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I Am InWe are able to setup automation for 14 of the most common flexible asset types.
Flexible asset automation via the API of either ITGlue or Hudu is such a great time saving exercise. Using something like Connectwise Automate or other RMM tool, we set up the automated flexible assets below to run on a regular schedule.
Anywhere from once per day to once a week works well and does impact the operational side of the servers that you run them from. We can install these as part of a MSP documentation upgrade and the process of setting them up is relatively straight forward.
The main delay in setting up flexible asset powershell scripts is the amount of servers out there that still only have a very old version of Powershell. Upgrading a servers powershell version often requires a reboot making this quite a disruptive evolution and one that requires a well thought out communication plan to keep your clients happy.
I have engaged with many companies that pay for Liongard and I have never really warmed to it.
The scripts listed below will collect most of the otherwise labor intensive manual collection of information and do it error free using existing tools. They can be easily set up by a support technician with medium levels of skill and they do not duplicate records into ITGlue like Liongard does.
That has always been my pet hate of Liongard, initially I thought I had misconfigured it and followed up with support. I was finding thousands of configuration duplicates in IT Glue which of course creates severe trust issues when there are multiple records for the same device.
I found out that having duplicates is how Liongard works. So say you have a server, workstation, firewall or switch that is automatically created as a configuration device within ITGlue.
Liongard will not overlay the information it finds on that device and add it to the configuration, instead it creates the device as a flexible asset so you have a flexible asset and a configuration of the same device, it was a nightmare.
Even worse, it applies an automated naming convention that cannot be changed. Do not get me wrong, it has the ability to convey massive amounts of raw data into ITGlue and I know quite a few organizations that have invested considerable time into setting it up correctly and are happy with it.
The biggest issue for me with Liongard is the significant investment required to get it anywhere near effective and as above, it turns any beautifully curated ITGlue system into an awful mess.
Ultimately I have found the collection of powershell scripts below handle automating everything you need and integrate with ITGlue far better than Liongard can. The final straw for me is that they have downsized recently and layed off a sizable portion of their workforce.
There are two main benefits derived from automating flexible asset updates, first is that human error is eliminated. It is the biggest issue with entering updated information into your documentation application and that is the large number of errors introduced.
The second is the excessive amount of time required to update massive amounts of information means that when it comes to some of the information that is updated automatically such as AD administrator accounts and Remote user login sessions under relevant servers, it is just too impractical to manually add this information in and keep it updated.
I have seen so many times where companies will go in with a great deal of enthusiasm and actually spend significant time on manually entering data that changes regularly. Of course it is outdated almost before the data entry has even finished and then nobody ever updates it again.
This means the significant manual effort was wasted and the information is untrustworthy. Help desk staff then stop using it and before you know it, the expensive documentation software you purchased is turned into a glorified password manager.
We are able to set up automation for 15 of the most useful types of information.
Part of the documentation improvement process is to automate as much as possible. It cuts down on human error & also ensures the information is up to date. Below are the flexible asset types we can automate.
| Automated Flexible Assets |
|---|
| Active Directory Groups |
| Azure Active Directory Settings |
| Azure Virtual Machines |
| Bitlocker Key Documentation |
| Device audit log |
| DHCP server settings |
| File Share Permissions |
| Hyper-v & Physical Server Settings |
| Intune Devices |
| Office 365 Secure Score |
| Office 365 usage reports |
| Print Servers |
| Remote Access Session Auditing |
| Security Breaches using HIBP API |
| SQL Databases |
| Unifi Devices & infrastructure |
We have a number of other IT service desk provider articles listed below that will provide you with more detailed information on a number of related topics:
https://optimizeddocs.com/blogs/consulting/consulting-index-page-01
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