A community member inquired about the possibility of collecting custom data extracted from scripts running within Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) sessions and then using that data to create a ControlUp dashboard. Specifically, the user wanted to determine which users were utilizing Macros in Excel during their VDI sessions, with a simple Yes or No indicator, and then visualize this information on a dashboard. Alternatively, they asked if it was feasible to query session-specific data, such as the history of active URLs accessed during a VDI session, and build a corresponding dashboard to monitor those URLs.
A ControlUp expert clarified that while ControlUp does not natively collect or display custom data directly from VDI environments by default, it provides a flexible mechanism to capture and associate additional data via the use of tags and supplemental metadata. These tags can be applied to entities within the ControlUp environment, including sessions or machines, and can be leveraged to filter and create richer dashboards. The expert pointed to the official documentation covering how to add a tags column to the information grid, which facilitates easier tracking and visualization of tagged data ([https://support.controlup.com/docs/add-tags-column-to-information-grid](https://support.controlup.com/docs/add-tags-column-to-information-grid)).
The recommended approach involves writing external scripts or monitoring tools that extract the needed data—such as whether Excel macros are in use or the URLs accessed during a session—and then injecting this information as tags or extra columns to the associated VDI sessions in ControlUp. Once this data residence is established via tagging, ControlUp’s advanced dashboarding and reporting features can be used to create custom dashboards displaying the binary Yes/No macro usage status or detailed URL access history across sessions.
This method requires integrating ControlUp with custom monitoring or scripting workflows that feed data into the platform through tags. It is not an out-of-the-box feature but leverages ControlUp’s extensibility for environments needing custom telemetry. Users aiming to build such solutions should also consider ControlUp’s APIs and scripting capabilities detailed in the official ControlUp Knowledge Base and Academy resources at https://docs.controlup.com and https://cuacademy.controlup.com for advanced custom data reporting.
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Reporting Related Training & Support Archives
Reporting training and support-related archives from inside the ControlUp Community on Slack.
Managing Manual Software Installs on Developer Laptops Using ControlUp’s Installed Apps Index and Shadow IT Prompt
Several ControlUp community members discussed the challenge of identifying software manually installed by local administrators on developer laptops and other endpoints. This issue often complicates software inventory management and security auditing, as organizations need to distinguish between authorized baseline applications and additional, manually installed programs.
The core difficulty arises from the fact that ControlUp’s data collection primarily tracks which applications are installed via its installed_apps index, but does not inherently record the installer’s identity or differentiate between default baseline software and manual admin installs. Without this attribution, it becomes tricky to pinpoint deviations from standard configurations. One suggested approach is to define a list of default or approved baseline applications and then use queries to highlight deviations from that list, effectively flagging manually installed or unauthorized software.
A community member also recommended leveraging existing ControlUp content, specifically the Shadow IT prompt found in the prompt library under the security category. This prompt is designed to assist in identifying applications outside the known or approved inventory, which aligns well with the problem of detecting non-baseline, admin-installed software. Experimenting with this prompt, in combination with custom baseline definitions, provides a practical investigation method using the ControlUp platform’s Canvas feature and alerting capabilities.
Overall, addressing this use case requires a combination of custom baseline software lists, regular monitoring via the installed_apps index, and making use of security-focused prompts like Shadow IT. While ControlUp does not automatically track the installer identity, these strategies enable administrators to gain better visibility into manual software installations and maintain tighter control over endpoint configurations.
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How to Obtain the Correct Grafana Big Screen Dashboard JSON File for ControlUp Integration
A community member sought the JSON file for the Grafana Big Screen Dashboard used with ControlUp, noting that the link on the ControlUp download page (Innovation Guild Solutions) was pointing to an incorrect JSON file. They had already reported the issue to ControlUp Support but could not locate the original file elsewhere. The community member was considering creating their own dashboard in Grafana but wanted to check if someone already had the correct JSON file to avoid duplicating effort.
Another user from the community shared their working JSON file for the Grafana Big Screen Dashboard, providing a ready-to-use solution that bypassed the need to build one from scratch. This contribution resolved the request, allowing the original poster and others to implement the intended Big Screen Dashboard functionality in Grafana.
This exchange highlights that while official resources may sometimes have broken or incorrect links, the ControlUp community can be a valuable resource for accessing or sharing working configurations and files. Users needing this dashboard configuration should ensure they use the correct JSON file for optimal display and integration with ControlUp data streams.
For official documentation and additional guidance on integrating ControlUp data into Grafana dashboards, users can refer to ControlUp’s knowledge base at https://docs.controlup.com or the ControlUp Academy at https://cuacademy.controlup.com. In cases where official links are broken, consulting the community or contacting ControlUp Support remains recommended.
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Maximizing Employee Experience Insights with ControlUp: Key Features, Metrics, and Best Practices
ControlUp users focusing on digital employee experience (DEX) and user experience monitoring have found several features and best practices especially valuable for measuring adoption, engagement, and satisfaction across their environments. Key recommendations center around combining telemetry data with direct user feedback such as surveys to obtain richer insights. Surveys are most effective when paired with quantitative telemetry metrics, as this correlation reveals gaps and areas for improvement that neither approach alone can fully expose.
A primary metric endorsed by the community is the DEX Score, which aggregates user experience data into a single score per user, and can be rolled up by department, location, or persona. Trending DEX Scores over time provides a clear adoption and satisfaction narrative. In addition, monitoring logon duration per group is critical because delays here are a common source of user frustration and complaints.
For user experience visibility, the Employee View dashboard enables IT teams to quickly identify issues impacting end users. Other frequently cited dashboards include those focusing on Windows application crashes, app stability and performance, AI-driven apps and sites usage, and Teams/Unified Communications call quality—particularly important for organizations heavily reliant on Microsoft Teams. Anomaly detection using AI (Pulse AI) is recommended over static threshold alerts, as it can find unusual patterns proactively and even suggest or enact fixes via workflows.
Custom dashboards should be tailored to different stakeholders—executive views showing aggregated DEX by business units, operational views tracking logon times and resource usage, and user experience views combining app performance and user sentiment. In addition, creative use of automation workflows can significantly enhance support responsiveness. For example, a self-healing workflow can collect diagnostic data on machine issues, generate AI-driven recommendations, automatically open service tickets (e.g., in ServiceNow), and notify users with remedial steps before they contact helpdesk.
Integrations such as with ServiceNow enable automated ticket creation and remediation workflows that improve IT support efficiency and end-user communication. ControlUp roles can be customized to give access across teams (security, network, telephony) beyond just helpdesk functions, helping different groups leverage relevant telemetry.
New users of ControlUp are advised to start with free courses available at ControlUp Academy, followed by hands-on evaluation of dashboards in the Dashboard Gallery to understand available data and refine dashboards per organizational needs. Building out use cases and dashboards incrementally—starting with a few key metrics and expanding gradually—helps organizations avoid measurement overload and focus on actionable insights.
Finally, community insights emphasize ongoing management of user personas underpinning DEX Score segmentation, with approaches varying from manual updates to bulk imports depending on organizational scale.
Overall, a combined strategy using ControlUp’s telemetry, custom dashboards, integrations, AI-powered anomaly detection, and employee survey data provides a powerful framework for measuring and improving employee experience in IT environments.
Relevant resources include:
ControlUp Academy: https://cuacademy.controlup.com
ControlUp official documentation: https://docs.controlup.com
ControlUp Community: https://community.controlup.com
Dashboard Gallery (within ControlUp platform)
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Resolving ControlUp API Rate Limit (HTTP 429) Errors in Automated Workflows
Users reported intermittent "HTTP 429 Too Many Requests" errors when using the ControlUp API, specifically receiving the message "Rate limit is exceeded. Try again in 1 seconds." These errors caused temporary failures in workflow steps that interact with the API. The issue was sporadic, occurring some weeks but not others, indicating periods when API request volume exceeded the allowed quota.
The root cause was identified as ControlUp's API rate limiting, which enforces a maximum number of API calls per unit time to prevent overload. When the limit is exceeded, subsequent requests receive the 429 error code, prompting automated retries that either delay the workflow or result in transient failures. The error message suggests reducing the frequency of workflow runs or checking the integration’s API quota if the problem persists.
ControlUp’s support team investigated the situation for the affected organization. They confirmed the rate limits were being hit and subsequently increased the API quota allocated to the organization. This quota increase was intended to accommodate the higher volume of API requests and prevent recurring rate-limit errors. Users were advised that no immediate changes on their side were required, but to report any further occurrences with details such as the specific workflow name and timestamp to facilitate further analysis.
Following the quota increase, the frequency of 429 errors dropped significantly, and workflows resumed normal operation. ControlUp recommends monitoring workflow execution and maintaining awareness of API call volumes to avoid hitting limits in the future. For more information on managing API rate limits and workflow best practices, users can consult the official ControlUp documentation available at https://docs.controlup.com. Detailed troubleshooting steps and how to interpret API error responses are also covered there to assist with addressing similar issues.
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Understanding and Resolving Missing Node References Caused by Output Variables in ControlUp Workflows
A user encountered an issue where a ControlUp workflow, previously used to push alert messages to Google Chat, stopped functioning correctly. The workflow's start node began reporting a reference to a missing node, a problem not seen before. This issue coincided with the use of output variables in the workflow. Removing these output variables stopped the error messages, though including them had been necessary for the workflow to work previously.
The output variables in ControlUp workflows are primarily designed for use with subflows, where a subflow acts like a function by taking input, processing it, and returning data to the main flow. The output variables specify what data the subflow returns. However, in this case, the workflow was not a subflow, and the user was instructing the workflow to return properties from an event variable that could not be found. This discrepancy caused the workflow to flag missing node references.
A newer validation check within ControlUp appears to verify if workflows reference variables that do not exist. This validation is likely why the error started appearing even though the workflow continued to run and post messages correctly. Before this update, referencing nonexistent variables was silently ignored, causing no breakage. Therefore, although the output variables cause no functional harm in a non-subflow context, they create misleading error states that might confuse anyone reviewing or maintaining the workflow.
The recommended resolution is to delete the output variables whenever the workflow is not a subflow. Removing these output variables prevents confusion and stops error messages related to missing nodes without impacting the workflow’s functionality. Users needing to troubleshoot similar issues should also consider exporting the workflow in JSON format and providing run history details when contacting ControlUp support. For more on ControlUp workflows, output variables, and subflows, refer to the official documentation at https://docs.controlup.com.
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Troubleshooting Automatic SIP Agent Installation Failures via SCCM and Intune in ControlUp Agent Manager
Recently, some users have reported an issue where the ControlUp Agent Manager does not automatically install the SIP agent on clients when deployment is done via SCCM or Intune. Although the Agent Manager installs and communicates as expected, the clients do not proceed to download and install the SIP agent themselves. This problem was noted because affected clients were not appearing in the ControlUp console until the SIP agent was installed manually on each machine.
The troubleshooting process included verifying that the deployment codes configured in SCCM and Intune were correct, with confirmed successful manual installations of the SIP agent. Despite the automatic deployment process working previously, the behavior changed starting last Wednesday, and no known recent changes to the ControlUp agent registration process have been identified that could explain this new issue.
A key insight from the community was the importance of confirming whether the feature allowing automatic agent installation via the Agent Manager is properly configured. If it is not active or set up correctly, this would directly cause the failure of automatic SIP agent installations. In this case, however, the configuration was verified as correct, so the root cause remains unclear at this point.
Given that this issue was new and had not been encountered before, the recommended next step was to log a support case with ControlUp. This would allow their support team to review detailed logs and provide a deeper analysis. As of the last update, resolution had not been confirmed, and ControlUp support engagement is needed to identify any underlying changes or bugs affecting the automatic SIP agent deployment process in the current environment.
For more information on managing agent installation and push deployment methods, consult the ControlUp documentation on agent installation at https://docs.controlup.com/wiki/agent-installation and related deployment best practices.
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Conditional Script Execution in ControlUp: Reducing Unnecessary Remediation Runs Through Compliance Custom Issues and Scheduling Improvements
A common challenge in large IT environments is running remediation scripts efficiently across thousands of devices. Typically, scripts are scheduled to run daily or on another regular interval to enforce compliance or perform necessary changes, such as modifying a registry key or folder structure. However, this approach results in many unnecessary script executions on devices that are already compliant, leading to wasted resources and longer execution times.
One proposed solution is conditional script execution based on the actual state of each endpoint—running a script only if remediation is required. For example, if a device’s registry value meets the desired state, the script should be skipped for that device. This would allow the scheduled remediation to remain active while minimizing needless runs on already compliant machines. Without this capability, administrators often build checks into the script itself to exit early if no remediation is needed, but the script still needs to run on every device each time, causing inefficiency.
ControlUp already supports a similar concept through its Compliance Custom Issues feature, which enables creation of conditions to detect compliance status and trigger remediation scripts only on devices flagged as non-compliant. This method, though effective, operates as a two-step process: one to detect the compliance issue (writing to the compliance index) and another to run the remediation via alerts triggered by the compliance state. While this approach works well for security and compliance scenarios, there is interest in applying it to broader desktop management use cases, including non-security remediation tasks.
The key limitation is that the initial detection and remediation are decoupled, requiring two processes (condition detection and remediation execution) rather than a single conditional script execution embedded within the scheduling engine. Users have suggested enhancing the ControlUp scripting and scheduling functionality to integrate conditional execution directly—essentially embedding “if this condition is true, then run this script” logic at the scheduling level. This would allow scripts to run only when truly needed without separate detection steps, providing more efficient, self-healing capabilities across desktops and endpoints.
ControlUp’s existing resources on Custom Issues, adding custom remediations, and integrating scripts for compliance illustrate the current approach:
- https://support.controlup.com/docs/custom-issues
- https://support.controlup.com/docs/adding-custom-remediations-to-built-in-issues
- https://support.controlup.com/docs/how-to-add-scripts-to-controlup-for-compliance
These documents guide users on setting up compliance checks and scripts, but the underlying model still involves separate detection and remediation phases. The ongoing community discussion highlights demand for a deeper integration of conditional execution in scheduling scripts directly, which would optimize large-scale remediation efforts by running scripts strictly on endpoints that need them without running redundant checks or remediations daily.
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Resolving Input Variable Editing Issues in ControlUp Workflows After Recent Update
ControlUp recently updated its workflow functionality with a notice that input variables are now restricted to API-triggered flows and can be marked as "Required." Additionally, workflows will warn when a flow with input variables is changed to a different trigger type. This update unintentionally disrupted a key capability: running subflows with input variables passed from a main flow. Previously, input variables in subflows functioned similarly to parameters in PowerShell functions, enabling seamless parameter passing and modification within nested workflows.
Users reported that while subflows still received parameters correctly during execution, the workflow editor UI no longer allowed modification or addition of input variables for flows that were not API-triggered. This caused confusion and limited flexibility in workflow design, as input variables appeared hidden or locked outside of API-triggered contexts. There was also concern that input variables should remain editable and available for manual triggers and subflow usage, rather than being limited solely to API workflows.
ControlUp’s development team investigated and identified that the core runtime functionality for passing parameters to subflows had not changed; the problem lay in the editor interface. The editor was erroneously hiding and disabling input variable editing for non-API triggered flows. A fix was prioritized and promptly released. The update restored the visibility and editability of input variables for all trigger types in the workflow editor, allowing subflows to continue receiving and modifying parameters as before. The warning banners and options to remove input variables were removed to avoid user confusion. The "Required" setting remains functional exclusively for API-triggered flows, displayed as a small toggle next to each variable rather than a checkbox.
Users are advised not to use the "Remove input variables" button, as this clears the flow’s variables and may disrupt parameter passing. If variables were removed and parameter passing stopped, users can restore them in the Start node. No other action is necessary to maintain functionality. Support remains available to investigate any persisting issues.
This resolution illustrates the importance of distinguishing between UI/editor features and core workflow execution in ControlUp’s flow management. It confirms that input variable functionality across different trigger types remains intact, preserving the flexibility needed for complex orchestrations involving subflows.
ControlUp documentation on workflows and input variables can be referenced at https://support.controlup.com/v1/docs/create-workflows.
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Troubleshooting ControlUp Endpoint Installation Issues: Logs, Version Control, and Deployment Guidance
When troubleshooting issues with ControlUp endpoint installations where the Agent Manager installs correctly but additional components like SIP, EdgeDX, or Remote DX do not, the primary locations for diagnostic information include the Windows Event Viewer (Application logs) and the folder at C:\ProgramData\ControlUp\Logs. However, users have reported that this logs folder might sometimes exist but be empty, making Event Viewer logs the primary source for troubleshooting.
One potential root cause identified is related to the Version Control settings in the ControlUp portal. These settings can delay or prevent the deployment of additional components beyond the Agent Manager. Verifying and adjusting the Version Control configuration is recommended to ensure it is not interfering with installation timing.
Besides configuration settings, antivirus or endpoint security solutions frequently interfere with ControlUp installations. It is important to check that all ControlUp-related folders and files are excluded from real-time scanning and quarantine, as security software blocking these files can halt installation progress without clear error messages.
Another consideration is the deployment method used for Remote DX, which differs from the Agent Manager and may require separate deployment steps or tools. This factor should be verified, especially in complex or staged deployments.
While there is an MSI installer log that could provide more detailed insights and may reside under the ControlUp program data path, its location and availability may vary based on setup. Users are advised to consult the ControlUp documentation on Version Control and agent deployment for the latest guidance. If further help is needed, providing Event Viewer logs, any available installation logs, and screenshots of Version Control settings to ControlUp support will facilitate resolution.
For more details on controlling agent versions and deployment, see the official ControlUp documentation at https://support.controlup.com/docs/agent-version-control.
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