In early 2020, St. Anna Care Group for a thoughtful migration of the VDI workstations to Windows 10. By adequately responding to thespecific need of the St. Anna Care Group –employees, became a safe and reliable workplace createdëerd that additionally set a new standard in the useerexperience by using specific resources for graphics. Throughout the entire process, from preparation to rollout, testingand implementation, PQR took on the role of coordinatoritself.
A hospital, four residential care centers and a medical sports health center: that’s what St. Anna Care Group in Brabant. Small scale, commitment and flexibility are some of the core values found in the organization always returning. Not only are these values reflected in the provision of care; They are also central to the day-to-day management of the organization.For IT infrastructure relies St. Anna Care Groupfor some time now on PQR as their “Rustmaker in IT“.In 2015delivered PQR for example, a Workspace-environment onat St. Anna Care Group. Since then the organization usesPQR Lifecycle Services, To ensure the continuity of their IT environment and actively think in the constantly changing world of IT. Lees er alles over in het artikel dat we toen schreven.
A brand newfuture proof design
WhenThe end of support on Windows 7 by Microsoft eraan came, rose at St. Anna Care Group as early as early 2019 the demand to convert the current Windows 7 environment to Windows 10. Instead of blindly copying the outdated workplace, St. Anna Care Group deliberately chose to have a completely new designinvent that was ready for the future. “We lacked project management, the necessary expertise regarding architecture and, above all, time to tackle this migration ourselves. That’s why we called in the help of PQR for this project as well,” says Pieter van Grootel, Chief Information Officer at St. Anna Care Group.
“We lacked project management, the necessary expertise related to architecture and, above all, the time to tackle that migration ourselves.”
– Pieter van Grootel, CIO at St. Anna Care Group
The end of support for Windows 7 meansthat there nosupport more is in case of any technical problems and that thereno software updates, security updates or fixes hatch. The result is an increased risk of viruses and malware. An absolute no–go, so for St. Anna.
Additional graphics resources for a better user experience
“We began with an inventory of the current environment and defined the requirements for the NEW environment“, tells Joost Noteboom, healthcare account manager at PQR. “Based on that, we created a functional and a technical design. When we saw the first design a while later tested, however, we noticed that Windows 10 used a lot more resources than Windows 7. The Windows 10 environment then did meet all expectations in terms of reliability and security, but the performance was an issue in view of all the developments in healthcare. An issue that will eventually cause problems atcoulddeliver and did absolutely nothing to enhance the end-user experience.“
“By NVIDIA in the overallworkplace architectureincorporate, we now have many more graphics resources available to usand is the performancetoward the futurein order and ready for all the innovations that we see emerging now.”
– Joost Noteboom, accountmanager Zorg bij PQR
Based on these insights, the workplace design was modified.From that revealed that it was necessary to add GPU power.“The choice fell onaddinggraphics cards from NVIDIA within the workplace solution of St. Anna Care Group. This is a solution that PQR is increasingly applying in the workplace of the future for healthcare facilities. ByNVIDIAat theworkplace architectureto include is the performance significantly improved,which is ultimately good for the end-user experience,” adds Noteboom yet.
Extensive application testing
That’s why a workplace consultant from PQR was on site at St Anna Care Group from the very beginning to guide the whole process together with the people within their own St Anna organisation. “In a hospital, you regularly come across outdated or complex applications, which are important for delivering the right care” continues Noteboom. “It is crucial that users can remain completely confident that everything works as it used to and that no unnecessary time is wasted on things that are not related to care.
To this day, PQR supervises the migration and rollout of the workstations. Thus, both parties build a long-term relationship in support of the IT environment. “As for their approach, St. Anna Care Group deserves kudos, by the way,” says Noteboom with conviction. “The preparation and proper application testing by the hospital and specifically in the departments, was one of the success factors in the current project allowing the process to be rolled out in accordance with issued time and budget.”
Life Cycle Services contract
“As soon asze notice things that in time will create aproblemcan form,receivedwe proactively adviseFrom PQR how to prevent this.“
– Pieter van Grootel, CIO at St. Anna Care Group
Looking to the future, St Anna Zorggroep and PQR expect many more great projects together. Anna Zorggroep is looking into the possibilities of Microsoft Intune to manage mobile devices in the future and roll out new mobile applications more easily.Anna Zorggroep “In addition to organising strategic sessions such as the mobile device management workshop, PQR will soon start health checks on the existing infrastructure. PQR will perform these checks at regular and scheduled intervals,” Van Grootel concludes. “As soon as they notice issues that could eventually pose a problem, we will receive proactive advice from PQR on how to prevent this from happening.With such a flexible approach, together we ensure that the entire IT environment remains healthy.”
Curious about the Care Home of the Future? Read more about PQR & care here;
