Six Ways to Extend and Expand Your Systems Management Capabilities to Your User EnvironmentThe Complementary Solution: Desktop Authority Management Suite

Abstract

Your organization has probably invested in a systems management solution. While solutions such as Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) give IT administrators centralized control over software management, inventory and other key features, they do not help you manage your user environment. For that, you need a comprehensive desktop lifecycle management solution like Dell™ Desktop Authority™ Management Suite. This paper explains how Desktop Authority complements your current systems management solution by giving you more control over your user workspace. Capabilities include providing a secure and consistent user environment, eliminating logon scripts, protecting against data theft and more. By delivering greater efficiencies, tighter security and additional cost savings, Desktop Authority is an essential addition to your network management infrastructure.

Introduction

Organizations of all sizes need a comprehensive solution to cope with the numerous challenges encountered with managing Windows desktops. Desktop configuration, software deployment, remote management, power management, patch application and asset management are all essential building blocks to maintaining a secure and consistent desktop.

Many organizations have chosen solutions such as Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), the Dell™ KACE™ appliances, and systems management solutions from Altiris™ and LANDesk to gain centralized control over software management and inventory along with other key capabilities. However, these solutions do not address the numerous tasks associated with managing the user workspace that IT staff must perform every day.

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The Desktop Authority Management Suite (previously known as ScriptLogic) is a comprehensive user workspace management solution that complements systems management solutions such as Microsoft SCCM by giving IT professionals centralized, granular and integrated control over the user environment.

Key capabilities include:• A consistent and secure user workspace

• Power management and inactivity monitoring

• Logon script elimination and Group Policy simplification

• Data theft prevention with audit of removable storage devices

• Advanced remote management

• Management of user and application privilege levels

Let’s examine each of these six features in turn.

Feature #1. Delivery of a consistent and secure user workspace

Employees need to access important applications and resources every time they log on to their computers. They need a task-oriented workspace optimized for their requirements, regardless of the physical workstation being used to access their workspace.

Desktop Authority delivers the flexibility you need to provide a workspace optimized for each user, group, location and environment. With its comprehensive configuration options and patented Validation Logic technology, you can, for example, customize the applications available from the Start menu and the desktop (see Figure 1), and provide predefined sets of applications and data by redirecting common folders, such as the Common Programs group (see Figure 2).

Feature #2. Power management and inactivity monitoring

Organizations can achieve average power consumption savings of up to 40 percent through use of PC power management, according to research organization Ovum. And Dimensional Research found that 83% of IT professionals surveyed want a desktop power management solution that is integrated with their systems management solutions.1

With Desktop Authority Management Suite’s flexible power schemes, you can maximize energy savings. The Suite’s centralized management console simplifies configuring and reporting on power management settings and its patented Validation Logic gives you granular control over all aspects of Windows power options, such as power schemes, advanced power button settings and hibernation settings. You can determine how each desktop will be configured and granularly select which users and computers receive each setting in order to maximize energy savings.

Starting from the actual hardware and power management settings in your environment, Desktop Authority Management Suite allows you to quickly create custom reports that show how changes to your hardware and settings could affect your power costs (see Figure 3). This flexible reporting capability simplifies the ability to perform ‘what-if’ scenarios and illustrate how settings and hardware changes could potentially affect your power savings.

Figure 1. Streamline each user’s workspace by customizing the applications available from the Start menu and the desktop.

1Dimensional Research, “Desktop Power Management: A Survey of IT Professionals,” 2009.

Figure 2. Provide predefined sets of applications and data by redirecting common folders, such as the Common Programs group.

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Feature #3. Logon script elimination and Group Policy simplification

Organizations have traditionally used either logon scripts or Group Policy to perform desktop configuration tasks such as mapping drives and configuring printers. However, scripts can run slowly and often require costly expertise to develop and maintain, and Group Policy can quickly become complex, particularly if you’re trying to manage things that don’t fit into the Active Directory structure.

Desktop Authority eliminates the need for extensive hand-coded logon scripts and complex Group Policy. With Desktop Authority’s intuitive graphical interface, settings that would normally require extensive scripting or numerous Group Policies can be deployed with just a few mouse clicks (see Figure 4).

Moreover, using Desktop Authority can significantly reduce user logon times. In fact, some customers have reduced logon times from 2 minutes to 25 seconds with Desktop Authority.

Feature #4. Data theft prevention

Removable media devices are now widely used for storing data. To ensure security and regulatory compliance, new safeguards must be implemented to prevent the removal or copying of sensitive data on these devices.

Desktop Authority Management Suite provides policy-based lockdown of USB, storage and communication devices, enabling you to control data from being copied and prevent viruses and illegal software from reaching your network. Desktop Authority gives you granular control over each device type, so you can, for example, allow certain devices to read but not write data, or allow users to read CDs or DVDs but not burn them, as illustrated in Figure 5. You can easily assign permissions for specified devices based on the user’s AD group or site, IP subnets, computer class, type of device or any other established factor.

Feature #5. Advanced remote management

With more users requiring remote access, organizations today need more than the traditional remote control functionality available through other vendors. Instead of just remote control, Desktop Authority delivers true remote management of nearly every aspect of the client operating system. From a dashboard view, administrators have complete control over remote desktops that allows them to manage remote desktops without interrupting user productivity, whether they need to add files

Figure 3. Desktop Authority Management Suite’s flexible reporting simplifies the ability to perform ‘what-if’ scenarios and illustrate how setting and hardware changes could potentially affect your power savings.

Figure 4. Replace complex, time-consuming scripting with simple, easy-to-use graphical configuration.

Figure 5. Desktop Authority Management Suite provides granular, policy-based lockdown of USB, storage and communication devices with multiple levels of security, ranging from allowing complete access to denial on the specified device types.

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to the computer, troubleshoot runaway processes or evaluate performance statistics (see Figure 6).

Desktop Authority simplifies troubleshooting with a chat function, performance statistics, diagnostic tools, remote command prompt and registry access. And it is built with security in mind. You can choose from multiple levels of administrator privileges to ensure that only approved administrators can carry out privileged operations such as shadowing a desktop or deleting files. Moreover, the user’s permission is usually required before support staff can actually view the contents of the screen.

This advanced remote management can generate significant savings. In fact, in one customer case study, The Total Economic Impact™ Of ScriptLogic’s Desktop Authority Solution by Forrester Consulting, Forrester reports that Desktop Authority saved the organization the expense of hiring three to four more technicians.2

Feature #6. Management of user and application privilege levels

Traditional privilege management solutions are typically just as complex and expensive as robust desktop management tools. Desktop Authority Management Suite makes privilege management easy. By automating user privilege settings, Desktop Authority Management Suite keeps users productive and reduces help desk calls, allowing help desk staff to focus on higher priority tasks thereby delivering significant resource and time savings.

Specifically, the Suite allows IT administrators to grant selected privileges to users and enables users to request elevated privileges so they can update their own PCs. With Desktop Authority’s Validation Logic targeting technology, IT staff can elevate and manage user rights quickly and precisely, as shown in Figure 7.

Conclusion

Microsoft SCCM and other systems management solutions address core Windows desktop administration concerns, but they fail to address numerous other facets of the day-to-day user environment, resulting in considerable overhead costs for the IT department and the wider workforce. By supplementing your systems management solution with the Desktop Authority Management Suite, you can centralize and automate routine desktop maintenance tasks for additional cost savings, greater efficiencies and tighter security.

Desktop Authority Management Suite is an award-winning solution that has been helping desktop administrators manage the desktop lifecycle since 1999. This solution improves security and reduces the total cost of ownership for desktops by delivering an optimal user workspace, managing power more efficiently, replacing cumbersome logon scripts and complex Group Policies, restricting the use of removable storage, providing advanced remote assistance, enabling easy management of privilege levels, and reducing help desk calls.

Figure 6. Desktop Authority gives administrators complete control over the remote desktop, including background access to the file system, services, programs and system status—without interrupting the user.

Figure 7. Easy, effective management of user and application privilege levels keeps users productive and reduces help desk calls, allowing IT staff to focus on higher priority tasks thereby resulting in significant savings.

2The Total Economic Impact™ Of ScriptLogic’s Desktop Authority Solution Single Company Analysis, Forrester Consulting,January 6, 2006

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