Our client is a leading independent distributor of spare parts for passenger and commercial vehicles in Western Europe.
ZeeTim has been supporting this organization for several years, equipping all of their sales outlets with secure endpoints.
In addition, the Web Management Console (WMC) allows the company’s IT administrators to remotely manage thousands of ZeeTim endpoints across their network. Comprehensive, intuitive, and offering highly granular control, WMC truly serves as the cockpit of this company’s workstation architecture.
Today, F.,, Regional IT Manager, shares his experience with WMC and how he manages his ZeeTim workstations on a daily basis.
What is your role in the company, and how many workstations do you manage?
I handle centralized endpoint orders for all subsidiaries across the country, excluding headquarters. I also manage the endpoints for my region. I oversee deployments and troubleshoot issues.
In total, there are probably around 5,000 ZeeTim thin clients deployed across all sales outlets, with around 450 to 500 employees in my region alone. And it’s constantly evolving!
Whenever possible, we stick with ZeeTim thin clients for their simplicity and durability. That’s the general trend.
Can you explain how new endpoints are integrated into the WMC?
Actually, as soon as they’re powered on, they automatically get sorted into the correct groups based on their IP addresses.
Roughly speaking, there’s one group per site, visible in the left-hand tree view. So we input our site IP addresses, and when a new workstation connects at a site, it’s automatically assigned to the corresponding group.
Each workstation has a unique reference name that lets us identify the site. That’s useful for reporting purposes. For example, during budget planning, we export this flat data into Excel or Access. Then we send it to the finance team so they can see how equipment is distributed by site.
Do you have multiple groups based on geographic location?
Yes, but also based on other criteria. For example, some endpoints are configured differently: they don’t launch Citrix desktops—instead, they boot in kiosk mode.
We use only the embedded Firefox browser to prevent users from making changes. When they start up, they load a preconfigured URL, the same for everyone.
So those kiosk-mode devices are placed in a dedicated group.
On a daily basis, what information does WMC provide?
You can view key user-side information: the last user logged in, the last activity, package versions installed on the device, etc.
You can also configure menus, monitor the fleet’s status, check for updates, verify the connection URL, and so on.
So yeah—it’s pretty well thought out.
What daily actions do you perform in WMC?
Rolling out updates
With WMC, we can create templates with a very high level of detail and deploy them to selected devices.
One common case is when a workstation hasn’t been used in six months and has missed updates. All we do is right-click on it, and bam—it’s updated to the latest version.
We also use templates for specific actions. For example, some users were still using obsolete devices. Now, when a device should no longer be used, we disable it.
We push a wallpaper that tells the user not to use the workstation and to contact support or their local IT contact. When the device boots, it grabs the template and displays the warning screen.
Troubleshooting and screen sharing
We also do troubleshooting. When a device isn’t working properly, we go into it and reload the correct config.
We frequently have to set up dual monitors as well.
We often share user screens for troubleshooting and also for training new administrators on WMC. We can take remote control, share our screen or theirs, and deliver training that way.
The video below gives an overview of our Web Management Console
Do all administrators have access to the same information?
No, WMC has two levels of access. Not all admins see the same things.
For example, the feature I mentioned earlier that redistributes devices into groups by IP—I can see it, but I can’t click or manage some specific users.
Other admins can perform those actions, even without me seeing it.
Administrators are divided by region. But they’re also segmented by category: automotive, heavy trucks, etc.
Above all that, there’s the infrastructure team at HQ. They have full access, manage server-side updates, handle migrations, and so on.
There are also restricted accesses for external support contractors.
In summary, what’s your overall opinion of WMC?
The admin console is quite mature. Of course, not everything is perfect, but the benefit with you guys is that we have a good contact person and there’s always a solution.
Over time, the tool has evolved to meet our changing needs. Now, it suits nearly all our use cases very well.
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