Change Log And Upgrade Process
Change log
The Remote Worker Experience pack is currently being regularly updated.
V6.1.0.0
Version 6.1.0.0 enables metrics in the pack to be compatible with macOS systems. These metrics have also been updated to be compatible with the latest version of DEX V2. Additionally, two new remote actions: "Check Certificate Validity" and "Get Encryption Information", for macOS have been incorporated in to the pack.
The Check Certificate Validity Remote Action allows administrators to determine if valid certificates are installed on the macOS device and the number of days until they expire. The Get Encryption Information Remote Action determines if the target macOS device's disk is encrypted or not, the encryption method used and if FileVault is enabled.
V6.0.0.0
Version 6.0.0.0 increases the visibility of Windows 10 from a remote working perspective.
The pack gives a view of the version dispersion across the landscape and for each version it finds, delivers the key metrics needed - whether there are high memory errors, warnings, crashes, and so forth.
In addition, it focuses on changes in the Digital Experience Score on these different versions of Windows 10 if the Device has recently received software updates. It is quite possible an incorrectly behaving update may affect the Digital Experience of the Windows 10 user so by comparing the Digital Experience Scores of machines that are recently updated you will be able to quickly isolate any problems occurring following an update being received.
V5.0.0.0
This update adds a new “Monitor – O365 ProPlus” dashboard to the pack which looks at the compliance of Office 365 ProPlus's continuous patching cycle, focusing on remote workers. This dashboard provides valuable insight:
Tracks the progress towards patching the Office365 landscape to a desired level of compliance.
Breaks down the productivity DEX Score by users on the required patch version compared with those with an outdated version.
Gives an overview of the current state of Office 365 ProPlus version dispersion in the landscape.
Outside the core Remote Worker packs note that there is also remote working updates to the separate Device Compliance Pack:
Breakdowns by worker type (office/remote) for each dashboard.
Critical new software compliance insight, such as top forbidden binaries and breakdowns of non-compliance software at a particular version level (for example a zoom version is known to cause audio lag).
This can be installed at any time independent of the Remote Worker pack itself if wished.
V4.0.0.0
In version 4.0.0.0 of the Remote Worker Experience pack, the following additions are present:
In the "Monitor - Compliance" Dashboard key security KPIs are present: Antivirus, Windows Firewall Real-Time Protection, and whether User Access Control is enabled for better coverage of the key aspects of your remote landscape.
As a separate, optional Library Pack, the Windows Defender Management pack has been updated with more dashboards, greater detail, and a breakdown of the Defender status for Office and Remote Workers.
As a separate, optional Library Pack, the Level 1 and Level 1 Advanced Checklists have now got several Remote Worker checks in them, such as Wi-Fi Signal Strength, Certificate Check, Password expiration, and more.
Note that the Defender and Checklists are entirely optional items and the Remote Worker Pack can be downloaded by itself if wished.
V3.3.0.0
In version 3.3.0.0 of the Remote Worker Experience pack, the following additions are present:
Bitlocker status has been added to the Readiness dashboards (both Assessment and Compliance). Using the Get-BitlockerStatus Remote Action. Note that this can be combined with the equivalent Set remote action to encrypt disks remotely if required.
V3.2.0.0
In version 3.2.0.0 of the Remote Worker Experience pack, the following changes should be noted:
The metrics around "Remote Worker Experience - Well-being" will offer to upgrade, this is because of a bug fix around the grouping which has no effect on the UI, therefore if you wish to keep your existing data you can skip this.
The dashboards have been renamed and re-ordered in the Portal to make them clearer and more intuitive, they have been given descriptive precursors such as Readiness, Monitor, and Sentiment. One of the side effects of this is that when an upgrade from a previous version takes place, Finder may create empty folders with these new names as it is programmed to keep existing metrics in their current folders. This has no impact on functionality, we would recommend customers to move their metrics from the legacy named folders to the news ones aligning with the portal dashboards and then they can safely remove the old folders.
Minor typos in the campaigns.
V3.1.0.0
In version 3.1.0.0 of the Remote Worker Experience pack the following changes should be noted:
Wifi Experience is now measured. The dashboard uses both a Remote Action and a Campaign to populate the Wifi data so please ensure if you want to measure this you have targeted and enabled the Remote Action and Campaign accordingly. See below for details on these steps.
Minor bugfixes – minor changes to the text on 2 KPI's.
V3.0.0.0
In version 3.0.0.0 of the Remote Worker Experience pack the following changes should be noted:
There is a new category, “Unwanted Domains” which lists domains or categories of websites that it is preferred people do not visit, not necessarily because they are banned, but perhaps to save bandwidth. This category can be populated with tagging conditions that you wish, such as wildcard site names, domain categories, and so forth.
New Dashboards exist for monitoring application metrics and user experience technical data such as response times. There are a number of TopX widgets allowing you to address any high consumption, unstable, or slow responding items.
Employee Wellness Campaign. This Engage Campaign targets Remote Workers with a wellness questionnaire to understand how they are feeling when working remotely. It is a non-IT related campaign and will give an indication of employee satisfaction outside purely the IT spectrum.
In the existing Satisfaction campaign, there are 2 additional choices to the question "Which of the following issues do you experience when working remotely?": VPN-related issues and Slow or unstable internet connection.
V2.0.0.0
Please note that in version 2.0.0.0 the following changes are important:
The Application Category ‘Home Office – Applications' has been removed. This category is superseded by categories for both packages and for executables for the covered applications. Please see below for the configuration of these packages. If you are upgrading from the initial release of this pack, please re-populate the new categories with any additional packages or executables you wish to cover (details further down).
MacOS support is added where possible. Note that not all the dashboards fully support the range of data collected with regards macOS so take note that some dashboards may be partially Mac and Windows and some widgets just Windows.
Zoom is added. As with the previous version, only use what you need – if you wish to remove any of the Zoom, Skype for Business, Teams, or the various Firewall or VPN apps you are more than welcome to do so. Details on this procedure are below.
Finally, as with the earlier pack, take particular note that the automatic detection using the IP address uses a feature (last local IP) that is only available since version 6.24 of Nexthink and only when the collector is using TCP as its communication channel. If your environment is below this level, or still uses UDP, then please uses the manual categorization of the User class, to identify your remote employees.
Upgrade process
When upgrading a Nexthink Library Pack from one version to the next, particular care should be taken.
Once you have read and understood this process, please return here for specific instructions regarding this pack.
Post V1.x Upgrade
If you have upgraded from V1.x then there are some objects which will remain in place after the upgrade which are no longer needed, these can safely be removed:
| Type | Name | Reason |
|---|---|---|
Module | Remote Worker Experience | Replaced by the new module |
Module | Remote Worker Services | Replaced by the new module |
Category | Home Office – Applications | Replaced by new categories |
Metric | Remote Worker Experience - Readiness Assessment - ALL Ready Users | Obsolete |
Metric | Remote Worker Experience - Readiness Assessment - ALL Not Ready Users | Obsolete |
Metric | Remote Worker Experience - Sentiment - Positive points | Obsolete |
Metric | Remote Worker Experience - Sentiment - Users enjoying work remotely | Obsolete |
Metric | Remote Worker Experience - Sentiment - Users not enjoying work remotely | Obsolete |
Post V2.x Upgrade
When upgrading from V2.x, there are a large number of metrics that will conflict mainly due to the inclusion of MacOS in the criteria, plus the use of the new categories (mainly Readiness Assessment and Understanding Remote Landscape). You must choose to Replace as the menu option for all content which will align the criteria and configuration to the new pack and use the new categories where relevant. Any customizations made will need to be re-entered.
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