Choosing Subject Matter Experts

Although IT professionals in small organizations probably know each application and the settings used in the computing environment, this is highly unlikely to be the case in large organizations that potentially have thousands of applications. In large organizations, you should use SMEs to help in the planning, development, and stabilizing processes. SMEs, though not necessarily experts, are the users who are most familiar with the applications and data to migrate, and they're usually stakeholders in seeing that the process is properly performed.

Use SMEs to assist with several key tasks:

Locating application source media, such as CDs or DVDs
Identifying document storage locations for each application
Identifying application configuration data and settings to migrate
Selecting the operating system preferences to migrate
Consulting on file relocations that will be performed as part of the migration

Identifying User State Data

User state data can consist of many elements: settings that customize the user experience, application data created by the user, e-mail and messaging settings and data, and even personal data. The following sections describe examples of user state data.

Operating System Settings

The following list describes many of the operating system files and settings that you will want to migrate. (USMT migrates most of these by default.)

Appearance settings Examples include desktop background, colors, sounds, and screensaver settings.
User interface settings Examples include mouse pointers, whether double-clicking a folder opens it in a new window or in the same window, and whether users must click or double-click an item to open it.
Windows Internet Explorer settings Examples include home pages, favorites, cookies, security settings, and proxy settings.
Mail settings Examples include mail server settings, signature files, and contact lists.

Application Data and Settings

You will find application data in a number of locations. As you inventory the applications in your environment, consider the following potential locations for application settings and data storage:

The Program Files folder Many applications still store settings and data directly in the Applications folder within Program Files. As you plan the migration, consider whether or not you can safely redirect the application data to a different location. This will assist with future attempts to allow use of the application by standard (non-administrator) users.
A specific folder on the local disk Many applications define a data storage location on the local disk for storage of application settings and data. This location is often the root of the system drive.
The user's profile folder Many applications store data in user profile folders. Search the Documents And Settings folder (in Windows XP) or the Users folder (in Windows Vista and Windows 7) for application settings and data files.

Users' Documents

Users will store data in a variety of locations. The following strategies will help you locate users' documents:

Search user profile folders The Desktop and My Documents folders are only two of many locations where you will find user data in the user profile folders. Ideally, however, these two folders are the primary location of users' documents.
Interview users and SMEs Survey users and interview SMEs to determine common storage locations for documents. An intranet Web site, possibly based on Windows SharePoint Services, is an ideal data-collection tool.
Scan a sample of disks Search the local disks for common document file extensions such as .doc and .xls. Although you can't scan every disk in the organization, you can scan a representative sample to give you an idea of where you'll find documents.
Search Recent Documents Scan the Recent folder in users' profiles to determine the locations most frequently used to store data. This can expose some of the less intuitive storage locations. Search a representative sample of users in the organization.

USMT and ACT

Application Compatibility Toolkit 4.0 (ACT 4.0) always grabbed the registered file extensions in the log files but never posted them to the database. In my review of the functional specification of ACT 5.0, log data posted to the database even if it wasn't exposed in the graphical user interface (GUI).

With a little work using SQL Server, you should be able to use ACT to find out which applications you are migrating and then sort the file extensions you need for USMT in a more logical fashion. For example, you can extract the file extensions that are a high priority from the ACT database for applications in the portfolio and then focus on migrating those applications first.