Change User Group Policy Restrictions without Harming Productivity

This is the first in a  series of posts where we will review some of ControlUp’s unique features that ease and optimize some small, yet important tasks. In this post, we will explore how ControlUp gives you the ability to access a user’s environment and troubleshoot without logging him/her out.

The Issue with SysAdmin Troubleshooting

Consider a common scenario that you face daily: a user reports a failure of some sort that needs to be troubleshooted. First you need  to access diagnostic tools in an unrestricted environment in order to troubleshoot and resolve the issue. Since the standard practice in most enterprise environments is to restrict a user’s access to administrative tools, such as Command Prompt (so that they are unable to tamper with any settings and cause system damage), troubleshooting within the user’s session is very challenging.

Does the above scenario sound familiar?  You betcha!  Traditional methods force you to log the user out of the system and then log in with an unrestricted account. You then troubleshoot the problem and log the user back in with the necessary restrictions.

Two problems arise with this cumbersome method. Firstly,  by changing the environment in a fundamental way you may not experience the same issue as the user because you aren’t able to simulate the user’s environment when the issue occurred. Secondly, logging the user out and back in after troubleshooting causes a break in the flow of the user’s experience.

Additionally, the user is most likely working on various applications that need to be closed in order for you to troubleshoot. This interruption leads to the loss of tasks and the user’s production time, resulting in an inconvenient and inefficient procedure. You may not always take this into consideration, although you should if you would like to optimize the service you provide to your users.

A New Way to Troubleshoot

ControlUp was built by system administrators for system administrators, meaning you. Therefore, we offer solutions to the challenges that you face every day.

Since ending a user’s session to troubleshoot is not optimal, ControlUp gives you the ability to remove group policy restrictions on the fly without logging users out. Within the ControlUp console you locate and highlight the user session. You then apply the built-in ‘Kill Policy’ option giving you access to diagnostic tools, like Command Prompt, needed to troubleshoot and resolve issues all while the user’s application remains open.

After troubleshooting, you close the diagnostic tools used and re-apply the group policy. The policy is applied immediately and seamlessly and your privileges are disabled once again.

Check the video below to learn more:

The ‘Kill Policy’ is just one example of how a small capability can make you more efficient, without harming user productivity. In the next article of this series, we’ll discuss how to take screenshots of end-user sessions in real time.

Learn how using all of the ControlUp features can help you provide a superior end-user experience with the metrics you need to make stellar decisions. You can catch them on video too.