Interpreting Your Precursor Monthly Report

Overview

The Precursor Systems Monthly Report is an executive summary to help you understand what is happening support-wise and maintenance-wise with your technology. We gather this information from various services and tools and present it in an easy to view and understand format.

Managed Software

We keep you fleet up-to-date with Managed Software Center - our implementation of a project used by Disney and other corporations and institutions to keep devices provisioned with curated and fully patched software applications.

Here you can see:

• the number of computers being addressed
• the number of completed installs
• the number of installs pending (e.g. may require a restart)
• the number of installs that failed - if any

Note that if a computer has not checked in for a week it may not be enumerated in the total number of computers. However, you will see it enumerated in the Mosyle stats (see blow)

DetectX

Your computers are scanned for malware by Sqwarq's DetectX - A lightweight, troubleshooting and security app for Macs to help find and remove adware, malware, keyloggers, and other unwanted programs. (Watchman Monitoring also does malware scanning - see below)

Here you can see:

• the number of computers that are clean
• the number of computers with suspicious activity
• the number of computers that have an infection

Zendesk

We use a highly customized implementation of Zendesk to track your issues (and cut down on unnecessary emails).

Here you can see:

• the number of issues solved in the last 30 days
• the number of issues we are still working on

Please note: This tracks ONLY the issues reported through our custom Trouble Report form (available in the Precursor Contact Menu in your Mac's menubar or your Windows' Taskbar).
While we try to respond even if your staff call, text or email us those issues are NOT tracked.

So PLEASE, encourage your staff to use the Precursor Trouble Report form. It's easy!

Watchman Monitoring

Watchman Monitoring provides the Precursor Health Agent that helps us take pro-active steps to ensure your computer is running efficiently and safely. It lets us know if your disk is getting to be too full, if your software or ssl subscriptions are coming up for renewal, if you have malware, and many other computer health related things.

Here you can see:

• the number of warnings that Watchman is telling us about (disk getting full, etc.)

Watchman does NOT look at your data or your activity. For a full privacy statement see: Watchman Privacy Overview

So PLEASE, encourage your staff to use the Precursor Trouble Report form. It's easy!

MacOS

macOS reports on the version of operating system on each computer.

DNSFilter

Our DNS Filtering solution works seamlessly in the background to help protect against:

• Phishing Attacks
• Malware
• Ransomware
• Cryptojacking
• Zero-Day threats
• Typosquatting
• Man-in-the-Middle attacks

If you don't see any numbers in the DNSFiltering section your organization does not qualify for this service and may already have its own protection system in place that DNSFilter would conflict with. Check with your network administrator.

Mosyle

The Mosyle MDM (Mobile Device Management) service helps secure and provision your devices.

Here you can see:

• the number of computers that are managed
• the number of iOS (iphones/iPads) that are managed
• the number of Apple TVs that are managed

The implemenation of Mosyle we utilize is free for up to 30 devices and numbers over 30 are billed (by Mosyle) at $1 US / device / month (paid annually)

If you don't see any numbers in the DNSFiltering section your organization is not using Mosyle MDM.

Asset Age

In the Asset Age category we try to provide rough budget numbers for replacing equipment that is more than five years old.

Because of changes Apple has made to the most recent computers some newer computers may not be enumerated. We hope to correct this in a future update to this feature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why is the number of computers different in Managed Software Center vs Mosyle?

A: This can happen if a computer is out of service for a while e.g. if someone is on vacation. It will stop being enumerated in Managed Software Center stats but will still be in Mosyle.

Q: I am concerned about the number of Watchman Warnings. What if they are serious?

A: Watchman warnings come and go frequently and cover a very wide area some of which are crucial and some of which are trivial. Precursor is dedicated to watching these warnings and dealing pro-actively with anything that needs to be taken care of immediately.

Q: I don't see all my computers listed under Asset Age

A: Because of changes Apple has made to its serial number database and other matters some very recent models are not being listed in this module. We hope to resolve this in a future update. In the meantime, our main concern here is budget projections for devices more than five years old.

Q: Why don't I see any Zendesk activity?

A: Zendesk is triggered only when your employees report their issues using your custom Precursor Trouble Report From available from the Precursor Contact Menu (the "P" icon) that displays in your Mac's menubar. If employees are calling, texting, or emailing we try to repsond but these instances are not tracked or documented. IF your employee uses are Trouble Report Form you will be able to track the progress and view the history of work reports in your custom Precursor Customer Portal.

Q: Am I really expected to spend the amount listed in Asset Age?

A: For budgeting purposes we have provided a rough estimate of what it would cost to replace computer equipment older than 5 years. For a detailed quote we would provide a proposal in your custom Apple Store.