Hey Syncro Users,
Happy Thursday!
Today we’re sharing some more automation fun using Asset Custom Fields and Scripting within Syncro.
Let’s say you want to track information about an Asset, such as whether a certain program is installed on it, what the device serial number is, etc.
A typical (manual) process for this might include first creating Custom Fields to appear on the Asset details page, then gathering the information you need from the Asset to complete each field, and finally filling out the Custom Fields each time you create or update an Asset.
With Syncro, you can automate certain pieces of this process using automation scripting. Let’s take a look at how this works…
Let’s say you want to track which Assets have Office 365 installed on them. First you’d need to create this Custom Field so it appears in the Asset Information section you would complete for a certain Asset type:
1. Log into your Syncro account and make your way to the “Assets & RMM” tab.
2. Click on the “Actions” dropdown menu in the top right corner of the page and select “Manage Asset Types.”
3. Here you will see a list of the different Asset types you’ve created.
4. In this example, we are going to create a new Custom Field for the Syncro Device Asset type by clicking on the “Manage Fields” button next to this Asset type.
5. Here you will see a list of the default Custom Fields for Syncro Devices, as well as any Custom Fields that you’ve created. Any Custom Fields you’ve created will have options to “edit” or “delete.” Click on the “New Field” button to create the Office 365 Custom Field.
6. Complete the information as you wish for it to appear in the “Asset Information” section of your account, like so:
7. Now, when you go to a Syncro Device Asset and click the “View All” button in the “Asset Information” section, you will see the Office 365 Custom Field appear.
8. At this point, you have the ability to manually checkmark the box to note which devices have Office 365 installed.
Now, let’s run through how you can automate the process of gathering the information you want to track about an Asset, as well as how to fill in the Custom Field(s) with this information automatically.
Using Syncro’s Scripting module, you can first create a script which will check for the Custom Field information on the Asset, and then fill in the field automatically anytime a new Asset is added and/or when the information on an Asset changes and needs to be updated in Syncro.
Here’s how this is done:
1. Make your way to the Scripting module of your Syncro account.
2. Click on the “New Script” button in the top right corner of the page.
3. Complete the necessary fields to name your script, describe it, etc.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see examples of Powershell scripts you can use to help write your script.
5. Build the script in a way that includes checking Asset information, automatically completing the Custom Fields associated with this information, and running the script on a schedule to continually check for updates to this information.
- In our example, you’d first want to gather the information you need to complete the Custom Field by checking to see if Office 365 is installed on a device.
- Then you’d want to use the “Set Asset Field” script, for example, to complete the Custom Field for Office 365 automatically on each Asset once it is set up to run.
- You can choose to then run this script on a schedule so fields are updated regularly or you can even add it to a Policy so when the Policy gets applied or changed you can have this information updated on the Asset automatically!
That’s all there is to it!
We’ve heard some great ideas regarding the use of this type of automation, such as developing a “new computer set up” script to apply to the Policy upon Policy change so that whenever you add the Policy all of your Custom Fields are set from the jump!
This functionality can also become even more powerful when used in conjunction with Recurring Invoices. Via our “Asset/RMM Counter” line item type, you can automatically update the quantity you’re billing for based on Custom Asset Fields. In this example, you could automatically bill your client for the correct number of Office 365 licenses each month because you know which endpoints have it installed.
Please let us know what ways you plan to use Scripting to automate your work with Asset Custom Fields by emailing help@syncromsp.com. We would love to hear from you!
Enjoy,
The Syncro Team