Software and task library
The Library holds everything Overseer can install, remove or set on a computer. This page explains the two kinds of item you can deploy, software and tasks, and what each one is made of.
What the Library is
A deployment says that something should be true on a set of computers. The Library holds the something. Nothing can be deployed until it exists here, and each item is defined once and reused by every deployment that names it.
The Library holds Software, Tasks, the Script Editor, Upload and Icons. Every item is one of two kinds.
- Global. Built in. You can read and deploy a Global item, but you cannot change it.
- Local. Yours. You create it, you can edit it, and it stays in your Library.
Software
Software reaches the Library in two ways. You can add an application by name from the Windows Package Manager (winget) catalogue, or you can upload your own installer, such as an MSI or EXE file.
The Software list can be narrowed to Local, Global or recommended items. Each row shows where the item came from, who last changed it and when, and you can deploy an item straight from its row. Counters above the list show how many items are in the Library, how many are deployed and how many no deployment uses.
A software item is more than an installer. It carries everything Overseer needs to handle the application without help.
- Detection. How Overseer tells whether the application is on a computer and which version is there. Most applications are detected from the name and version Windows records for an installed program. Where that is not enough, a detection script answers the question. Without detection nothing can be verified.
- Versions. One item can hold many versions. A deployment either holds a computer at a chosen version or follows the latest one.
- Install and uninstall scripts. The PowerShell that puts the application on and takes it off.
- Configuration. Settings applied after installation. Where an item takes parameters, you fill them in on the deployment.
- Prerequisites. Something that must be installed, or removed, before this item. Overseer follows the whole chain and stops if two items each require the other.
- Licence. A licence key or licence file, where the installer needs one.
Tasks
A task is anything that is not software: a setting, an account, a policy, a piece of housekeeping. Setting the time zone, turning on BitLocker, creating a local administrator account and joining a computer to your directory are all tasks.
A task has two halves. The check reads the computer and answers yes or no to whether the computer is as it should be. The correction makes it so. When a task deployment is Enforced, Overseer runs the check, runs the correction if the check fails, and then runs the check again to confirm the result. A task can also be checked without being changed, which reports the answer and leaves the computer alone.
Tasks take parameters in the same way software does, so one task can serve many clients with different values.
Where a task runs
- As the system. The task runs with full rights on the computer and cannot show anything on screen. This suits changes to the computer itself.
- As the user. The task runs as the person logged on, with that person's rights. This suits settings that belong to a person's profile, and it needs that person to be logged on at the time.
Scripts
Software and tasks are built from PowerShell scripts. The scripts are created for you as you build an item, and any of them can be opened and read in the Script Editor.
The built-in scripts are grouped as Diagnostics, Maintenance, Network, Patching and Preflight. Preflight scripts run at the start of every maintenance session, and one can hold a session until a condition clears.
Upload and Icons
Upload is where your own installers are added to the Library. Icons holds the pictures shown beside library items, so that a list of applications is quick to scan.
Seeing what is installed
The Library describes what can be deployed. To see what is on your computers now, open the Computer Software report under Reporting. It is a read-only list of installed software that you can filter by name, version, client or computer. Sorting by version is a quick way to find old copies.