Managaging baselines: suggestions?
[Inventory & Deploy, Enterprise 18.1]
Hi,
I have a package I call 'Baseline' which has lots of nested packages added to it (7-Zip, C++ runtimes, VLC, Acrobat Reader, etc). When a new PC is added to AD and shows up in PDQ Inventory, I manually deploy the 'Baseline' package. Also, these nested packages each have a schedule attached (targetted to dynamic PDQ Inventory groups) to ensure they are kept up to date.
However, I would like a simple view showing machines which are non-compliant with my baseline. Importantly, the view should show why the machines are non-complient, eg, which applications are missing, or which application versions are out of date.
I could create an Inventory dynamic group and set the criteria to show all computers which don't have all my baseline nested apps (and at the current verison), but this isn't going to tell my why a computer isn't compliant.
Would Reports be suitable for this? If so, is there a template, or tips for getting started with this?
An easy way to manage baselines could be a whole new powerful feature for PDQ Inventory. Something with an easy-to-read overview, showing traffic lights (eg red for a computer with one or more missing applications, amber for a computer with one or more out of date versions, and green for fully compliant). Then the ability to drill down into each computer to see why it is non-compliant, perhaps with one-click buttons to bring the computer back into compliance, etc. There is a lot of potential for a feature like this. Apologies if it has been suggested (and answered) before.
Comments
I use the Collection Library in Inventory for this. Each package has a collection for packages that are not installed, installed but old, and installed and latest.
I have a schedule setup on heartbeat pointing to the "old" collection and "not installed" collection for each program I want to level-set.
I've got AD syncing happening every 30 mins, and heartbeat every 5 mins. This way if a new machine shows up, or a machine that hasn't been online, it automatically queues up everything it needs to level-set.
I could write a report to show me everything in the "old" or "not installed" collections, but it's easier for me to see it at a glance at the collection library.