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Nexthink Library

Green IT

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Green IT

Latest Version: 2.0.0.1
|
Updated on April 15, 2024
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Description

Digital workplace technology has a serious and increasing impact on our environment. To reduce their environmental footprint, organizations are turning to those that can best manage workplace technology and make a real difference - IT.

Unfortunately, apart from minor changes to purchasing processes or perhaps an internal email asking employees to reduce printing habits, most IT teams do not have a comprehensive understanding of their Green IT maturity. This holds back the implementation of real, impactful changes at the hardware, infrastructure, and employee behavior level.

So, where do you start your improvement journey?

The Green IT Library Pack enables you to define your organization's level of Green IT maturity with factual and actionable insight. You can understand where you should take action, educate employees about best practices, and reduce unnecessary energy consumption (and their related costs).

This in-depth content pack provides a summary and four focused dashboards to help you:

  • Identify sources of unnecessary energy consumption across devices, hardware components, and IT infrastructure.
  • Drive best practices using remote actions or targeted employee engagement.
  • Monitor carbon footprint in terms of CO2 emitted by the device landscape.
  • Avoid hardware waste by tracking users with multiple unused hardware or detecting devices whose lifecycle can be extended.
  • Quiz your workforce about green IT best practices and deploy targeted engagement campaigns to influence their behavior towards impactful change.

The Green IT Library packs leverage Nexthink's Digital Experience Management capabilities, enabling you to implement and measure the success of your corporate environmental goals without compromising employees' digital experiences.

Screenshots

Versions

  • 2.0.0.1 - 15 Apr 2024 - Minor update to some metrics to reference the correct Remote Actions
  • 2.0.0.0 - 18 Aug 2023 - Added "Get Battery Status" Windows Remote Action
  • 1.5.2.1 - 08 Feb 2023 - Fixing issues related to a campaign causing import issues
  • 1.4.2.1 - 07 Dec 2022 - Minor update and enhancement
  • 1.4.2.0 - 25 Jul 2022 - Updated OS requirements
  • 1.4.1.0 - 25 Jul 2022 - Removed references to non-inclusive language
  • 1.4.0.0 - 22 Jul 2022 - Added compatibility for Apple M1 architecture on "Get Battery Status" Remote Action
  • 1.3.1.0 - 04 May 2022 - Minor updates and enhancements to metrics referencing the "Get Consumption Information" Remote Action
  • 1.3.0.0 - 21 Apr 2022 - Added support for Windows 10 ARM devices on "Get Battery Status" Remote Action
  • 1.2.0.1 - 17 Feb 2022 - Fixed documentation typo error in "Get Consumption Information" Remote Action
  • 1.2.0.0 - 16 Feb 2022 - Added support for Windows 10 ARM devices on "Get Consumption Information" Remote Action
  • 1.1.1.0 - Added the proper version of "Get Microsoft Office Information" Remote Action
  • 1.1.0.1 - 10 Feb 2022 - Changed wording in slide out help from Watts/hour to Watt-hours
  • 1.1.0.0 - 02 Dec 2021 - Added functionality on "Get Battery Status" Remote Action to retrieve the battery temperature
  • 1.0.2.2 - 02 Nov 2021 - Minor update to category folder and score file location
  • 1.0.2.1 - 02 Nov 2021 - Minor update to "Get OneDrive Information" Remote Action, one metric and two investigations
  • 1.0.2.0 - 27 Oct 2021 - Execution frequency and suggested scheduling updated on "Get Battery Status", "Set Power Plan", "Get Power Plan", "Get Consumption Information", "Get Microsoft Office Information", "Get User Folder Size" and "Get One Drive Information" Remote Actions
  • 1.0.1.0 - 08 Oct 2021 - Refactored "Get OneDrive Information" Remote Action, fixed an issue with paths longer than 259 characters
  • 1.0.0.6 - 17 Sep 2021 - Adding promotional video
  • 1.0.0.5 - 13 Sep 2021 - Minor enhancements and fixes
  • 1.0.0.4 - 10 Sep 2021 - Minor enhancements and fixes
  • 1.0.0.3 - 09 Sep 2021 - Updated metrics to reference the Get Power plan Remote Action
  • 1.0.0.2 - 09 Sep 2021 - Minor enhancements and fixes
  • 1.0.0.1 - 09 Sep 2021 - Minor enhancements and fixes
  • 1.0.0.0 - 08 Sep 2021 - Initial release

Content

Campaigns - 4
Categories - 3
Dashboards - 5
Investigations - 4
Metrics - 38
Remote actions - 7
Get Power Plan Get User Folder Size Set Power Plan Get Battery Status Get Consumption Information Get MS Office information Get OneDrive Information
Scores - 1

Required Products

Nexthink Act
Nexthink Engage

Platforms

Windows 7 and newer
MacOS Catalina and newer

Compatibility

V6.29 and later

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Get Power Plan

Script Description

Obtains the sleeping policies for different hardware parts of the device, hibernation and caffeinate mode information from the target device.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'local system'. The script should be executed every 1 day.

A timeout of 120 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

None.

Outputs

Label Type Description
Computer Sleep Policy In Minutes Int Number of minutes the device needs to be in idle state before it goes into sleep
Display Sleep Policy In Minutes Int Number of minutes the device needs to be in idle state before the display(s) turn off
Disk Sleep Policy In Minutes Int Number of minutes the device needs to be in idle state before the disk spins down, reduces energy consumption or is turned off
Hibernation Mode Int The hibernation mode currently set on the device
Hibernation Enabled Bool Whether the device has hibernation enabled (true) or fully disabled (false)
Device Caffeinated Bool Whether the device is in caffeine mode, which means the 'caffeinate' command is running

Further Information

Sleep policies are numeric values from 0 to 180 and are measured in minutes. When any sleep policy is 0, that means the policy is disabled (for example, if systemsetup command has been used to set the policy to 0, 'Never' or 'Off').

Hibernation modes can be 0, 3 or 25. For more details on the different hibernation modes please consult pmset command's manual (man pmset).

Hibernation is considered to be fully disabled when 'hibernatemode' 'standby' and 'autopoweroff' are all set to 0. In some devices, 'autopoweroff' setting is not available. Therefore, the Remote Action will consider it as disabled (0).

For more power settings information please consult pmset command's manual (man pmset).

Caffeine mode is a state in which the device (or part of it) will never sleep, thus skipping any sleep and hibernation policies currently set. This mode is enabled by manually running the 'caffeinate' command in the terminal and accepts different arguments and options. For more information about this command, please consult its manual (man caffeinate).

Test Scenarios

PowerSettingsAreObtained
Test Case All the power settings are obtained from target device
Environment macOS Catalina (10.15.7) x64 (English) - macOS Big Sur (11.4) x64 (English)
Results Success - All the outputs reflect the settings that can be obtained by using pmset -g command
HibernationIsFullyDisabled
Test Case The power settings related to hibernation are disabled
Environment macOS Catalina (10.15.7) x64 (English) - macOS Big Sur (11.4) x64 (English)
Results Success - All the outputs reflect the settings that can be obtained by using pmset -g command and 'HibernationEnabled' is 'false'

Get User Folder Size

Script Description

Script provides total size, total number of detected subdirectories and files in provided path, local or UNC.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'interactive user'. In some environments it might be necessary to run as 'local system'. The script should be executed every 1 day.

A timeout of 720 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

Label Description
Input Path Full path of the folder to measure. To measure user folder recursively use '\*'. HOMEPATH and HOMEDRIVE variables are accepted. Examples of valid paths are '%HOMEPATH%\Documents', '$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\Doc.txt' and 'C:\*\*?.txt'. For more information about wildcards read the official documentation
Maximum Delay In Seconds Maximum random delay set to avoid overloading server hosting virtual machines. Provide number of seconds less than 600

Outputs

Label Type Description
Total Directories Int Total number of directories and subdirectories in provided path
Total Files Int Total number of files in provided path
Total Size Size Total size of objects in provided path

Restrictions

Further Information

Depending on the input path, this script can have a significant performance impact. Use on small folder structures only!
Parameter 'MaximumDelayInSeconds' can be used to add random script execution delay. It should be used in virtualized environments to spread over time number of I/O requests on server hosting virtual machines.
Script uses all available CPU on Windows 7 and approximately 15% CPU on Windows 10.

Test Scenarios

LocalPathProvided
Test Case Provided a local path to measure the size.
Environment VM Windows 7 x64 (Multi-language) - VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results SUCCESS - The size and number of elements on the device is shown correctly
UNCPathProvided
Test Case Provided a network path to measure the size.
Environment VM Windows 7 x64 (Multi-language) - VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results SUCCESS - The size and number of elements on the remote location is shown correctly
PathProvided
Test Case Provided a path with no permissions to measure the size.
Environment VM Windows 7 x64 (Multi-language) - VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results FAILURE - The RA throws an error due to lack of access permissions

Set Power Plan

Script Description

Sets the device power plan (Balanced, High performance or Power saver) on Windows Configuration. By default the user will be asked before changing their current power plan.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'local system'. The script should be executed every 1 day.

A timeout of 120 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

Label Description
Campaign Id ID of the campaign that ask the user if they want to change their plan. Use an empty ID to avoid asking the user and force the change
Power Plan To Set Power plan to set. Valid values are Balanced, High performance and Power saver

Outputs

None.

Restrictions

Test Scenarios

AcceptedCampaign
Test Case Device power plan is different than PowerPlanToSet.
The user accepts to change the power plan through the campaign.
Environment VM Windows 7 x64 (Multi-language) - VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Success - The power plan is correctly modified.
NoCampaign
Test Case Device power plan is different than PowerPlanToSet.
CampaignId is 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000.
Environment VM Windows 7 x64 (Multi-language) - VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Success - The power plan is correctly modified.
RejectedCampaign
Test Case Device power plan is different than PowerPlanToSet.
The user rejects to change the power plan through the campaign.
Environment VM Windows 7 x64 (Multi-language) - VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Success - The power plan was not modified because the user rejected the campaign.
NoChangeNeeded
Test Case Device power plan is the same that PowerPlanToSet.
Environment VM Windows 7 x64 (Multi-language) - VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Success - The recommended power plan was already configured.

Get Battery Status

Script Description

Returns the health status of the battery installed on the laptop, in terms of capacity that it can still hold. It also retrieves for Windows devices the currently active power plan. Useful for identifying the batteries to be replaced and optimize the power settings of the devices.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'local system'. The script should be executed every 1 day.

A timeout of 120 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

None.

Outputs

Label Type Description
Battery Health Ratio Health ratio, expressed as a percentage
Battery Designed Capacity Int Initial capacity, in milliamp per hour (mAh)
Battery Full Charge Capacity Int Current full charge capacity, in milliamp per hour (mAh)
Battery Cycle Count Int Number of charge cycles the battery has so far
Estimated Battery Life In Hours Float Estimated battery life time with one full charge in hours
Power Plan String The power plan which is currently active on the device. It will display "Custom" if the power plan is not any of the default ones (Balanced, High performance, Power saving) and it will display "Unknown" in the case the information could not be retrieved
Battery Serial Number String Serial number of the battery
Battery Condition String Battery condition (Normal or Service recommended)
Battery Temperature Float Battery temperature, measured in the unit that was chosen as input parameter (Celsius/Fahrenheit)
Prevent Automatic Sleeping When Display Off Bool Relates to macOS Sleep and Wake settings. If this output returns a True value then the setting 'Stop automatic sleeping when the display is off' is enabled
Put Hard Disks To Sleep Bool Relates to macOS Sleep and Wake settings. If this output returns a True value then the setting 'Put hard disks to sleep' is enabled
Power Nap Mode Bool Relates to macOS Sleep and Wake settings. If this output returns a True value then the setting 'Update your system while it's asleep' is enabled

Test Scenarios

OneBattery
Test Case Device has one battery
Environment Windows 7 Pro x86 (English), Windows 10 x64 (English)
Results Successful - The output fields show correct data
NoBattery
Test Case Device has no battery
Environment VM Windows 7 x86/x64 (Multi-language), VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Failure - The battery on this device cannot be detected
DevicePluggedIn
Test Case The device has a battery and is plugged in.
Environment macOS 10.14 EN
Results Success - The information is gathered except for the estimated battery life which is 0.
DeviceNotPluggedIn
Test Case The device has a battery and is drawing energy from it.
Environment macOS 10.14 EN
Results Success - The information is gathered including the estimated battery life.

Get Consumption Information

Script Description

Gathers the consumption in Wh of the CPU, display, network and disk from the current day and the total consumption of the computer provided by Windows.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'local system'. The script should be executed every 1 hour.

A timeout of 120 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

Label Description
Kilograms of CO2 Emitted Kilograms of CO2 emitted for each kw/hour in the country where the device is located

Outputs

Label Type Description
CPU Energy Consumption Float Overall CPU energy consumption for all the processes in the current day in Wh
Display Energy Consumption Float Overall display energy consumption for all the processes in the current day in Wh
Network Energy Consumption Float Overall network energy consumption for all the processes in the current day in Wh
Disk Energy Consumption Float Overall disk energy consumption for all the processes in the current day in Wh
Total Energy Consumption Float Overall energy consumption for all the processes in the current day in Wh
Total CO2 Emitted Float Overall CO2 emitted based on the consumption in the current day and the kgCO2e input parameter

Further Information

This Remote Action should be executed on devices with a battery; desktops and VMs do not have the necessary command.

Test Scenarios

DataGathered
Test Case Data is gathered successfully
Environment Laptop with Windows 10 x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Successful - The data is generated and then parsed successfully
DataGathered
Test Case Execution on a virtual machine
Environment VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Failure - The command powercfg is not present on a Virtual Machine
DataGathered
Test Case Execution on a desktop device
Environment Desktop with Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Failure - The command powercfg is not present on a desktop

Get MS Office information

Script Description

Returns several Microsoft Office-related information, such as the version of the suite, the applications installed, the language preferences, the size of the user's Outlook Data Files and the used space in the OneDrive business account folder.Useful for troubleshooting both Office-related and disk space issues and for managing the Office migration to the cloud. The script is developed for Windows 10 and 7 and Microsoft Office 2010 onwards.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'interactive user'. The script should be executed every 1 day.

A timeout of 120 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

None.

Outputs

Label Type Description
MS Office Version StringList Version of the Microsoft Office suite installed on the device
Installed Applications StringList List of installed Office applications
Active Display Language StringList Display language currently in use
Installed Display Languages StringList List of display languages installed on the device
Installed Editing Languages StringList List of editing languages installed on the device
Number Of PST Files Int Number of .PST files stored on the device
Number Of OST Files Int Number of .OST files stored on the device
PST Overall size Size Size of the .PST file, or sum of all .PST files' sizes
OST Overall size Size Size of the .OST file, or sum of all .OST files' sizes
One Drive Sync Files Size Size Size on the disk of the OneDrive folder
Other One Drive Sync Files Size Size Size on the disk of all other data locally synchronized through OneDrive agent

Further Information

Limited support for Click to Run deployments. Installed applications and language-related information cannot be retrieved.

Get OneDrive Information

Script Description

This Remote Action calculates information regarding the size of the Business and Personal OneDrive tenant folders.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'interactive user'. The script should be executed every 1 day.

A timeout of 1320 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

Label Description
Maximum Delay In Seconds Maximum random delay set to avoid overloading server hosting virtual machines. Provide number of seconds less than 600
Sharepoint Server Set to 'true' if using Sharepoint Server for synchronizing folders on the endpoint. Path length is limited to 259 characters

Outputs

Label Type Description
Total Cloud Size Business Size Size of the OneDrive Business main tenant folder on the cloud
Total Local Size Business Size Size of the OneDrive Business main tenant folder on the disk
Size of the OneDrive Business tenant folders (other than main tenant) on the cloud Size Size of additional OneDrive folders
Total Local Size Shared Libraries Size Size of the OneDrive Business tenant folders (other than main tenant) on the disk
Total Cloud Size Personal Size Size of the OneDrive Personal tenant folders on the cloud
Total Local Size Personal Size Size of the OneDrive Personal tenant folders on the disk
One Drive Update Ring String Currently configured OneDrive Update Ring. For more information visit this link

Further Information

The Windows Remote Action gets the cloud and local size of Shared Libraries (which are the files that are not present on the Microsoft tenant) and also outputs the currently configured OneDrive update ring.

Starting in Windows 10, version 1607, MAX_PATH limitations have been removed from common Win32 file and directory functions. However, you must opt-in to the new behavior to support long paths.

To enable the new long path behavior, use the input "SharepointServer" and ensure the following is set:

- The registry key 'Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\LongPathsEnabled (Type: REG_DWORD)' must exist and be set to 1. The key's value will be cached by the system (per process) after the first call to an affected Win32 file or directory function (see below for the list of functions). The registry key will not be reloaded during the lifetime of the process. In order for all apps on the system to recognize the value of the key, a reboot might be required because some processes may have started before the key was set.

This registry key can also be controlled via Group Policy at Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem > Enable Win32 long paths.

Test Scenarios

OneDriveBusinessAccountConfigured
Test Case The device has a Business OneDrive folder with some Shared Libraries synced.
Environment Windows 10 x64 (1809)
Results Success - Folder content size was correctly returned with respective output parameters.
OneDriveNotInstalled
Test Case The device does not have a Business OneDrive installed.
Environment Windows 10 x64 (1809)
Results Failure - Exception is thrown reporting OneDrive accounts registry key is not accessible.
OneDriveAccountNotConfigured
Test Case The device does not have a Business OneDrive configured, or does not have any data.
Environment Windows 10 x64 (1809)
Results Success - Script completed successfully and returned zero bytes as output values.
OneDriveUpdateRingConfigured
Test Case The device is configured with specific OneDrive Update Ring.
Environment Windows 10 x64 (1809)
Results Success - Script completed successfully and returned current OneDrive Update Ring.
OneDriveUpdateRingNotConfigured
Test Case The device is not configured with OneDrive Update Ring.
Environment Windows 10 x64 (1809)
Results Success - Script completed successfully and reported message OneDrive Update Ring registry is not accessible.
OneDriveBusinessAccountConfigured
Test Case The device has a Business OneDrive folder synced.
Environment macOS Catalina (10.15.7) x64 (English) - macOS Big Sur (11.4) x64 (English)
Results Success - Folder content size was correctly returned with respective output parameters.
OneDrivePersonalAccountConfigured
Test Case The device has a Personal OneDrive folder synced.
Environment macOS Catalina (10.15.7) x64 (English) - macOS Big Sur (11.4) x64 (English)
Results Success - Folder content size was correctly returned with respective output parameters.
OneDriveNotInstalled
Test Case The device does not have a Business OneDrive installed.
Environment macOS Catalina (10.15.7) x64 (English) - macOS Big Sur (11.4) x64 (English)
Results Failure - Exception is thrown reporting OneDrive accounts registry key is not accessible.
OneDriveBusinessAccountNotConfigured
Test Case The device does not have a Business OneDrive configured, or does not have any data.
Environment macOS Catalina (10.15.7) x64 (English) - macOS Big Sur (11.4) x64 (English)
Results Success - Script completed successfully and returned zero bytes as output values. It also displays a status message about not being able to find any business accounts.