Client Management Suite

I was wondering if anyone could share some thoughts on implementing Symantec Endpoint Management 7.5, which I do understand has not been released in its entirety, in house?  We currently are running 6.5 and are looking to migrate to 7.5.  Right now we are intending to implement ServiceDesk and we have one person who is fairly well versed with 6.5 as a whole and another who primarily works with deployment.  We have put together a implementation plan that calls for a 5 month plan to install and configure just ServiceDesk. 

I'm not fighting against this as I see how complicated it is but I'm looking for support to back up what the team has put together as I'm sure upper management is going to balk.  Can anyone share their experience if they did this in house, what resources did you have available, how long did it take, what were the challeges, etc.? 

Is it realistic to think our internal resource, and I know that all depends on how knowledgable she is, can bare this burden.  She's pretty good, she's rebuilt 6.5, on her own.  7.5 is not fully out so if you have done 7.1 or another version your input would be appreciated.

ServiceDesk 7.5 has been out for a while now, ITMS 7.5 is due out soon.

I'd get a consultant in to at least look over your proposed plan and design so you don't make any basic errors. SD 7.5 is a completely different product to Helpdesk 6.5, it's based on Workflow Solution.

Do not think you have the control of v7.x when you only have worked with v6.  There are big differences.  Take a v7.1 SMP training for SMP administration.  You'll get big ROI on that.

If possible, see if you can get your hands on the v75 beta product.  Contact your local EPM pre-sales to see what he can do.  Build it in a test environment. Play and have big fun!

Contact a specialized EPM partner and bring them in for a talk.  I think you will need at least someone to check your environment vs design of v75 and perhaps even somebody to "hold your hands" and be your "Blue Rubber Monkey".

It is my gut feeling to wait with SD7.5.  Make that happen together with ITMS7.5 and keep your v6 environment in production untill you are ready to make it happen.

Good luck

Symantec stated at Vision last week that ITMS 7.5 would be out "before the end of summer".  If you read between the lines that can be no later than September.

All

Thanks so much for the responses thus far.  Do we have an underrstanding of v7.x when we have only worked with v6?  Great question and truthfully the answer would have to be no.  We have 1 1/2 persons who know anything about Altiris.  One who has a pretty good grasp of Altiris 6.5 overall and one who has dealt mainly with the Deployment piece.  Our 6.5 implementation has been racked with problems.  We have invested a lot of money into Altiris and have never gotten that money out.  There are a multitude of reasons why that happened, from poor planning, lack of foresight, unrealistic expectations, etc.  Management is having trouble grasping the timeline we have put forth and I guess we are having trouble conveying the intricacies on all this.  This is no walk in the park solution.  We are not rolling out Office 2010 or Exchange 2010 for that matter.  Management sees all the bells and whistles and wants it tomorrow if they could have it that way. 

A lot of the processes you're following in NS6 can be forklifted into 7.1.  There is a learning curve as 7.1 introduces some new concepts and there is plenty of new terminology but if you understand what your goals are you can progress feature by feature and get through it. 

If DS6.9 is working for you right now and you're under time and resource constraint then by all means continue using 6.9.  Get your NS Patch and Software Management working and then circle back later and do the DS parts.  The Deployment part of 7.5 is light-years ahead of 7.1 as well.

Have you talked to your reseller?  Are they a partner?  Can they provide some consulting help to get you launched and moving in the right direction?  Everything depends on the size of your org and what features you're looking to implement but the design doesn't have to be very complex.