Introduction

In ZENworks, Primary User helps to identify the most frequent user of the machine.

This feature has an intelligence to:

1. Calculate the Primary User on the machine based on the number of user logins, the amount of time the user is logged in, or designated user.

• Reset the Primary User information, so that it clears the relevant data.

Typical Use Cases would be:

• If a Customer wants to generate the reports of the Primary User for the devices every two weeks to identify the usage of devices and reset after that.

• If an employee leaves the company and machine is not re-imaged then they should be able to reset the Primary User data for future use.

• If an employee goes on leave for two weeks and machine is being used by another employee then for these two weeks current user should be the Primary User of the device. And once the employee returns from vacation he should be the Primary User of the device.

All the above Use Cases can be achieved in ZENworks with the Primary User feature which internally determines how it calculates the Primary User data information and how to reset the Primary User data. All these are discussed in detail in the following sections.

Primary User

What/Who is a Primary User?

The most frequent user of the machine is a Primary User and its frequency is determined by number of logins, amount of time logged in, or designated user. The administrator determines the method used to calculate the primary user.

Whereabouts of Primary User!!

On ZENworks Adaptive Agent: This screenshot shows the Primary User on the z-icon in ZENworks Adaptive Agent properties page.



As highlighted, Primary User shows Unavailable as there are no users who have logged in the device, else it would show the user name based on the calculations, which will be discussed in next sections.

On Server (ZCC): This screenshot shows the Primary User in ZCC.

E.g. Login to ZCC -> Devices -> Workstations and Select a Device



This Screenshot shows Primary User and it is in Pending State, as on the agent device no users have logged in to calculate the Primary User, else it would show the user name.

There is an option to edit which opens up a dialog as “Edit Primary User” as shown above in the screenshot.

• Automatically select primary user – By Default this option is selected to automatically detect the Primary User on Device.

• Manually select primary user - If this option is selected, the Administrator can browse and select a User for that Device.

Note: Inventory also shows the 'Primary User' Information

Login to ZCC . Traverse to Devices->Workstations->Device ->Inventory

Click on 'Detailed Hardware/Software Inventory' link : opens a new Tab , shows the information of Primary User of that device.

 

Primary User Calculation

How is a Primary User determined?

There are n number of ZENworks users who log in and log out on the device, so how is a Primary User calculated/determined?

All of the settings are discussed below with typical use cases.

Configuring the settings for the calculation of Primary User in ZCC:

You can define the Primary User (Calculation and Reset) settings at the following levels:

• Management Zone: The primary user settings are inherited by all device folders and devices.

• Device Folder: Overrides the Management Zone primary user settings. The primary user settings are inherited by all devices contained within the folder and its sub-folders.

• Device: Overrides the primary user settings defined at the Management Zone and folder. The primary user settings apply only to the device for which they are configured.

NOTE: All the settings Primary User (Calculation and Reset) are configured in ZCC, once applied the agent device has to be refreshed for the settings to be effective.

Typical Use Case 1:

If a Customer wants to generate the reports of the Primary User for the devices every two weeks to identify the usage of all devices.

This can be achieved by setting at the Management Zone Level, it will be effective on all the devices as the settings are inherited, until and unless there are no settings overridden at device folder/device level.

To set at the Management Zone Level:

Login to ZCC & Traverse to Configuration -> Device Management -> Primary User



This screenshot shows the different options (highlighted) which are used to calculate the Primary User.

• Usage (greatest login time): The user who has been logged in to the device the greatest amount of time. This is the cumulative duration of users who have logged in that device and not only for that session.
  
  E.g. User A has logged in for 5 mins and User B has logged in for 10 mins.
  
  User B will be the Primary User based on the longest duration a user has logged in.

• Number of Logins: The user who has logged in to the device the most number of times.
  
  E.g. User A has logged in 6 times and User B has logged in for 5 times.
  
  User A will be the Primary User based on the maximum number of logins.

• Select Primary User: The user you specify directly.
  
  If a particular user is selected from user source, that user becomes a Primary User.

Note: By Default Usage (greatest login time) option will be selected.

Typical Use Case 2:

If a Customer wants to generate the reports of the Primary User for the devices every two weeks to identify the usage of devices which are in a folder.

This can be achieved by setting at the Device Folder Level, it will be effective on all the devices under that device folder as the settings are inherited until and unless there are no settings overridden at device level and the zone settings will be overridden.

To set at Device Folder Level:

Login to ZCC & Traverse to Devices.

Under Devices, by Default we have Servers and Workstations Folder. Each folder has (Details), Click on (Details) link

Traverse to Settings -> Device Management -> Primary User

All the settings are disabled here and it has the same inherited settings as that of zone level.

These settings can be overridden here by using the Override option as shown, once settings are applied these settings are inherited to all devices under that folder.



This screenshot shows the Override option (highlighted) which can be used to override the settings done at zone level to calculate the Primary User.

Typical Use Case 3:

If a Customer wants to generate the reports of the Primary User for a particular device every two weeks to identify the usage of device.

This can be achieved by setting at the Device Level, it will be effective on the device and the settings made at device folder level / zone level will be overridden.

To set at Device Level:

Login to ZCC, Traverse to Devices -> Workstations -> click on a Device -> Settings -> Device Management -> Primary User

All the settings are disabled here and it has the same inherited settings as that of zone level / device folder level if configured.

These settings can be overridden here by using the Override option as shown, once settings are applied these settings are applicable to that device and the device folder level and zone level settings are discarded.

Based on the above settings configured, the Primary User is calculated for a device.

Primary User Reset

This will basically reset/purge all the Primary User information on the devices.

Typical Use Case 4:

If an employee leaves the company after X no of days/ on a date or the machine is assigned to other user after X no of days/ on a particular date and machine is not re-imaged then they should be able to reset the primary user data after and new user can use the machine with fresh statistics.

This can be handled as discussed below:

• Periodic/Recursive: If you want to reset the data (such as usage or number of logins), used in primary user calculation, periodically, select one of the following reset options:
  
  
  
  1. Reset After X Days: Specify number of days to reset the calculation data.For example: If 30 days is specified, then Primary User data will be reset every 30 days. The default, 0 days, causes no reset of data to ever occur.
  
  
• Reset On Date: Specify a date when you want to reset the calculation data.You can use the calendar option to select the date.

Once the above settings are set, the action will be triggered when the criteria is met.

The above settings can be configured in ZCC as shown (highlighted):

Login to ZCC & Traverse to Configuration -> Device Management -> Primary User



Note: Even though there are two different Reset Schedules based on Usage and Number of logins, the functionality of Reset is just to reset the Primary User information and it is not resetting based on Usage and Number of logins, it just resets the data.

As discussed in previous section, Reset Schedules also can be set at Management zone level which can be overridden by Device folder level which can in turn be overridden by Device level as the calculation and Reset are interdependent.

Typical Use Case 5:

If the Administrator has to reset the Primary User data immediately on the device.

This can be achieved as discussed below:

Instant/On Demand: If you want to reset the data (such as usage or number of logins), used in primary user calculation instantly, select a device and click on Action menu to Reset Primary User Calculation.

This Action can be configured as shown below.

Login to ZCC, Traverse to Devices -> Select a device/Dynamic Group -> Action -> Reset Primary User Calculation

Note: This can be set only to a Device or Dynamic group, NOT on folders.



Reset would ideally purge all the Primary User information of/on the device and it starts to calculate the Primary User freshly based on the calculation method chosen as discussed above when the ZENworks users login on the device.

Typical Use Cases

1. Customer wants to generate the reports for the primary user for the devices every two weeks to identify the usage of devices. They want agents should send the fresh statistics (login count & duration) once reset is done every two weeks.

• If an employee leaves the company and machine is not re-imaged then they should be able to reset the primary user data and new user can use the machine with fresh statistics.

• If an employee goes on leave for two weeks and machine is being used by another employee then for these two weeks current user should be the primary user of the device. And once the employee returns from vacation he should be the primary user of the device.

 

Conclusion

The Administrator can handle all the above requirements using the Primary User feature.

The above sections had a detailed discussion on what is a Primary User, how it is calculated/determined and how it can be used to Reset the Primary User data with Reset Schedules on a Management Zone level, Device Folder Level, Device Level.