Easy, Unattended Deployment of Office 2007 using BOSS DiagWin

Customized Deployment of Office 2007 using BOSS DiagWin – Easy Steps

The successor of the famous Office Resource Kit Tools (ORK) to customize the Office installation is now called Office Customization Tool (OCT) and is included within the original setup so you don’t need to download anything.

Step 1 – Creating the MSP file

To start the Office Customization Tool (OCT) type setup.exe /admin.

At the end of the process, the OCT saves your choices in a MSP file. The customization file results in uniform default configuration of the product for all users. You can allow Setup to apply the customization file automatically by storing it in the Updates folder at the root of the network installation point. During the installation, Setup finds and applies all the MSP files in the Updates folder – both customization files and Software Updates – that match that product.

Step 2 – Read more about customizing the MSP file

You can specify an alternate location for MSP files in Config.xml, or you can point to a particular customization file by using the /adminfile command-line option.

This is a good resource about the OCT on the web.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179097.aspx

Step 3 – Just do it!
Option A—  setup.exe  <if the MSP file is saved in the default folder>
The custom installation can be invoked by running setup.exe with no commandline parameters if the custom .MSP file was saved in the Updates folder off the root of the installation directory. In the Office 2007 installations all .MSP’s located in the Updates folder are applied during setup making it easy to add updates to the base installation as they become available. This is easier than the previous method of slipstreaming updates and patches into the Office setup routine by applying patches to an administrative installation point. Instead with Office 2007 you simply have to copy the .MSP files to the Updates folder and setup will process them during the installation routine.

DiagWin Usage:
Setup Path: \\servername\share\folder\setup.exe
Unattended Options: None <assuming that .MSP file is available in the Updates folder>
Option B— setup.exe /adminfile <Fully qualified path to the custom .MSP>

If the custom .MSP created with the OCT wasn’t saved to the Updates folder you can run setup against it by adding the /adminfile switch and pointing to the network location of the .MSP.

i.e. setup.exe /adminfile \\server\share\custom\custom.msp

DiagWin Usage:
Setup Path: \\servername\share\folder\setup.exe
Unattended Options: None /adminfile \\server\share\custom\custom.msp

Easy Office Deployment

Step 4 – Mass Deployment using BOSS DiagWin

Go to DiagWin Console and choose the OU / Computers that you want to deploy Office 2007. Right click and send a Request to “Deploy Package” and choose Office 2007!

Step 5 – Sit back and Relax!!

Your virtual employee BOSS DiagWin is taking care of Office 2007 roll out – investment $$$ @ work!

Suri Anantharama, PMP has helped several customers in improving Operational Efficiency through IT automation and an expert in ITAM / ITIL implementation.

Connect to Suri

BOSS DiagWin Customer Experience Video

BOSS DiagWin and BOSS Assist– Listen to some of our customers describe THE VALUE QUOTIENT in their own words!

Click to Watch Video!

ROD SMITH –SPALDING COUNTY SCHOOLS, GA talks about how beneficial both BOSS ASSIST and DIAGWIN are and how they come in handy for even the last minute deployments. He also loves the fact that BOSS as a company is helpful in many other ways like the ACTIVE DIRECTORY MIGRATION, Disaster Recovery, etc.

“BOSS ASSIST and Diagwin, we use both products and they’ve been very beneficial……BOSS as a company has been instrumental in helping us develop our Active Directory environment…”

RICK YOUNG – FORSYTH COUNTY, GA talks about the extension of BOSS DiagWin to county departments.

“We also use it in our PUBLIC FACILITIES DEPARTMENT for raising help tickets in building maintenance, lighting, electricity…”

CLIFTON FOSTER – CITY OF NEWNAN, GA shares insights about the various features of DiagWin like the REMOTE DESKTOP, HELP DESK and REPORTING.

“We use DiagWin Enterprise and the most used feature is the remote desktop. I like the way it puts all the computers together in one location….”.

ALAN LESSIN – HOOTERS, GA is excited about the tools that DIAGWIN provides to help him manage his assets at various locations all over the country.

“I’m able to keep a good inventory of my assets. I have currently 1500 assets all over the country….Access to these assets is very simple and I can train my new Help Desk technician in a matter of minutes with the BOSS software….”

KEN TOOKES –CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY, GA loves the REMOTE DESKTOP feature and raves about how it is simple and easy to use.

“ In the past I’ve used other products, and in comparison BOSS DiagWin is very easy to use... Very simple to use and I’m very impressed with that….”

ANDREW GIBSON – MEMORIAL HEALTH SYSTEM, GA is hooked on to the ease with which he can grab in depth info on hardware and software and the ability to DEPLOY Healthcare applications REMOTELY.

“BOSS DiagWin Support Central gives us great ASSET MANAGEMENT. We have in depth information about all of our computer hardware, software, user information….”

www.boss-solutions.com

BOSS provides AdCare Health an IT Cure!

AdCare Challenge

Whenever a workstation suffered a problem in one of AdCare‟s facilities, one of three IT people would have to travel to the site to resolve the issue, says Carol Groeber, Vice President Management Information Services and Corporate Secretary. With such a small staff, the ability to control workstations remotely became very important, says Groeber. “When there was someone out of the office all the time, it really made it difficult. We needed the ability to assist our people more quickly and more than one person was needed to be able to help.”

Although AdCare didn‟t have any money specifically set aside for an asset management tool, it didn‟t take Groeber much to convince management of the need. “The problem got so large in the middle of the year that it was like “Find something!‟ And so it was not budgeted,” says Groeber
Solution

At that time, she received a serendipitous call from Suri Anantharama of BOSS. “He called and gave me the Web site (www.boss-solutions.com) and I just went out and looked around. He provided to me some of their current clients to look at and to talk with. It just was a good fit,” says Groeber. She did look at and reviewed many other vendors but “BOSS was far ahead regarding features offered for the price,” says Groeber. “I thought it was very reasonable. I had expected it to be a lot more.”

Benefits

“Because we are a publicly traded company, we have to meet SOX compliance,” says Groeber. And when the company did its initial SOX audit, the use of DIAGWIN Enterprise™ for reporting and to control the deployment of applications to workstations “showed that we were in compliance.”

The impact was greatest for those employees who were recording data into workstations for patient records. “When they had issues, we were able to respond to them quicker to keep them going.”

Groeber likes the level of support she gets from BOSS: “I think the support from BOSS is a big strength; whenever we have any questions, they are always there.”

Read More about the CURE..

www.boss-solutions.com

BOSS DiagWin helps you go GREEN

GREEN IT IDEAS using BOSS DiagWin!
1. Save Trees — Replace paper based Purchase requisition process with DiagWin Workflow module
2. Save Time — Web portal for customers to submit requests
3. Save Energy — Identify older equipment, generate Asset maintenance reports and decommission systems
4. Save GAS — Provide customer support remotely to reduce fuel costs, travel time, etc.
5. Save Energy — Schedule daily PC Shutdown of user computers

Colorful — You would have saved enough at the end of the year to take the team out for a Hawaii vacation!!

READ MORE ABOUT DIAGWIN GREEEN!

BOSS helps AAA Carolinas to implement a Service Desk Solution

AAA Carolinas, offering a wide array of services, recently embarked on a journey with BOSS. With over 30 offices spread across both North and South Carolina, maintaining nearly 100% availability of all workstations and software applications plays a very critical role in ensuring business continuity and smooth operations.

The primary function of the AAA Help Desk Support team is to ensure 24×7 access to their business systems, which requires a help desk product to assist them in the process. Improving the speed, efficiency, and performance of the Help Desk Support team was a major objective.

BOSSAssist is the help desk component of DiagWin, an Enterprise Management solution that goes beyond just workstation inventory. It incorporates software distribution, patch management, software license management, interactive remote control, reporting, and asset tracking all of which can be accessed from a single console. BOSSAssist customers have a Web interface that can be accessed from any computer on the Internet using a secure login ID and password. In the words of Mark Daeth, Network Support Manager for AAA Carolinas, “The web interface helps people to keep track of their ticket status online and saves time on calling the help desk every time.” This feature increases productivity of the help desk staff since they no longer receive telephone calls asking for status updates.

Going a step ahead, BOSS also provided AAA Carolinas the ability to customize the text and content of the e-mails to be sent. This saves their technicians a lot of time as they do not have to remember to send status updates to their end-users. In fulfilling such requirements,  Suri Anantharama (ITSM Solutions) says  “The mission of BOSS is to provide solutions to customers and not just products.”

Anup Ravindranath, BOSS Support  said, “For many years, I have relied on AAA to provide me with the necessary support when I drive my car. Today, it gives me pride to be able to support them and help drive their
business more efficiently.”

AAA Experience Read More ..

www.boss-solutions.com