# Benefits to IS Support

Since software configuration will be managed centrally, there should be fewer problems that can be traced back to individual customizations that end users have made to the operating system configuration. Re-installation of the operating system and applications will require minimal human interaction. Using a centralized file system means that software configurations will be consistent resulting in much less time spent on determining what is actually installed on a machine. And much less time spent on convincing users to upgrade pieces of their system. The use of AFS also means that there will be fewer questions about how to migrate files from one file system to another.

The common name space will also benefit IS Support. Group membership, and access control list membership will be consistent across Athena and Pismere. This will mean that people that maintain or modify this information for people now will be able to do this with one set of tools, and only have to do it once to affect all users.