Case Studies > RIVM makes time and location independent work possible with AppSense

RIVM makes time and location independent work possible with AppSense

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Europe

Country

Netherlands

Product

AppSense DesktopNow

Tech Stack

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
User Environment Management (UEM)

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Employee Satisfaction
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems

Applicable Industries

Healthcare & Hospitals

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Facility Management

Use Cases

Remote Asset Management
Remote Collaboration
Remote Control

Services

System Integration
Training

About The Customer

The Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (Governmental Institute for Public Health and the Environment, RIVM for short), conducts research and advises the government on how we can keep ourselves and our environment clean. This deals with subjects such as the effectiveness combatting of infectious disease, keeping people healthy, offering good care, safeguarding the safety of consumers and promoting a healthy living environment. The RIVM collects knowledge from around the globe about these topics and distributes them to scientists, policy makers, inspectors and the public. The clients include various ministries, various inspectorates, the European Union and the United Nations. Around 2100 employees work at the RIVM, collectively representing about 1500 FTEs.

The Challenge

At the end of 2010, the RIVM had an outdated environment. The systems were slow, information was sometimes difficult to access and there was little control over license use. The DWR program offers a vision for the future. Frank Schuler was the coordinator of workplace support and had, as one of the few employees in the technology department, a great deal of experience with virtualization. Because of this, he participated in the large-scale workplace renewal project as an expert in the area of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). He commented, “RIVM is an unusual organization. There are a lot of scientists who collaborate in international networks. They work primarily with highly demanding applications, for example, software that makes models or crunches calculations with large datasets. The applications often require a lot of calculating power and memory capacity from our systems.”

The Solution

The RIVM engaged external specialists, Login Consultants, for advice. Schuler explained, “It became clear that user environment management would be a crucial success factor. That is to say, the ability to disconnect the user from the applications, administrative systems and devices.” In the proof of concept, a stack was built that clearly indicates which choices had to be made at every layer in order to make time and location independent work possible in the complex environment RIVM manages. At the time of the proof of concept, there were only two solutions that could do that. The choice fell on AppSense due to the options their solution offered to set up individually. “AppSense offers exceptional flexibility. With our complex environment and the specific requirements that some users have, that was very important to us.” The proof of concept flowed seamlessly into a pilot of around 100 users. After which, the technology partners came on board to support the project staff at RIVM with technical knowledge. “We’ve done the project almost completely with our own people. Only for technical vision and support did we hire ICT-Partners. In such a complex project, it’s important to pull in knowledge from outside. ICT-Partners is completely specialized in VDI,” explains Schuler. “They know what to look for when setting up such an environment, know the technical details and are up-to-date on the industry developments. They were able to transfer a lot of that knowledge to us via learning on the job. The collaboration has been very enjoyable.”

Operational Impact

The pilot demonstrated that VDI works, even in an unusual environment like RIVM. “We have developed a campus VDI workplace in which we offer about 450 applications. Employees can access the virtual workplace from their offices, but also from home and with a mobile device,” says Schuler. It is not possible at this time to offer all 500 applications with which RIVM works via this environment, he says. “We have a number of laboratory systems that, often due to the hardware on which they run, are not virtualized. That percentage is much lower than we first assumed, and that is partly thanks to AppSense. We succeeded in integrating many applications that we initially thought we could not virtualize into the campus environment.”
After the successful pilot, the new virtual workplace was rolled out in half a year’s time to all employees. Immediately after going live, employee satisfaction was measured with a survey, and again after a few months. Schuler: “We saw that employees initially had trouble with the change. They didn’t understand the advantages right away. But once they got used to their virtual desktop, they no longer wanted it any other way. Now, about 15 percent of the employees work from home on a daily basis. We see that people also regularly logon in the evening. So we are realizing our goal of time and location independent working.”
Next to the basic campus environment, there will be a Campus Plus and a Campus Open. In this first environment, employees can make use of more memory space and more CPU capacity, something that comes up frequently. Previously, they needed the ICT department to install this software, but now they [users] can do it in the Campus Open environment themselves.”
Given the innovative nature of this project and the high-quality knowledge and expertise that the RIVM has gathered, the ICT department is now investigating whether they, together with the KNMI, can set up a shared service organization that delivers ICT services to scientific institutions. Schuler explains, “There is already an SSO ICT that delivers an OA environment. We think that it’s smart if all scientific governmental organizations collaborate in order to meet the challenges of bringing those complex environments up-to-date. We now have experience with that, which we will gladly share.”
The most important lesson Schuler took from the entire project was that the user has to be central if you’re going to virtualize a workspace. “Strong user experience is an absolute precondition, not only to keep your users satisfied, but also to limit the costs of management.”

Quantitative Benefit