Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 Ultimate

Introduction

Bonanza Motors is a popular and extremely busy car dealership in Burley, Idaho, selling a variety of new and used automobiles to the general Idaho population, as well as a few out-of-state and out-of-country clients. Bonanza Motors is part of the Young Automotive team, based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. The dealership consists of a full-service department, parts department, and a body shop. A special finance department is dedicated to assisting customers who may have had financial problems in the past. Bonanza recently recruited a dedicated person to care for only internet customers, as well. The company is very concerned with their customers and their employees and wishes to provide the best support and experience to them at all stages of their auto purchase and maintenance. That said, the company realized in 2013 that they were dealing with a completely outdated and scattered computer and internet system.

Bonanza Motors employs about 30 people including the employees in the following five departments/buildings: the General Motors Sales Building, the Chrysler Sales Building, the Body Shop, the Service Center, the Parts Department, and the Main Office. The Internet Care Specialist is based in the main office but moves around according to need. All in all, there are more computers than people. 45 computers will be updated during this process, and 10 employees will need entirely new computers (the old ones will be destroyed because they hold sensitive client information). Old individual printers will be removed so that all future printing jobs will go to one new large-capacity laser printer to save the company money on ink and paper. As a side project, I will also install secure wireless internet in all five buildings, secure guest wireless, and a new email server in each building to prevent hacking, allow a client access to the Internet during their visit with Bonanza Motors and enhance the email communication of the entire dealership.

When they recruited the services of the author as an IT professional, and the professional began working for them three months ago, I quickly realized that several issues needed to be addressed as far as their computer system was concerned. First, the Windows® platform they were running was extremely outdated: Windows XP 64-bit, released in October of 2001. Many people would say, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, but Windows XP is so outdated at this point that Microsoft has stopped releasing security updates and system updates, so the software is defunct. Conferral with Bonanza Motors’ senior management confirmed that Windows 7 Ultimate would be the most logical and cost-effective solution to their operating systems problems because many Windows XP programs will also work with Windows 7 Ultimate, whereas this might not be the case with the most recent release of Windows 8. The second issue Bonanza Motors had is that the information contained on their computers was and is highly sensitive: personal financial histories and information, personal credit histories, and other personal information such as addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses that must be protected at all costs. Moving this information from Windows XP to the new platform, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, must be done carefully and completely to prevent Bonanza Motors from being legally liable for losing or not destroying client information. Additionally, a custom or “clean” install is required to transfer this information to the new operating systems. Lastly, Bonanza Motors was one of the last hold-outs in the area as far as businesses without wireless internet. Because six different buildings need to communicate with each other, and because clients will need access to a wireless network to obtain sensitive information, comparison shop, or just communicate outside the car dealership, wireless internet needed to be installed.

Based on these facts, this proposal is a detailed description of the process necessary to perform system improvements and enhancements for Bonanza Motors, including but not limited to designing a plan for the new computer and internet system; defining the process for installing the new operating system Windows 7 Ultimate (released in 2009) and possible issues that might arise during installation; transferring highly sensitive client information during the “clean” install; installing a wireless network; and recognizing the desired and likely outcome of the entire process for the company and the people who work there.

The most current version of the Windows operating system is Windows 8, originally released in October of 2012, with additional, related releases in October of 2013. The upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 Ultimate has therefore been performed frequently in the past, but now may be somewhat obsolete because many businesses and individuals will be upgrading from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 8 at this point. The information contained in this project is still valuable, however, because not all businesses and individuals can keep a small-sized computer network like Bonanza Motors’ up-to-date with the current software. Due to the expense of the new operating systems themselves, the expenses of time and labor, and an unqualified or nonexistent IT department, small businesses often find themselves between a rock and a hard place when it comes time to update their operating systems. The process is usually do or die (as far as being able to compete with other companies in the industry), resulting in a limited period in which to complete the installation of the new operating systems and get the network and employees up-to-speed. This is the case with the project for Bonanza Motors: a time period of about three months, from January to March of 2014, was allowed to complete the project, due to budget constraints and the immediate and ongoing need for upgraded open and closed operating systems.

For upgrades and information on installing them, the Internet is the only real source for information, providing an accurate, expedient, and effective means to an end; in this case, the installation of Windows 7 Ultimate on Bonanza Motors’ computer network. An excellent, and probably most up-to-date and accurate, guide to upgrading PCs from Windows XP to Windows 7 Ultimate is available from Microsoft on their Windows website (“Upgrading from Windows XP,” 2009). The information is available in various forms: video tutorial, XPS file or PDF file, making it accessible to the IT professional in a variety of installation settings. This version of installation instructions walks the IT professional through the entire process, including what he or she will need to complete the installation, decisions, and suggestions on what decisions should be made (32-bit or 64-bit), and what is needed before the installation is started (external hard disk, CDs or DVDs for file preservation, Windows Easy Transfer, original software installation disks or setup files/drivers for programs downloaded from the internet). This information should be sufficient to update Bonanza Motors to the new Windows 7 Ultimate operating system, but as everyone in the IT business knows, anything that can go wrong will go wrong during the installation of an operating system. It is, therefore, necessary to review tips from actual installs, or experts in the field, in case some glitches only appear during the actual installation process. It is obvious that during the upgrade from Windows XP, basic computer program and application issues will arise because the software won’t be compatible with the new Windows 7 Ultimate.

For this reason, the following sources may be of some help to the IT professional attempting an install of this caliber: PCWorld’s article “Five Tips for Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 or Windows 8” (Bradley, 2009) or the For Dummies’ “How to Upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7” (Rathbone, 2014), depending on the IT professional’s level of expertise. Because Windows XP is soon to obsolete, the topic is very popular on the Internet right now, meaning that there is a lot of information out there that may be helpful during the installation.

Project Goals and Objectives

The four main objectives of the system improvement and enhancement of Bonanza Motors’ computer network are as follows: to upgrade their computer system from Windows XP to Windows 7 Ultimate; to install a secure employee and guest wireless Internet access system; to install new printing hardware and eradicate old printing hardware; and to install a new email server on the network of computers.

The goals of these four main objectives are: to provide an updated and more adaptable version of the company’s old operating system that will work in harmony with other business’ operating systems and the company’s current and future programs and applications; to provide a non-hackable wireless Internet system for employees and clients to use with their current devices and mobile phones; to update old hardware systems (in particular the individual printers that are currently assigned nearly every employee in the company, and will be compiled into one single source printer) and thereby save the company money; and to provide employees with one integrated email system that is uniform across all departments to enhance communication within Bonanza Motors.

The main, and most complicated, part of computer system upgrades and enhancements that are the goal of this project is the installation of the Windows 7 Ultimate on machines that are currently running Windows XP. As this installation is notoriously difficult according to Internet sources, preparation for it will require a separate hard disk, which will be an additional purchase for the company, outside of IT personnel time and labor requirements and the purchase of the Windows 7 Ultimate operating system for the 55 computers that will be a part of Bonanza Motors’ computer network when the installation is complete. Installing a new email server should be relatively quick and painless, consisting of signing all employees up on the new email server and renaming the email addresses to comply with each other and align with the new email delivery system. Finally, installing wireless internet for the company should also be relatively painless, but not without its complications. The entire process is estimated at a cost for Bonanza Motors of $18,797.00. (All prices except labor were obtained from Amazon.com.) This breaks down into the following costs: $10, 455.00 for the operating system software (free shipping available through Amazon.com); $1590.50 for the time (estimated 50 hours including daytime work and work over the following week) and labor based on an estimated $31.81 per hour of a network administrator/IT professional (Idaho Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013) -- or more if two are required to finish the installation expediently --for four consecutive nights; $682.00 plus shipping for each external hard drive (one drive for every five computers is estimated) to move all customer files to during the software upgrade (“WD My Passport Ultra 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 with Auto and Cloud Backup” is a good choice (Bradley, 2009)); $5500 for 10 new Lenovo laptops without Windows 7 operating systems; and the cost of lost manpower and company sales during the upgrade. The purchase of at least five wireless routers will also add to the overall cost of the project, but the type of routers required has yet to be determined by management and the IT team. It is proposed that the upgrade be conducted mostly after business hours to prevent loss of income for the dealership.

As stated above, it is estimated that the enhancement and upgrade project at Bonanza Motors will require a period of at least four days, including any cleanup of problems, issues or installation mishaps that are bound to occur with a transfer of files of this magnitude. Also, it should be noted that there are numerous problems recorded concerning the movement of a computer system from Windows XP to Windows 7 Ultimate, many of which will not be noticed until a few weeks into use of the new operating system. Therefore, and additional cost to the company may appear in the form of regular system maintenance, patches and upgrades, and general helpdesk issues that will require the further services of an IT professional. It is recommended that the company keep a dedicated IT professional on staff for these emergencies, or at least pay the additional yearly fees for access to Windows help online.

Project Deliverables

The project for Bonanza Motors will include the following deliverables: an all-encompassing proposal detailing the problem, solutions, methods, and desired outcome of the project; a formal report explaining, detailing, and recording the exact project process for posterity; a complete user’s manual for Bonanza Motors’ IT department detailing the process for each project objective stated above (this may be of some help to Bonanza Motors after the project is completed, and if any mishaps should occur afterward. It may also serve as a basis for other dealerships included in the Young Automotive group to complete identical system improvements and enhancements, should the need arise); and a short report reviewing the results and satisfaction of Bonanza Motors’ employees, management and clients regarding the success of the upgrades and enhancements that the IT professional has performed.

This proposal will serve as a detailed accounting of the current standing of the computer system of Bonanza Motors, including information about the company itself, the type of environment the installation will occur in, the functions of each department, and the number and type of upgrades and enhancements that will be involved. A very rough estimate of the costs involved for Bonanza Motors will also be mentioned in this part of the project. The proposal will include the basic and logical rationale for the company’s upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate, specifically the fact that Windows XP will become obsolete this year, as upgrades to the security system (such as patches) will no longer be made available from Microsoft. The management, employees, and clients of the dealership will serve as the beneficiaries of the computer system enhancements, and the company states that these people are the most important to the proper functioning of the company, and must, therefore, be provided with up-to-date and efficient means of communication and computer tools.

This system enhancement and upgrade will help Bonanza Motors maintain their popularity and success in the community of Burley, Idaho, and its surrounding areas, as well as provide an example for other dealerships in other locations on the Young Automotive team. This may result in further use for the user’s manual and the expertise of IT professionals for the entire company, spreading across several states and numerous industries.

The formal report provided after this project is the centerpiece for the actual process and the trials and tribulations that may ensue during installation and maintenance of the upgraded and enhanced computer system at Bonanza Motors. The report will be a detailed document that describes the project undertaken, the necessary preparations for the project, and the actual installation, upgrade, email server change, and wireless internet installation. It should also be noted that each employee will require a quick, basic orientation session with the IT Professional and the new operating system. (The cost and time for this step of the process may exceed the estimate given earlier in this proposal.) The user manual will provide additional support to employees and management after the IT professional has completed the installations. Every step of the process will be included in this formal report, providing another source for future installations by IT professionals on other computer systems across the nation. The formal report will also serve as a source for the evaluation of the project itself in this technical writing class.

The user’s manual is the most important part of this project and will provide a solid, technical writing piece for the author’s technical writing portfolio that can be used long after this class has concluded to help future students, IT professionals, and company employees in any industry with a computer system upgrade and enhancement of this type. The user’s manual will be split into three parts: upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit), installing a unified email server company-wide; and installing secure, wireless internet for both company employees and clients to use on various Internet-capable devices.

The user’s manual will be created, with a table of contents, and simplified, broken-down steps that are easy to digest for the reader (and, more specifically, the employees of Bonanza Motors). In any user’s manual, the importance of simple, direct language is key to the success of the procedure being described, and easy to reference while performing a difficult installation such as upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 Ultimate. In this case, the ease of user manual navigation is especially important because the installation is complicated and must be performed in a certain way. Large call-outs should be included in the user’s manual to prevent misunderstanding of the information, or loss of sensitive and personal client information. Also, a page located before the table of contents should be included mentioning the difficulty of, and possible issues that may occur with the Windows upgrade. It is also recommended that a Quick Reference Guide be included, as well as instruction for the employees on how to use the help function of the new operating system. This will ensure that each employee has assistance after the IT professional has left the site. An additional idea is to include some of the information from the Windows 7 Ultimate software user’s manual in the Bonanza user’s manual to ensure that the information is clear and identical across all levels of the company. This will also ensure that an online Windows 7 Ultimate support team will be able to communicate effectively with the employees and management of Bonanza Motors whenever a problem arises.

The final component of the project detailed above will be a short report on the results of the hardware, software, email, and wireless internet systems at the dealership. This report will interview several of the employees to find out how and why the new computer system is working for the company, the savings being projected for the coming year, and whether or not any further changes might be needed to help make the company processes run smoother.

Project Timeline with Milestones

The first and most important step of the process of upgrading and enhancing the computer system of Bonanza Motors is the collection of information. This part of the process will involve interviews with management staff, particularly office staff, to determine the specific needs (outlined above) of the company and its employees. This process is estimated to take an average of one to two weeks, followed immediately by the pricing of software (since it is not the most recent Windows 8 operating system release, it can be obtained from various sources at a discounted price), additional computers, an external hard drive, and manpower to perform the installation, as well as an educated estimate of time and sales lost due to the installation. All of this information will be provided to Bonanza Motors management at the end of the two weeks, and recommendations will be made about purchasing the needed supplies and dates for the actual installation.

Following this meeting, an IT professional or professionals will be hired, employees will be informed of and prepared for the new installation through a meeting with management and the IT professionals, and the software, external hard drives, and additional 10 computers will be purchased (along with any other odds and ends such as computer cords, etc.). While the supplies are in transit to the location in Burley, Idaho, the new email server will be installed and email addresses will migrate to the new system. When the supplies arrive at the Bonanza Motors location, each will be inspected for any damages and noted on an inventory sheet for easy tracking of costs associated with the installation process. Using the new routers (number and type to be determined), the secure wireless Internet system will be established and each employee will be notified of the secure sign-on, as well as the guest wifi network to provide clients with Internet access from their devices, but prevent hacking into the system.

Soon after, backing up each computer’s personal files will commence, and new computers will be installed. Following the completed back up process and new computer installation (which will be performed the first night using the external hard drives purchased earlier), the Windows 7 Ultimate operating system will be installed on the new Lenovo laptops during business hours, since this can be done on-site while the employees are still using the older model computers for business.

The remaining backups of personal files and information from computers that will be updated will be completed on the second night of the process, followed on the third and fourth nights by the start of a custom installation of Windows 7 Ultimate on all computers currently running Windows XP. This is projected to take 2 consecutive nights. At the end of one workweek, the entire installation process will be completed. IT professional(s) will recommend that Bonanza Motors keep them on call in case any issues or problems are discovered immediately after installation (this may require an additional fee).

Since installation needs to be performed outside of normal business hours to least impact the sales and clients of the Bonanza Motors dealership, the time constraints will be from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. on four consecutive nights, with any cleanup or additional work being performed by the IT professional(s) in the following weeks on an as-needed basis.

In addition to the extra week of on-call time for the IT professionals, it will be determined by management after installation whether or not employees and personnel will need training sessions to become acclimated to the new operating system, laptops, email system, and hardware updates. This additional cost has not been figured into the total estimated cost because management has yet to determine Bonanza Motors’ need for this additional training time.

A final report and complete user manual, to be compiled the month after the upgrade and enhancement project has been completed, will be compiled by the author at no charge to the company as an evaluation of the success and results of the process for the employees, management, and clients of Bonanza Motors. A copy of this user manual will be provided free of charge to the company in CD form for use in future installations or the event of a computer system error.

Demonstrated Competencies

The competencies demonstrated in this Bonanza Motors automobile dealership PC system operating system, wireless internet installation, printer hardware upgrade, and installation, and email server upgrade and change are: software, networks, possible IT management (if other IT professionals are required to complete the project), and cybersecurity threat technicians. The software competency is met by the replacement, upgrade, and enhancement of the car dealership’s current and outdated Windows XP operating system. New and complicated custom installation of Windows 7 Ultimate will require the IT professional (the author) to negotiate the process of completing the system installed correctly and without loss of valuable personal client and employee information that might otherwise cause legal problems for the dealership. A clean, new installation of Windows 7 Ultimate will also be required for the 10 new Lenovo laptops computers (selected for their value and an excellent record of performance) the company will be purchasing to replace 10 old computers that no longer perform the necessary functions for support of the business. The establishment and migration of all company networks to new email software, server, and addresses will also be part of the software competency.

Five initially separate networks will be connected through wireless routers, and a secure wireless network will be created for employees and management of the actual dealership. To appease clients and their various devices while they are on the premises of the dealership, a separate, public network will be set up. This will result in more client satisfaction and faster processing of the application process because client information will be accessible over the public Internet connection or the secure personnel connection. Although the entire process will be managed by the author of this paper, additional IT management may be required to complete the installation and enhancement/upgrade within the designated timeframe. In this case, the management of one or more IT professionals will be required by the project. Also, the initial meeting with management, the following meeting with all personnel to discuss the implementation of the project, and meetings with personnel and management to review the results of the project will fulfill this competency.

Security is the last, but never least, competency fulfilled by the Bonanza Motors automobile dealership computer system enhancement and upgrade. Security has become more and more important in an age of doing business over the Internet, and everything from banking to major purchases (including automobile purchases) is now conducted over the internet. The new secure wireless network created for the company will prevent hacking into the computer system and sensitive financial and personal client files by malicious outside parties, keeping clients satisfied and the information uncompromised.

Conclusion

Bonanza Motors is a very successful business in the Burley, Idaho, area, and will have no problems continuing to succeed as a car dealership as long as they keep their computer systems, internet systems, and communication systems up-to-date. The sensitive and personal information the business deals with belonging to multiple clients and spanning many years must be safeguarded and destroyed properly when no longer in use. An out-dated computer system will prevent clients and employees from making a solid connection to each other, and understanding all that is involved with the purchase or lease of a new or used automobile. Interdepartmental communications also need to be current for the business to work smoothly, and hunting around for various email addresses simply to communicate with an employee across the parking lot is unacceptable. In the car dealership business, timing is critical to success, and time and effort should not be wasted trying to solve problems with slow computer systems or internet systems. The expenses incurred by running multiple computer printers each day will be significantly reduced by the purchase of one, high-capacity printer that will be central and accessible for all departments on the car dealership lot.

To comparison shop (something that most Americans might do every day), a wireless internet connection is invaluable. Clients must be able to use their devices (internet phones, iPads, etc.) to view other offerings to make the best choices about the vehicle they will purchase. The Bonanza Motors software, wireless internet, laptop, printer, and new email project detailed above is projected to cost an estimated $19, 000.00. It will employ one or two IT professionals inside or outside the company, and take an estimated one to two weeks for installation completion, training of personnel, and cleanup of any unexpected issues or problems. The project is expected to improve sales, client and employee satisfaction, and move the Bonanza Motors dealership into the new millennium with minimal financial and technological issues, helping the company keep its place at the top of the Burley, Idaho, automobile business. With happy employees, happy clients, and happy management, the reduction of internal communication and computer system problems will result in a smoothly-flowing business that will continue to be profitable for many years to come.

References

Bradley, T. (2009, October 23). Five things you should know about upgrading from xp to windows 7.

Rathbone, A. (2014). How to upgrade from windows xp to windows 7.

Upgrading from windows xp to windows 7. (2009).