When using third party applications in exams, you need to use some kind of controlled operating system environment. You need to make sure that the file system is cleaned before the exam and doesn't contain private files and that Internet access for all applications is restricted to the exam server. That's something no lockdown solution can achieve reliably without the operating system being configured in such a way.
So you can either used managed PCs with a special setup for exams. But then your system administrators need to set up these machines with a reliable deployment system or network boot. They also need to monitor and maintain this system very well, especially for making sure that everything still works correctly after each time the setup of each computer is switched (for example from regular computer lab setup to exam setup).
That's why we at ETH Zurich use virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) for all exams where full Windows third party applications are used in exams. SEB secures the local machine, so only the virtual desktop can be accessed (and not locally installed applications). In the VDI desktops all allowed applications are installed, but the file system doesn't contain student data and Internet access is restricted. We have a German description of this SEB/VDI environment and an English technical document about the software and hardware used.
The VDI solution has quite high hardware and software license requirements, but it is much easier to handle and more reliable than doing all of that directly on managed computers. It also works with BYOD, in this case the VMware Horizon View HTML Access feature can be used, so that SEB on the student computer displays the remote virtual desktop in a full screen browser window. Given an enough stable network connection, this solution has a surprisingly good performance.
