Terminology
This glossary defines the terms you meet in Overseer and in this documentation. Terms are grouped by topic, so that related ideas sit together.
Clients, computers and people
Tenant. The record in Overseer for one of your clients. Each tenant's computers, deployments and history are kept apart from every other tenant's.
Computer. A Windows computer that Overseer manages.
Overseer agent. The lightweight service that Overseer installs on a computer. It runs alongside whatever remote management tool you already use.
Identification. How Overseer decides whether an agent belongs to a computer it already knows. It uses a hardware identifier that survives a reinstall of Windows, so a rebuilt computer returns to its existing record.
Primary user. The person Overseer associates with a computer, worked out from who has been using it. This lets a deployment follow a person to their computer.
Tag. A label on a computer or a client, used for targeting and filtering.
Onboarding. Setting up a new computer: it gets the agent, is assigned to its client and receives its first maintenance session.
Declaring what should be true
Desired state. What you declare should be true of an item on a computer. Overseer detects where a computer differs, acts to close the gap and verifies the result.
Deployment. A standing declaration that an item should be in a given desired state for a given target. It is not a one-off job.
Installed. Install the software if it is missing and update it if it is old.
Updated if Found. Update the software where it already exists. Never install it fresh.
Uninstalled. Remove the software if it is present.
Ignored. Leave the software alone.
Enforced. The desired state of a task deployment. The task's check runs and, if it fails, the task corrects what it found. A task can also be checked without being changed.
Target. The computers a deployment applies to: every client, one client, a tag, a single computer, a person, or computers reported by an integration.
Enforcement. When a deployment applies. Required means every maintenance session, Onboarding means once when a computer is first set up, and Ad hoc means when a person runs it.
Deployment resolution. How Overseer settles which deployment applies when more than one covers the same item on a computer.
Deployment ordering. The order in which items are handled within a session.
Sessions and results
Maintenance session. One complete ordered pass over one computer. All work on the computer happens inside it, in a known order.
Detection. The first stage of a session. It is read-only and works out which actions the computer needs.
Execution. The stage that follows Detection, in which those actions run.
Maintenance action. One piece of work on one item inside a session.
Compliant. The mark an item receives when the computer is read again after an action and the check passes.
Outcome. How a finished session reads: Passed, Partial passed or Failed.
Pending. A session that is waiting, for example for an offline computer to reconnect. It has not failed.
Preflight. Scripts that run at the start of every session. One can hold the session until a condition clears.
The Library
Library. Where software, tasks and scripts are kept.
Software. An item Overseer can install, update or remove. It comes from the Windows Package Manager catalogue or from an installer you upload.
Task. An item for anything that is not software, such as a setting. It has a check and a way to correct what the check finds.
Script. PowerShell that software and tasks are built from.
Detection method. The check that reads an item's state. For software it returns the installed version, if any. For a task it returns true or false.
Prerequisite. An item that must be installed, or removed, before another. Overseer follows chains of prerequisites and detects circular ones.
Execution context. Where a script runs: as the system on the computer, as the person using the computer, or on the Overseer server, from where it can direct work on the computer.
Global and Local. Global items are built in. Local items are yours.
Timing and control
Schedule. Recurring detection and maintenance for the computers it targets. A schedule can be limited to a single item.
Maintenance window. When scheduled work may run. Run maintenance pressed by a person runs immediately, whatever the window.
Restart policy. The rules that restarts follow.
Standing authorisation. A named grant, scoped by client, item and action, that lets Overseer act on its own within that scope.
Role and capability. A role is a set of capabilities. People see and do only what their role allows.
Audit log. The full record of who did what, when and on whose authority.
Integration. A connection between Overseer and another tool you use, such as your remote management tool or your PSA.