Wyoming Medical Center
Wyoming Medical Center is a 205-bed not-for-profit acute care hospital in the center of Wyoming. Its heart and neuroscience centers have received national recognition for quality measures and outstanding care.
Challenge
In less than a decade, Wyoming Medical Center's IT department went from managing four software applications to 135. "We sought an enterprise management system to bring control and consistency to our environment," said Rob Pettigrew, manager of Technical Systems and Help Desk for Wyoming Medical Center. "It's critical for our care givers to access applications as fast as possible. A doctor should be able to instantly find patient information, without worrying about potential system issues. This means we need to ensure our workstations are up-to-date and properly patched. With so many different applications running, this was a real challenge."
Wyoming Medical Center had been managing its more than 800 workstations manually. "If there was an update needed to an application, we had to physically visit each machine," said Pettigrew. "Additionally, if we were going to enhance the reliability and security of our technology infrastructure, we needed a better handle on our existing IT assets."
Novell Solution
Wyoming Medical Center selected Novell ZENworks® Configuration Management to help transform IT service delivery. "With Novell ZENworks Configuration Management, we knew we could gain all the functionality we needed in one unified solution, rather than having to patch multiple products together," said Pettigrew.
"We evaluated both Microsoft SMS and Novell ZENworks Configuration Management, and found Novell definitely has the edge," said Pettigrew. "Being able to install a solution without a lot of dependencies is a big selling point. Microsoft SMS requires a lot of integration with Active Directory, and it can't perform remote diagnostics or asset management as well as Novell ZENworks Configuration Management."
The hospital now uses Novell ZENworks tools to manage more than 800 Windows-based workstations. "To create a stable work environment you need to assess existing inventory," said Larry Skalicky, network analyst for Wyoming Medical Center. "With Novell ZENworks Asset Management we'll gain an accurate picture of what should and should not be on our workstations so we can optimize performance and comply with regulations such as HIPAA."
With Novell ZENworks Configuration Management, Wyoming Medical Center has standardized the distribution of applications and can remotely diagnose system problems. Novell ZENworks Patch Management will ensure its workstations are properly patched. "With Novell ZENworks Configuration Management in place, our users gain a better service experience," said Skalicky. "Our campus is too large for us to quickly get to someone's desktop if they have a performance issue. Now we'll be able to remotely take control of their workstations to fix problems much faster."
The solution's unique user-focused management capabilities are also extremely useful. "In a large hospital environment like ours, we have a lot of shared workstations, said Pettigrew. "Previously, clinicians and doctors were frustrated with the lack of consistency as desktop icons would get moved around. With Novell ZENworks Configuration Management, each user will now have a consistent-looking desktop and the exact set of applications customized for their roles—no matter what desktop they use."
Novell also worked closely with Wyoming Medical Center to better secure patient data. After performing a security audit and identifying the workstations most vulnerable to potential security breaches, the hospital decided to implement Novell ZENworks Endpoint Security Management to control endpoints such as USB ports. Securing workstations located in public areas helps the hospital ensure HIPAA compliance and prevents data theft.
"Novell has been tremendously helpful in moving our IT environment forward," said Pettigrew. "They're always looking for new ways to help us better support our users and improve patient care."
Results
With Novell ZENworks Configuration Management, Wyoming Medical Center is now able to better support its IT environment while lowering its overall support costs. "By eliminating the grunt work of desktop management, we've freed our staff to concentrate on areas of higher priority," said Pettigrew. "The savings we'll achieve with Novell ZENworks Configuration Management will be astronomical. We can provision new desktops in minutes instead of hours, and save at least 40 hours a month we used to spend fixing machines."
"With Novell ZENworks Configuration Management, Novell has helped us lay the foundation for a secure framework and an enterprise-level infrastructure we can support now and into the future," said Pettigrew. "The return on investment on Novell ZENworks Endpoint Security Management alone is astounding. If we stop just one data breach we might have saved ourselves a $3M lawsuit."
"When we brought Novell in, it was a real turning point for us," said Pettigrew. "We needed experts to help us establish standards and gain consensus among our stakeholders. Novell handled this beautifully. We owe Novell a great debt of gratitude for that."