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Configuration Based on feedback from each application s SME, document the desired configuration of each application . You can capture the desired configuration in transforms that you create for Windows Installer based applications or within packages that you create when repackaging older applications . Configuring older applications is usually as easy as importing Registration Entries ( .reg) files on the destination computer after deployment .

ACT 5 .5 provides data organization features that supersede the application inventory templates in earlier versions of MDT . With ACT 5 .5, you can categorize applications a number of ways: by priority, risk, department, type, vendor, complexity, and so on . You can also create your own categories for organizing the application inventory . For more information, see 5 .

After creating an application inventory, the next step is to prioritize the list . Prioritizing the application inventory is not a task that you perform unilaterally . Instead, you will want to involve other team members, management, and user representatives in the review of priorities . The priority levels you choose to use might include the following:

High High-priority applications are most likely mission-critical or core applications . These are applications that are pervasive in the organization or are complex and must be addressed first . Examples of high-priority applications include virus scanners, management agents, Microsoft Office, and so on . Medium Medium-priority applications are nice to have but not essential . These are applications that are not as pervasive or complex as high-priority applications . For example, a custom mailing-list program might be a medium-priority application, because you can replicate the functionality in another application . To test whether an application is indeed a medium priority, answer this question: What s the worst that would happen if all the high-priority applications are deployed, but not this application If you foresee no major consequences, the application is a medium priority . low Low-priority applications are applications that deserve no attention in the process . Examples of low-priority applications are duplicate applications, applications that users have brought from home and installed themselves, and applications that are no longer in use . When prioritizing an application as low, record the reason for that status in case you must defend the decision later .

Prioritizing the application list helps you focus on the applications in an orderly fashion . Within each priority, you can also rank applications by order of importance . Ranking applications in an organization using thousands of applications is a foreboding task, however . Instead, you might want to rank only the high-priority applications or repeat the prioritization process with only the high-priority applications .

After prioritizing the application list, you must categorize each high- and medium-priority application . You can drop the low-priority applications from the list, as you have no intention of addressing them . The following categories help you determine the best way to deploy an application:

Core applications Core applications are applications common to most of the computers in the organization (typically 80 percent or more) or applications that must be available the first time you start a computer after installing the operating system . For example, virus scanners and security software are usually core applications because they must run the first time you start the computer . Mail clients are core applications because they are common to all users and computers . The following list contains specific examples of what most organizations might consider core applications:

Adobe Acrobat Reader Corporate screen savers Database drivers and connectivity software Macromedia Flash Player Macromedia Shockwave Microsoft Office Network and client management software, such as OpenManage clients Terminal emulation applications, such as TN3270 Various antivirus packages Various Windows Internet Explorer plug-ins Various Microsoft Office Outlook plug-ins

Supplemental applications Supplemental applications are applications that aren t core applications . These are applications that are not common to most computers in the organization (department-specific applications) and aren t required when you first start the computer after installing a new operating system image . Examples of supplemental applications include applications that are department specific, such as accounting software, or role specific, such as dictation software . The following list contains examples of what most organizations consider supplemental applications:

Microsoft Data Analyzer 3 .5 SQL Server 2005 Client Tools Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008 Various Computer-Aided Design (CAD) applications Various Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems