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Plugboard docs

Devices

Open Devices for the filtered inventory, or reach a device record from search, a loan, a repair or a person.

Every device has a record in Plugboard, enriched live from your MDM when a connector is configured.

Export the inventory

Section titled “Export the inventory”

Choose the search, type, status, location and warranty filters, then Export CSV. The download includes all matching devices across every page, within the same tenant and campus permissions as the inventory. A technician with device.view can export; device.manage is not required.

Columns are serial number, asset tag, device type, model, assigned person’s name, location, status and warranty expiry. Dates use YYYY-MM-DD. Spreadsheet formula characters in text are neutralised. The file is read in batches and concurrent inventory changes can affect later batches.

An export can contain up to 10,000 devices and 10 MiB of CSV data, with five requests per minute. If either size limit is exceeded, the page reports an error and asks you to narrow the filters. It never downloads a silently truncated file.

What the page shows

Section titled “What the page shows”

The page runs in a fixed order, with section links across the top that follow you as you scroll:

  1. Overview. The asset record and Current attention.
  2. Remote tools and Lifecycle, side by side.
  3. Remote access, for people with remote.start, when a remote support tool is configured.
  4. Privileged actions, such as wipe, for people who hold those rights.
  5. Management records. What each MDM reports about the device.
  6. Supplementary cards from your other connectors.
  7. History & logs, always last.

Actions come before records, so the thing you opened the page to do is near the top, and the long history does not push it down.

The asset record. Model, serial and whatever your MDM knows: OS version, enrolment status, battery percentage, last check-in. Which of these appear depends on the MDM. The holder is shown at the top of the record and links to their person page for anybody with client.view.

Warranty coverage at a glance. When the device has a warranty expiry, the record shows whether coverage is active, expiring soon (within 90 days) or expired, with the days left. When the purchase date is known too, a meter shows how much of the coverage period has been used. Expiry comes from the device record or a warranty connector.

Compliance. When a management record reports the device as not compliant, or could not check it, the reasons are listed under Current attention, with when it was evaluated. When no management record was returned for the device at all, the overview shows Compliance not evaluated in red, because a device nobody is managing is not a device known to be fine.

Lifecycle fields. Purchase date, status, location and notes. See asset lifecycle.

History & logs. MDM check-ins alongside the repairs, loans, tickets and handouts Plugboard already holds for the device, plus ThreatLocker history where there is any.

That last section is the one technicians use most. A laptop on its third screen this year is a different conversation from one on its first.

MDM actions

Section titled “MDM actions”

When an MDM connector is configured, Remote tools shows each command as a labelled, coloured button:

Command What it does
Lock Locks the screen now. Asks you to confirm
Restart Restarts straight away. Asks you to confirm
Blank push Wakes the device so it checks in
Clear passcode Removes the device passcode. Asks you to confirm, and cannot be taken back from here
Shut down Turns it off. Asks you to confirm, and cannot be taken back from here

The commands that cannot be undone from Plugboard have a dashed edge, so you can tell before the confirmation asks. Whether a command reaches the device depends on your MDM. Ordinary commands need device.manage.

Wipe is not a remote tool. It sits under Privileged actions and uses the separate privileged workflow, with a request, typed confirmation and approval checks. Every issued action is audited.

Import from a spreadsheet

Section titled “Import from a spreadsheet”

Import CSV (needs device.manage) adds a pallet of devices, or corrects the ones already here, from a supplier’s spreadsheet. The only required column is the serial number; the dialog maps columns such as type, model, asset tag, location, purchase date and warranty expiry from whatever your supplier called them. The campus you pick applies to devices the import creates; existing devices keep theirs.

From 0.21.0, Review import shows what will happen to every row before anything is written: new, updated, unchanged or invalid, and which fields will change. A serial already in the register is corrected from the file. A value you import is kept as entered and stops following MDM sync, so the preview names any field that will. Only values that differ are written, so re-importing last term’s spreadsheet does not pin locations the MDM already agrees with.

The import applies exactly what you reviewed. If the register changes between the review and Import, it stops and asks you to review again. Invalid rows are skipped rather than failing the file; Download rows to fix gives you those rows with an Import problem column, ready to correct and import again. A file can hold up to 5,000 rows and 2 MB; split a larger one.

Without an MDM

Section titled “Without an MDM”

The device still has a record. It just has no live inventory and no management actions until you configure an MDM connector.

Records are created from repairs, loans and inductions, so a device turns up in the system the first time somebody does something with it, whether or not it is enrolled anywhere.

Mixed fleets

Section titled “Mixed fleets”

Configure as many MDM connectors as you run. A device resolves through whichever one knows its serial.

The common school arrangement is Jamf or Mosyle for Apple, Intune for Windows, and Chrome Enterprise for Chromebooks. The repairs screen does not change.

Serial numbers

Section titled “Serial numbers”

Serials are matched uppercased, which handles the most common transcription inconsistency.

Autocomplete searches the device records already stored in Plugboard. Connector sync and supported live lookups enrich those records from the MDM.

Disabled Chromebooks

Section titled “Disabled Chromebooks”

A Chromebook disabled in the Admin console, often months ago, presents to a student as a device that will not start.

The Chrome Enterprise connector carries the status through, so DISABLED appears on the record and answers the ticket before anyone opens the lid.

Permissions

Section titled “Permissions”
Permission Allows
device.view See device records and history; export the inventory in builds containing the export update
device.manage Add/import devices, correct lifecycle fields and send supported ordinary MDM commands
device.wipe.request Request a wipe through the privileged workflow
device.wipe.approve Approve an eligible wipe request
Section titled “Related”