Key Task: Assign the Data Source for a Widget to Analyze Remediation Actions (Advanced)

In order to reduce the number of IT tickets and improve user experience, Aternity developed the Remediation feature. Remediation allows IT help desk personnel to identify issues that can cause problems and remotely fix them before they are escalated. Running remediation actions remotely resolves performance issues on end user Windows devices by one-click reducing the problem-solving time and the risk of human errors. Remediation actions can be triggered automatically based on Service Desk Alerts, manually by IT help desk personnel or from external systems using REST API. For example, identify that a user has low disk space and trigger the Empty Recycle Bin action before end user is out of disk space, or stop Windows service that should not run on the device.

This functionality applies only to Windows end-user devices with Agent 12 or later. Install the Agent for End User Devices locally on a Windows desktop or laptop.

Use Data Source Remediation Actions to customize the visual representation of all executed remedial actions to investigate and analyze their statuses. For example, if many actions failed, you may want to check the script for errors, if many actions were declined by users, you may want to check if the end user confirmation message is clear enough.
View all executed actions and their states

If the data you need for your investigation is not available in the non-advanced Analyze dashboard, use the Advanced version to design your own layout, by customizing and displaying only the data which you need.

This dashboard displays raw data in real time, refreshing every time you access it or whenever you manually refresh the browser page.

About how long Aternity keeps this data (retention) and how far back you can go, read here.
Note

Remediation is supported for Windows devices only.

If you saved this dashboard for later viewing, it opens the main sheet (only) in view mode. To further customize (if you have permission), select Edit.

Advanced dashboards, including both library dashboards and custom dashboards have a large set of relevant drill down options automatically added to them. Drilling down from a custom dashboard to out-of-the-box dashboards weaves the custom dashboards into the Aternity workflow, allowing them to become an entry point to a much deeper data analysis in other dashboards.

Tip

You can also view and analyze this data using the REMEDIATION_ACTIONS_RUN_RAW REST API. To read about dimensions and measures definitions, use the REST API documentation. (Learn more).

Procedure

  1. Step 1 Open a browser and sign in to Aternity.
  2. Step 2 Select Main Menu > Analyze > Create Your Own Dashboard.
    Select what kind of data you want to analyze
  3. Step 3 Select Remediation data source.
  4. Step 4 Customize the dashboard by dragging measures and dimensions to the Columns and Rows bar, so that you can compare specific attributes.

    General values and attributes related to devices and applications are explained in the console_admin_app_activities_ootb.dita topic and its sub-topics. Remediation specific terms are explained in the table below:

    Dimensions Description
    Action Execution Status

    The workflow involves writing scripts, adding them to Aternity and then executing remediation actions manually (from the Troubleshoot Device Events dashboard or from the Remediation screen) or automatically (triggered by service desk alerts).

    Once the action has been executed, the end user gets a message and has to confirm the operation on the end point. Not necessarily that the action is immediately confirmed, it can happen after some time (for example, if the user is out of the office) or even never (for example, if the user does not want to confirm the operation).

    There are several statuses:
    • Completed: The remediation process is completed. Refer to the Action States to learn how it was completed.
    • In progress: The remediation process is running. Refer to the Action States to learn in what stage it is now.

    Different states are detailed below in the table.
    Action Names Displays the name of the remediation action.
    Action Output Messages

    Displays the output message for the action state.

    (For Completed successfully and Failed states only): The output message should be set as part of the script during its creation. In case of failure, the message describes the reason of failure, and in case of success, it brings some additional information about the action. For example, the recycle bin has been cleaned or the Agent has been stopped.

    (For Rejected by Agent’s signing policy state only) See the list of potential issues:
    • Signing issue: Script is not signed, or script signature is corrupted - Displayed in case the script is not signed at all or its signature was manipulated.
    • Signing issue: Script signature is not valid - Displayed in case the signature does not match the script.
    • Signing issue: The root certificate is not trusted - Displayed in case the root certificate of the certificate that was used to sign the script is not in the trusted root certification authorities.
    • Signing issue: The certificate is not trusted - Displayed in case the certificate that was used to sign the script is not in the trusted publishers and is not explicitly trusted by the Agent.
    Action Parameter Name

    Displays the name of the parameter.
    Action Parameter Value

    Displays the value of the parameter.
    Action States
    Completed actions can be of different states:
    • Completed successfully: The remediation has been successfully completed.
    • User declined: The user does not want to run this operation on the device and declined the action.
    • Failed: The script failed for some reason. Examine the Action Output Message to get more information.

    • Rejected by Agent’s signing policy: The action was rejected because of the signing policy predefined for the Aternity Agent.

    • Action Expired: The action did not eventually run during the allowed time period (set in the action definition). It can be that the user was logged out, or did not confirm the notification message, or the Agent for End User Devices was not connected.
    • Action timeout: If the script is running more than ten minutes, the Agent for End User Devices stops the action.
    Actions that are in progress have different states:
    • Triggered: The remedy action has been sent to Windows monitored device.
    • Agent waiting for user login: A user is not logged in and cannot confirm the action execution.
    • Notification issued to user: A user is logged in and the Agent for End User Devices is waiting for user confirmation to start a remediation.
    • Action running: A user confirmed running a remedy script on the device and the script is running on the Windows monitored device.
    Timeframe

    You can change the start time of the data displayed in the dashboard in the Timeframe menu in the top right corner of the screen. This menu impacts all tabs available in this view.

    You can access data in this dashboard (retention) going back up to 90 days. Learn more.
    Action Triggered By

    For a manual action - It displays the user name who executed the action. For an automatic action - It displays the name of the SDA alert.
    Action Trigger Type

    Displays the type of the trigger that started the remediation.
    Expiration Timestamp

    If not confirmed by user, the action run request expires at some moment. Expiration timestamp is the time when the request expired.
    Last Update State Timestamp

    Displays the time and date of the latest update of the action state.
    Run Description

    Displays the description of the action.
    Run ID

    Displays the ID of the action run process.
    Measures Description
    Average Script Duration

    The average time a script was running. Calculates only scripts that ran and completed successfully.
    Confirmed Percent

    The percent of user-accepted actions out of total number of times when users clicked Yes or No.
    Failed Percent

    The percent of failed actions. Considers only the actions in which the script started to run and counts those actions that failed.
    Number of Devices

    A unique number of devices.
    Pending User Confirmation

    Number of actions that are waiting for users to confirm the remediation action execution. By default, this measurement is not selected.
    Total Actions

    A number of all actions in total. For example, action A ran three times and Action B ran two times, the total number of actions is five.

    Unique Actions

    A number of unique actions. For example, action A ran three times and Action B ran two times, the number of unique actions is two. Calculated based on action name. By default, this measurement is not selected.

    For more information on the full editing capabilities of this dashboard, see http://www.tableau.com/learn/training. View the following training sections:

    • Visual Analytics

    • Calculations

    • Tableau Server

    • How To

  5. Step 5 It is possible to create multiple sheets (widgets) in the advanced custom dashboards.
    Instead of having many custom dashboards with a single section each, you can create a single dashboard with all sections you need. This allows more information to be provided within one dashboard displaying much more holistic view, as well as much stronger analytics by cross filtering between the sheets.
    Create multiple sheets in the same dashboard.
    For more information on how to open multiple dashboard sheets in Tableau, see the Tableau tutorial.

    Timeframe drop-down menu in the top right corner of the screen serves all widgets. Use it to set the required timeframe for each widget if necessary.

    Once you have created several widgets and then a dashboard that uses these widgets, save a new dashboard. Make sure to click Save while focusing on the dashboard (in the bottom of the screen there is a list of all open tabs). Note that if, by mistake, the focus is on a widget, the saved view will display this widget instead of dashboard. Click Edit to make changes.

    Focus on a new dashboard to save it
  6. Step 6 It is possible to create multiple tabs within a single dashboard where each tab presents a separate dashboard.

    Tell your story visually by using a sequence of tabs. For example: (a) a list of devices on which antivirus scan was successfully completed, (b) a list of devices on which it failed, (c) a list of viruses found across organization, (d) a trend of all scanning operations, etc.

    1. a Open an advanced dashboard.
    2. b Using the buttons in the bottom, create as many sheets as you want to display on the first dashboard.
      Add a worksheet or dashboard
    3. c Create the first dashboard and rename it.
      Add a new dashboard within an advanced one to create a multi-tabs dashboard
    4. d Using the buttons in the bottom, create as many sheets as you want to display on the second dashboard.
    5. e Create the second dashboard and rename it.
    6. f Repeat steps d & e as many times as you need.
    7. g Highlight a new dashboard to save it.
      Focus on a new dashboard to save it

      Once created and saved, Aternity will display it for you as a dashboard with multiple tabs next time you access it.

      Move from tab to tab within advanced dashboard to tell your story

      For more information on how to open multiple dashboard sheets in Tableau, see the Tableau tutorial.

  7. Step 7 For a deeper analysis, drill-down to out-of-the-box dashboards.
    A set of drill down links to the relevant dashboards are automatically added to each one of the following objects that appear in the tooltip: activity, application, user, or device. Select the required measure on a graph and then select the link from the tooltip to the dashboard where you want to continue your investigation.
    Drill down for a deeper analysis
    Important

    Notice that each dashboard has its own retention, and the timeframe can be defined only within this retention period. When the timeframes of the source and target dashboards do not match, the target dashboard loads with its default timeframe. When you define a custom timeframe in the source dashboard that exceeds the maximum retention period of the target dashboard and then drill down to this dashboard, your target dashboard will display all data stored in the database for the maximum retention period available for that dashboard regardless of the predefined custom timeframe.

  8. Step 8 (Optional) Export the dashboard data to Excel, Image or PDF file.
    1. a Select Download.
      For simple dashboards, at the bottom right of the screen. For advanced dashboards, on the top tool bar.
      Download a dashboard
      Note

      In Analyze dashboards, make sure you scroll down the dashboard until the end of the data. Otherwise, you might not see the Download button.

    2. b Select the required option depending on where you exporting the dashboard.

      • To download as Excel file, select Crosstab

      • To download as an image file, select Image

      • To download as PDF file, select PDF

      • To download as PowerPoint file, select PowerPoint

        Note

        Make sure you have data on a sheet. If the sheet is empty, the Crosstab menu is unavailable.

    3. c For PDF and PowerPoint only, define additional settings.
    4. d Select Download to start the process or Cancel to cancel.

      Open the file from your Downloads folder or from any other predefined destination for file downloads.