In this episode of Widget Wednesday, we take a closer look at the Scripting and Automation Dashboard, focusing on the Script Execution Summary widget and how it’s built.
This dashboard provides teams with clear visibility into how scripts are running across their environment, including manual versus automated executions, overall run counts, and success and failure rates. It answers a simple but essential question: Are my scripts doing what I expect, and are they actually working?
What this episode covers:
Understanding script execution at a glance:
The Script Execution Summary widget shows how many scripts are running, how often they run, and how those executions break down by success and failure. It provides a quick operational view of scripting health without digging into individual logs.
Introducing the Expert Builder:
Unlike standard widgets, this one is built with the Expert Builder, which enables more complex visualizations by working directly with a JSON-based configuration. While this approach is more advanced, it allows multiple related metrics to be displayed together in ways that aren’t possible with the default widget builders.
Expert Builder vs. standard widgets:
The episode walks through the trade-offs. Standard widgets are easier to build but limited in structure and grouping. The Expert Builder supports richer summaries, such as total runs, successful executions, and failures, in a single view, but also comes with constraints, such as limited secondary grouping options.
Filtering for what matters:
You’ll also see how filters are applied to focus on completed runs and exclude built-in scripts, making it easier to analyze custom automation that actually reflects your operational workflows.
Why it matters:
As scripting and automation grow, visibility becomes critical. This episode shows how to move beyond simple widgets and use advanced tooling to understand automation behavior, identify failures early, and build dashboards that reflect real operational impact.
If you’ve ever hit the limits of standard widgets and wondered how to go further, this one’s worth a watch.
Have questions about this video, want to go deeper, or curious how others are using these dashboards?
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Categories: ControlUp Dashboards, ControlUp Scripts & Triggers, ControlUp Workflows, Widget Wednesday - ControlUp Dashboard Videos
