Business Situation
The legacy system ran a mixture of operating systems which included Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation 4.0. This inconsistency across the network has led to an increase in the number of administration tasks the IT team are required to perform in order to keep the system up and running. The development of a standard operating system was seen as a critical step to providing greater system stability.

Solution
To deliver a XP Pilot project to create a Standard Operating Environment (SOE) for use on desktop and notebook computers. The Pilots objectives were to:

• Review and utilise new technologies for notebook users.
• Specifically - Offline file synchronisation, Advanced Computer Power Interface (ACPI) facilities, Dynamic PnP and USB connection of peripherals, Centralised administration of workstations via Windows 2000 Server Active Directory, Remote assistance
• Create an efficient deployment process.
• Use standard tools for the migration of the users data and logon environment.

Results
The new functionality of Windows XP has provided the pilot Hamersley Iron users with a far easier user interface.Together with the help and support functionality, it caters for a variety of skill sets and knowledge. "We've found Windows XP to be a much better solution for our company; it's simple and intuitive for our infrequent users, yet powerful enough for our end users," said Sylvia Ordonez, IT Support Coordinator, Hamersley Iron.