Note on privacy: Client identifiers and sensitive details have been anonymised/redacted.
Summary for busy readers
A Swiss design and architecture school (administratively attached to a French group) needed a structured migration and harmonisation into the group’s environment. This was neither a crisis nor a hardware refresh. It was competence‑led: assessment, standardisation, VPN integration, centralised apps (TSE/Citrix) and secure, accountable printing — delivered with no hardware sales. The cutover was smooth; users (faculty, students, admin) experienced a consistent workspace and management gained visibility without disruption.
Client context
- Organisation: Swiss design/architecture school joined to a French school group.
- Starting point: Functional local IT but poorly documented.
- Goal: Integrate cleanly into a central, secure, documented environment with minimal friction.
Objectives
- Harmonise Swiss and French IT environments.
- Centralise administration, user accounts and servers.
- Standardise user practices for faculty, students and admin staff.
- Increase management visibility on assets, usage and cost.
- Reduce printing waste and enforce accountability.
Approach (competence and standardisation only — no hardware sales)
- Asset inventory & analysis
Established a baseline (workstations, local servers, student Wi‑Fi, software, internal processes) to integrate safely into the group infrastructure. - Network harmonisation via Juniper VPN
Built a site‑to‑site tunnel to the French network for secure access to the central datacentre and standardised configurations and data flows.
Rationale: central policy control, consistent routing, simplified support. - Application centralisation via TSE/Citrix
Before: local servers, local apps, isolated environment.
After: central account management, data in the central datacentre, access through TSE/Citrix aligned with other schools.
Benefits: smoother updates, simpler support, improved security posture. - Secure, centralised printing (Xerox)
Implemented follow‑me printing with PIN authentication, central queues, and auto‑deletion of unclaimed jobs → immediate (observable) waste reduction. - Collaboration & knowledge transfer
Worked with the newly hired IT technician: explained existing components (student Wi‑Fi, TSE/Citrix split, workstations, network), shared SOPs and dependencies (sites, servers, VPN, environments), and supported initial migrations.
Outcome: the technician operates autonomously post‑project.
Outcomes
- Unified administration across Switzerland and France.
- Smooth go‑live with a consistent user experience for faculty, students and admin staff.
- Reduced print waste through secure, accountable printing (follow‑me + PIN).
- Improved visibility on assets, usage and costs for management.
- Standardised admin environment: easier to maintain, fewer surprises.
- No capex push: results achieved through method and standardisation, not equipment sales.
What similar organisations can reuse
- Start with a complete, documented baseline before touching routing or identity.
- Use a site‑to‑site VPN to centralise policies and simplify support.
- Centralise applications/sessions (e.g., TSE/Citrix) to align updates and security.
- Deploy follow‑me printing with authentication to reduce waste and costs.
- Prepare SOPs and a short “map of dependencies” (sites ↔ VPN ↔ apps ↔ printing).
- Plan knowledge transfer so local IT can run independently after cutover.
Gotchas & limits
- Documentation lag can sabotage smooth integrations — freeze changes during discovery.
- Printing behaviours take time to stabilise; reinforce PIN use and auto‑purge policies.
- Bandwidth/latency considerations for centralised sessions — validate real user journeys.
Next steps
- If you need ad‑hoc, hands‑on migration and harmonisation without buying hardware, review our Capabilities for larger organisations.
- If ongoing, lightweight governance is desired post‑migration, consider Delegated IT leadership.
- For a diagnostic first step (when visibility is low), see IT audit for SMEs.