Question about VMWare virtual machines (cloning or duplicating)

I have been asked to take on a job creating and maintaining virtual servers that are going to be hosted on a Dell FX2 (VMWare Essentials 6+) and an SCv2020 Storage Controller, but I am new to the process of the setting the VM's.  I guess my question is how hard is it to duplicate a clean VM of the server?  If I'm going to be running 3 instances of Server 2012 R2, is it as simple as creating the first image and creating a clone, or is there going to be the process of doing 3 separate installs of the OS?

Thanks in advance,

Dave T