3.1  Assessing usage patterns

When planning a pilot migration, one of the most important steps is to perform an 

as is analysis of your current IT environment that focuses on client application 

usage patterns. From this analysis you should be able to derive a segmentation 

of role based usage patterns. A very helpful tool for gathering this information is 

an end user survey. Practical methods for performing this survey are provided in 

4.1,  Assessing the client IT environment  on page 39.

3.1.1  Role based client segmentation

While doing the analysis, it is necessary to focus not only on the client computers 

and the software packages that are installed on them, but also check your staff 

on occurring usage patterns. If you are able to group them into defined usage 

patterns, then you can use those groupings to help decide which groups are 

most suitable for a pilot desktop migration project.

Table 3 1 demonstrates segmentation into five different usage patterns. Below 

each pattern it shows example applications that fit the pattern. Note that this 

example segmentation also demonstrates a progression of thin (Fixed Function) 

to thick (Advanced Office) client requirements. More detailed definitions of each 

segment follow the table.

Table 3 1   Role based client segmentation

Fixed 

Technical 

Transactional 

Basic

Advanced 

Function

Workstation

Workstation

Office

Office

Limited use of business 

Applications that drive business processes

applications

Limited office 

Simple office productivity

Advanced 

productivity

office 

productivity

No e mail

Simple e mail

Advanced 

e mail

No instant 

No instant messaging

Instant 

messaging

messaging

Simple browser access to intranet, portals

Advanced 

browser 

access to 

Internet

File/print system management, network access, host emulation

28 

Linux Client Migration Cookbook   A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux