Experiences Gained During Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Transition to Windows 11
Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Whizz-Bang Windows 11 Migration
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is almost done with its three-year-long Windows 11 migration adventure. Keith Arnold, the senior director of IT at VUMC's Workplace Services, dished up the deets on what VUMC has learned throughout the process, the sweet perks of the upgrade, and what other healthcare centers should bear in mind while they're getting ready for their own Windows 11 overhauls.
Time to kick up your feet and learn a thing or two!
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Windows 11’s Philosophical Benefits for Healthcare Organizations
VUMC linked up the Windows 11 migration project with its ongoing digital metamorphosis roadmap. Arnold elucidated that the upgrade was essentially an investment in the organization's future.
"What VUMC ultimate aims to do is modernize and standardize wherever possible. With Windows 11, we're putting processes in place not just for the present, but for the future too. Some day, Windows 11 itself will be history, and we'll have to go through this rigamarole all over again. We want our application owners to think about these things because they usually don't. They skip over Microsoft's operating system compatibility with their devices. But if they factor that into their software and software updates plans, the switch will be smoother," Arnold mused.
The upgrade process helped VUMC keep pace with the latest hardware advancements. Since Windows 11 has some very specific hardware prerequisites, the organization can now handle future app updates like their lunch money.
VUMC is also aiming to standardize application management, ensuring that different departments aren't hogging the same software at different times. With new processes in place, Arnold reckons he'll squeeze more bang for his buck.
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"I can also track and manage the vulnerabilities of specific applications to guarantee they're receiving the updates they need. A lot of organizations pay for software that they use for decades without updating to the latest version. However, if we centralize the management of those applications, we can ensure they stay updated and secure," Arnold shared.
As VUMC stabilizes following the upgrade process and digs deeper into Windows 11's tasty features, Dr. Yaa Kumah-Crystal, clinical director of health IT, associate professor of biomedical informatics, and a pediatric endocrinologist at VUMC, anticipates the organization will explore how to leverage Microsoft Copilot. VUMC's already bootstrapped cohorts to determine which use-cases should be rolled out more widely.
"The master plan is to school ourselves early about tools that we can exploit, but also figure out when it's right to trial-run them broadly. Microsoft's got a ton of cool tricks up their sleeve, but we know that it's still quite embryonic, and the road to getting to something we'd want to implement en masse is still under construction. However, I am one hundred percent on board with utilizing it, and getting our tech bits in order will get us there eventually," she concluded.
VUMC’s Approach to the Windows 11 Migration Process
VUMC started installing Windows 11 on new devices from the manufacturer beginning in April 2022. In September 2024, they launched an automated shove to update 92% of their administrative devices and workstations to the new OS. The remaining devices are either exceptions (3%) or they lack the processor, disk space, or other prerequisites from Microsoft to qualify for Windows 11 (5%). Arnold explained that the organization will start refreshing devices in the latter category in July.
By the end of last year, 99% of VUMC's roughly 10,000 clinical workstations had been upgraded to Windows 11, and they expect all of their devices will be migrated within the next few months.
"By October, when Windows 10 standard support is no longer available, we'd love to have as few devices as possible that we'll need to buy Windows 10 extended support for. We're positively certain that we'll have a group of devices still on Windows 10, but we want to keep that total as small as possible to keep costs down," said Arnold.
Devices excluded from the migration project are running an application that isn't Windows 11-certified. Those devices will be updated once the application gets certified or upgraded to a certified version. Arnold says that about 1,200 devices at VUMC are currently in that exception category.
VUMC’s Windows 11 Migration Jamboree: An Insider’s Perspective
Arnold explained that VUMC's central IT team, enterprise cybersecurity, and health IT teams all worked together to identify applications that aren't certified for Windows 11.
"We conducted oodles of work across all the different app groups to verify and collect that data, and ensured that we didn't force an upgrade. We paid particular attention to our clinical workstations, because every clinical workstation, except a teeny-tiny percentage with a special app on them, are built identically, so lots of hard work went into testing, deploying, and managing those devices," he added.
The three teams are tracking non-certified applications by engaging with app owners and end users to verify the app's update timeline.
"By October, we'll go back and verify our plans to have all those devices placed with our cybersecurity team as an exception to remain on Windows 10 so that they can be formally tracked through our cybersecurity team as well as our IT team. Saving a buck here and there is la-dee-da!" Arnold shared.
Kumah-Crystal pointed out that VUMC's health IT team, made up of analysts, builders, and engineers, works with folks in clinical director, associate chief medical information officer, and CMIO roles to facilitate communication with end users.
"They'll provide feedback about communication strategies and how we plan to disseminate information to folks. They'll allow us to pilot things early and inspect the interfaces early on to spot any significant changes that someone might pick up on as they're working clinically. We might need to communicate those changes to ensure staffers don't get tripped up by the update," she added.
Kumah-Crystal called out the most conspicuous change from Windows 10 to 11: the appearance and location of the search window on the taskbar. The organization aimed to maintain the search bar in the same place for its clinical workstations, but plans to use the new version for its virtual desktop infrastructure workspaces where Epic is managed. VUMC kept the community informed about the change to ensure that staff members wouldn't be caught caserin by the update.
"The good news is that, for Windows 11, it was an uneventful upgrade overall. The best kind of upgrade is when you hear nary a peep about it," she concluded.
...And that's a wrap! Now it's your turn to unleash the power of Windows 11 in your healthcare organization.
KEEP PADDLIN':* How does Windows 11 Supercharge Healthcare Productivity?*
[1] Hall, C. (2022, July 14). Vanderbilt University Medical Center nears end of Windows 11 migration. Healthcare IT News.[2] Vanderbilt University Medical Center. (n.d.). VUMC migrates to Windows 11. VUMC News.
Technology plays a crucial role in the data-and-cloud-computing aspect of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Windows 11 migration. VUMC's central IT team, enterprise cybersecurity, and health IT teams worked together to identify applications that aren't certified for Windows 11, leveraging technology to ensure a smooth transition and minimize potential issues.
As VUMC moves forward with Windows 11, the organization also aims to explore the potential of Microsoft Copilot, a new technology that could further enhance their operations. By staying updated with the latest technology trends, VUMC can continue to modernize and standardize their processes, setting themselves up for success in the future.
