IT business: providing PCs with the latest Windows, checking that everything is up to date with license management, activating virus protection, etc. Typical tasks for a client management system. The city of Aichach had already been using such a system since 2007. However, when a solution causes the IT team more problems than it relieves them of work, it is time for a change. In Aichach, this took place in October 2018, and the switch was made to the acmp suite from aagon.
"With the previous solution - which had been in use for twelve years - the program updates, OS deployment and patch management did not work as they should," says Bernhard Beidenhauser, Deputy Head of IT at the city of Aichach.
The three-person department was even considering patching directly from Microsoft again - which would have ultimately meant undermining and thus declaring the bankruptcy of the actual client management system.
Simple operation and broad functionality are important
All known client management manufacturers were compared in the search for a successor. "In terms of the conversion effort, their functional options and flexibility, all systems are basically on a par," says Bernhard Beidenhauser.
The contract was ultimately awarded to the solution with the best price-performance ratio. It was also important to the IT department that the solution was easy to use and that all client management functions were available via a standardized interface. Because the town of Aichach - like every local authority - has to keep an eye on its wallet, the ROI (return on investment) was also of interest:
The administration has calculated that the acquisition costs of the new software will be recouped within four years compared to the fees that the old system would have cost during operation. This is also due to the relatively low maintenance costs of the new solution.
The IT department manages 110 client computers, which have now been updated to Windows 10 via the OS deployment module of the new client management system. They run the usual Office packages, clients for the telephone systems, Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Firefox, Filezilla, Java and other standard applications. The software packages are distributed to the computers via the client management system. Standard programs as well as a total of 40 specialist procedures of the municipality are distributed across 28 VMWare virtualized servers in the city's own data center.
High benefit even without integration of centralized specialist processes
The main working tools in the individual departments of each local authority are the specialist applications for business, driving licenses, residents' registration offices, etc. In order to equip them with software packages via the central client management system, separate client commands must be set up in each case. This is what the manufacturer aagon calls the special command tools of its client management system, which can be used to plan and automatically start client and server-related administrative tasks without lengthy training.
When setting up the Client Commands, the city administration also makes use of aagon's help in some cases. Initially, the IT department is only using the solution to administer some of the larger processes and the web-based document exchange platform. Other specialist processes will follow, "depending on whether our own client commands are worthwhile or whether we install new software manually after all," explains Bernhard Beidenhauser. Some applications are already being made available via an application server.
In any case, classic "sneaker administration" is no longer necessary: All workstations are located either in the town hall or in one of the two directly adjacent administration buildings. The IT department solves many problems using remote diagnosis tools such as Teamviewer. The fact that the client management system still pays for itself, even though central applications are not administered with it, speaks for its extremely high efficiency.
The introduction of the new system was straightforward, not least because the IT department already had many years of experience in client management. The setup and structure of such a solution were therefore familiar from the past. For example, how branch offices connected via VPN in the museum, the building yard, the kindergarten and the music school are supplied from the head office. The schools, incidentally, are not embedded in the client management system.
Bernhard Beidenhauser installed the software on a test server; after a short training period, he was able to start setting up the first client commands single-handedly. 30 client commands were set up within the first six months. "The installation and setup was structured and clear. It couldn't be easier compared to other client management solutions," says the deputy IT manager, who should know based on his experience.
Conclusion
In day-to-day operations, the system makes life much easier for the IT department. The performance boost in patch management results solely from the fact that the software is well thought out and clear in its design and display. And comprehensive: where other solutions only statically list which software is installed, the new system provides a lot of additional information and shows which updates are installed on which machine. The same applies to the asset management module of the acmp suite, in which the IT department has now listed around 1,000 IT assets - right down to the smallest mouse and keyboard. In this respect too, the new system offers broader functions than comparable solutions.
Bernhard Beidenhauser estimates that his team now saves a good 20 percent of time every time a PC is reloaded with the latest software packages compared to the previous system. And it could also be thanks to the deputy IT manager's creativity that the client management system's "Package Cloud" will soon be expanded. This cloud service allows standard software packages such as Firefox, PDF Creator, Chrome etc. to be downloaded online at any time. Beidenhauser's proposal: New programs are assigned directly to the corresponding container after they have been downloaded.
Briefly noted:
Connected workstations:
110 Windows clients
Products used:
acmp Inventory, acmp Desktop Automation, acmp License Management, acmp OS Deployment, acmp Package Cloud, acmp Asset Management, acmp Contacts Adapter, acmp Container Adapter
Project start:
October 2018
Benefit:
- PC workstations in the Aichach municipal administration are supplied with all standard software from a central location via the client management system
- Return on investment of the solution achieved after four years
- Time saving for IT administrators compared to the previous solution: 20 percent
About the town Aichach
Aichach is the county town of the district of Aichach-Friedberg in the Bavarian administrative district of Swabia. The town not only looks back on almost 1,000 years of history, but also administers the district's 140,000 inhabitants.
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