How to create deployment plans in Desktop Analytics

This article provides the steps for creating a deployment plan in Desktop Analytics. Before you start, first learn about deployment plans.

Create a plan for Windows 10

Follow the steps in this section to use Desktop Analytics to create a plan for deploying Windows 10.

1. Open the Desktop Analytics portal. Use credentials that have at least Workspace Contributors permissions.

2. Select Deployment Plans in the Manage group.

3. In the Deployment Plans pane, select Create.

4. In the Create deployment plan pane, configure the following settings:

   • Name: A unique name for the deployment plan

   • Products and versions: Choose which Windows 10 version to deploy. Microsoft recommends creating deployment plans that use the most recent version.

   • Device groups: Select one or more groups from the same hierarchy. These groups are device collections synchronized from Configuration Manager.

     If you connect multiple Configuration Manager hierarchies to the same Desktop Analytics instance, a display name for the hierarchy prefixes the collection name in the global pilot configuration. This name is the Display Name property on the Desktop Analytics connection in the Configuration Manager console.

     Note

     Support for multiple hierarchies requires Configuration Manager version 1910 or later.

     If you select collections for multiple hierarchies, the portal displays a warning. You can't create the deployment plan with collections from multiple hierarchies.

   • Readiness rules: These rules help to determine which devices qualify for upgrade. For more information, see Readiness rules.

   • Completion date: Choose the date by which Windows should be fully deployed to all the targeted devices.

5. Select Create. The new plan appears in the list of deployment plans while its being processed. To expedite processing, request an on-demand data refresh. For more information, see Desktop Analytics FAQ.

6. Open the deployment plan by selecting its name.

7. On the deployment plan menu, in the Prepare group, select Identify importance.

   1. On the Apps tab, select to show only Not Reviewed assets.

   2. Select each app, and then select Edit. You can select more than one app to edit at the same time.

   3. Choose an importance level from the Importance list. If you want Desktop Analytics to validate the app during the pilot, select Critical or Important. It doesn't validate apps marked as Not Important. Assess its compatibility and other plan insights when assigning importance levels.

      When assigning importance levels, you can also choose the Upgrade decision.

   4. Select Save when complete.

8. On the deployment plan menu, in the Prepare group, select Identify pilot.

   1. Review the recommended devices for the pilot.

   2. Select each device, and select Add to Pilot. If you disagree with the recommendation, select Replace.

      For more information on how Desktop Analytics makes these recommendations, select the information icon in the top right corner of the Identify pilot pane.

Readiness rules

These rules help you determine which devices qualify for in-place upgrade. You can set these rules when you create the deployment plan, or edit them later.

To change the readiness rules:

1. In the Desktop Analytics portal, select the deployment plan.
2. Next to the name, select Edit.
3. Select Readiness rules.
4. Select Windows OS.
5. Make changes as necessary, and select Save.

For Windows OS upgrades, there are two rules available: Device drivers and Windows applications.

Device drivers

Configure whether your devices get drivers from Windows Update. This value is Off by default. Enable this rule when you're using Windows Update for Business to manage updates including drivers. If you're using Configuration Manager to manage software updates, set this rule to Off.

Windows applications

The apps that Desktop Analytics show as noteworthy are based on the low install count threshold. Set this threshold in the readiness rules for the deployment plan. By default, this threshold is 2.0%. You can change the value from 0.0 to 10.0.

Next steps

Advance to the next article to deploy to pilot devices.

Deploy to pilot