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CRT Blogs (2)
May 21, 2025

How to Deploy the ChromeOS Readiness Tool Enterprise VS PowerShell Explained

Transitioning to ChromeOS is a strategic move for organizations seeking efficiency and security. Before making the switch, understanding your current IT environment is crucial, and that's where the ChromeOS Readiness Tool comes in. It's designed to assess your compatibility by analyzing application usage, device compatibility, and peripheral integration. To begin this assessment, you need to deploy the tool. There are two primary installation methods or deployment flows: the Enterprise Flow and the PowerShell Flow. Choosing the right flow depends on your existing infrastructure. While you might hear about "Pro" or "Partner" dashboards, these refer to the interfaces for viewing results, accessible after deployment via the chosen flow and storage configuration.

Let's explore the two deployment flows:

1. The Enterprise Installation Method 

  • This flow is tailored for organizations that primarily use Active Directory and Group Policy Objects (GPOs) for management. It's specifically designed for environments without Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) systems and typically leverages on-premise infrastructure.

Key Characteristics:

  • Supports installation via Active Directory and GPOs.

  • Features an automated data collection agent.

  • Utilizes on-premise infrastructure.

  • Storage Options: Choose between two available storage configurations to suit your organization's needs.

    • Network Shared Folder

    • Network Shared Folder and GCP Storage Bucket

  • Dashboard Access: Selecting the "Network Shared Folder and GCP Storage Bucket" storage option provides access to a web dashboard, allowing users to view the readiness data in greater detail.

2. The PowerShell Flow (or PowerShell Installation)

This flow is designed for environments where Active Directory is not used for deployment. It is optimized for Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) systems and utilizes cloud-based infrastructure.

Key Characteristics:

  • Designed for installation without Active Directory.

  • Optimized for UEM systems.

  • The data collection agent requires manual setup.

  • Utilizes cloud-based infrastructure.

  • Storage Options: Storage is available via GCP Cloud Storage Bucket. 

  • Dashboard Access: The web dashboard is available for the PowerShell flow, which will allow users to view the readiness data in a more detailed manner.

How to Choose:

The decision hinges on your current IT management infrastructure:

  • Choose the Enterprise Flow if you rely heavily on Active Directory/GPOs and do not use a UEM system.

  • Choose the PowerShell Flow if your organization uses a UEM system and deployment is not managed via Active Directory.

Understanding these deployment options is the first critical step to effectively utilizing the ChromeOS Readiness Tool for a successful migration assessment.

Sachini Wijayasekar

Business Analyst

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CRT Blogs (4)
May 23, 2025

Centralized Reporting with ChromeOS Readiness Tool: One Dashboard, All Your Insights

The ChromeOS Readiness Tool features a comprehensive and user-friendly web-based dashboard designed to help organizations effectively monitor and manage their transition to ChromeOS. This centralized dashboard provides real-time visibility into the readiness status of devices across the entire organization.

With customizable views and filtering options, IT administrators can easily identify readiness trends, pinpoint devices requiring attention, and make informed decisions to support a smooth and efficient deployment of ChromeOS.

Key features of the web dashboard explained,

  • A high-level readiness score.

  • Detailed breakdowns by compatibility status and application usage across the organization.

  • Real-time compatibility assessments for individual devices.

  • Detailed insights into connected peripherals, including their compatibility status.

  • Comprehensive browser insights, such as browser usage, browser version data, and extension details. This feature provides centralized visibility, helps identify unauthorized extensions to improve security posture, and simplifies browser management.

Accessing readiness details on the web dashboard requires uploading the private key generated during tool deployment. This ensures that only the user who deployed the tool and possesses the private key can access the collected data. Accessing the dashboard typically involves signing in with a Google account.

Specific Dashboard Types

There are primarily two types of web dashboards, each designed to serve distinct user needs

Pro Dashboard:

  • Included by default with the PowerShell Flow.

  • Available with Network Shared Folder - GCP storage in the Enterprise Flow.

  • Provides a detailed company readiness overview with statuses and percentages, total domain count, and device distribution.

  • Shows the most used applications categorized into foreground and background, with details and status.

  • Displays ChromeOS Readiness data for each domain, including device count, readiness status, and percentages of Chrome Ready applications and peripherals.

  • Allows drilling down into specific applications by clicking on data points in the devices section.

  • Provides detailed information about peripheral devices, including names, overall readiness status, and device counts.

  • Users can submit and review feedback.

•

Partner Dashboard:

  • Available for Partners using the PowerShell Flow.

  • Partners can manage multiple customer companies by entering their private keys..

  • After entering the customer's Private Key, detailed readiness data, including an overview, device distribution, device counts, readiness percentages, and Chrome Ready apps/peripherals, are accessible.

  • Allows viewing readiness data for specific domains of an organization.

  • Provides details on peripheral devices, including core readiness status percentage, device distribution data, names, status, and counts.

  • Offers filters for devices based on readiness status.

  • Users can submit and review feedback.

Reporting Dashboard:

This view appears on the administrator machine after data collection is complete.

Provides a comprehensive report on organizational readiness and a summary of device readiness.

  • Shows total application count for each readiness status.

  • Includes a pie chart displaying the percentage of devices in each readiness category.

  • Lists all devices in the selected domain with their readiness status.

  • Provides an application summary for each device, categorized as Chrome Ready, Possibly Ready, Blocker, or Unknown.

  • Allows clicking on a device to view a detailed summary of its specific applications.

  • The data insight section includes a summary of devices in each readiness category and a list of the most used applications and their readiness categories.

  • Users can find previous reports in the history reports section.

  • Raw data reports can be downloaded in Excel format, providing an overview of device readiness and an overview of peripherals. These Excel sheets can be used for visualization in tools like Looker, Tableau, or PowerBI.

  • Feedback submitted by the admin can be reviewed.

In summary, the ChromeOS Readiness Tool provides various dashboard views tailored for different user types and installation methods, all designed to give comprehensive insights into an organization's readiness for a ChromeOS transition. Access to detailed data on these dashboards is secured through the use of a private key

CRT Blogs (3)
May 22, 2025

Ways the ChromeOS Readiness Tool Simplifies IT Planning

Transitioning your organization's IT infrastructure to a cloud-based operating system like ChromeOS offers many benefits, including enhanced security and potential cost savings. However, the migration process can seem complex. Effective planning is key to a smooth transition. The ChromeOS Readiness Tool is designed precisely to simplify this crucial IT planning phase by providing a comprehensive assessment of your current environment.

The tool works by analyzing your existing application usage, device compatibility, and peripheral integration. This analysis provides actionable insights that are vital for strategic IT planning.

Here’s how the ChromeOS Readiness Tool streamlines your IT planning:

1. Provides Clear Compatibility Roadmaps The tool eliminates guesswork by meticulously analyzing your environment and classifying the readiness of both devices and applications.

  • For devices, it provides statuses like "Ready to Switch," "Ready with Verification", and "Blocked from Switching". This immediately tells you which devices are good to go and which require further attention or cannot transition.

  • For applications, it categorizes them as "ChromeOS-ready," "Possibly ready," "Blockers," or "Unknown". Identifying "Blockers" is crucial for planning, as these apps require specific solutions like virtualization before migration. This detailed categorization helps you prioritize efforts and plan for necessary software adjustments or replacements.

2. Offers Essential Insights for Informed Decisions. Features like the Browser Insights feature provide a comprehensive view of browser and extension usage across your organization. This insight into browser usage, version data, and extension details is critical for making informed decisions about compatibility with ChromeOS and the Chrome Enterprise Browser. It also helps identify potential security risks from unauthorized extensions, simplifying security planning.

3. Centralizes Information for Easy Monitoring. The tool offers an intuitive web-based dashboard. This dashboard provides a user-friendly interface to monitor readiness status across the organization, displaying a high-level readiness score, breakdowns by compatibility, real-time device assessments, peripheral insights, and browser insights. Centralized visibility simplifies monitoring and provides a clear overview for IT teams during the planning phase. It also identifies applications needing virtualization and suggests solutions.

4. Provides Expert Guidance. Beyond just presenting data, the tool offers tailored advice and recommendations based on your organization's specific needs. This expert guidance ensures you take a strategic approach to migration, simplifying the decision-making process.

5. Drives Efficiency and Predictability By identifying potential challenges early in the migration process, the tool helps save both time and resources. This early identification reduces downtime and associated costs, making your IT planning more predictable and efficient. The tool provides a clear understanding of your current IT landscape, eliminating guesswork for a more efficient transition.

In essence, the ChromeOS Readiness Tool acts as a vital pre-migration scanner, providing the detailed information and clear classifications needed to create a solid IT migration plan. By leveraging its comprehensive assessments, centralized dashboard, and tailored recommendations, organizations can approach the transition to ChromeOS with confidence and clarity, simplifying what might otherwise be a daunting process.

Getting started is straightforward: you can visit the official website, schedule a demo, choose your installation method (Enterprise or PowerShell), and use the insights to plan effectively.

Experience the Readiness Tool today and simplify your ChromeOS migration planning.

CRT Blogs (1)
May 20, 2025

Spotlight On: The Browser Insights Feature in the ChromeOS Readiness Tool

One of the standout capabilities of the ChromeOS Readiness Tool is Browser Insights, a feature designed specifically to evaluate and understand your organization’s web environment.

This feature offers a comprehensive overview of browser and extension usage across your organization. It provides statistics on browser popularity, version distribution, and average usage trends. This information helps IT teams make informed and confident decisions regarding their current web setup and its compatibility with ChromeOS and the Chrome Enterprise Browser.

What kind of data does it capture?

The Browser Insights feature includes browser usage data, browser version information, and extension details. On the dashboard, you can see key statistics such as the Total Device Count, Unique Browsers identified, the Total Browser Versions in use, and the Total Extensions found across the organization. It shows the usage of the most used browsers within the organization, listing browsers like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, Vivaldi, and Brave, along with their usage percentages. The dashboard also presents the average usage between browsers and applications.

Furthermore, you can find detailed information on different browser versions used and the number of devices running them, as well as an organization-wide overview of extensions, including their names, IDs, and version information. A list of devices is displayed, followed by the extension names for each browser on that device.

Here's how this feature specifically benefits your organization:

  • Centralized Visibility: The feature provides a single location to view browser and extension data from all managed devices.

  • Improved Security Posture: By identifying unauthorized or potentially risky extensions and outdated browser versions, IT teams can effectively reduce security risks within the organization.

  • Transition Readiness: The insights gained are crucial for assessing your current web setup and supporting a smoother move to ChromeOS and the Chrome Enterprise Browser.

Data collection for the Browser Insights feature is Admin-Controlled & Compliant. This means the process is transparent, requiring administrator approval before data is collected.

You can explore the data captured by this feature on the intuitive web-based dashboard. The dashboard provides detailed insights into device readiness for ChromeOS, including valuable browser information, offering a clear view of compatibility status and assessment results. The dashboard allows you to see a company readiness overview, device readiness statuses, and various reports.

By using the Browser Insights feature, organizations gain crucial visibility into their web environment. This enables better security practices and streamlined management, and provides a clearer path for transitioning to Chrome Enterprise Browser.