Most MSPs and internal IT teams use built-in tools to monitor IT compliance, especially when working with clients with limited budgets or operating across fragmented platforms.
While most RMM platforms, like NinjaOne, have comprehensive compliance views, these tools can sometimes limit your ability to adapt to unique client requirements. In such cases, you’ll need a lightweight compliance dashboard that gives you a fallback when your RMM tools fall short.
Building your compliance dashboard gives you flexibility and customization, which is particularly useful for early-stage governance and reporting prototypes.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through developing a compliance dashboard using PowerShell and Azure tools. Keep reading to learn more about compliance dashboards.
How to build compliance dashboards using native tools
You don’t need to invest in third-party applications to create your own compliance dashboard; you can use native tools like PowerShell, Log Analytics, and Azure Workbooks. Here’s how:
Step 1: Collect compliance data from your native tools
First, you need to gather compliance signals from your endpoints using native sources present in your environment. These include:
- Azure Log Analytics: If you use Intune or Endpoint Manager to maintain your device fleet, you can use built-in connectors to pull compliance data, such as compliance, BitLocker, firewall, and antivirus status updates, and send them to Azure Log Analytics for a centralized view.
- PowerShell Scripts: For quick on-premise checks, you can use PowerShell scripts to probe your devices for key compliance information, such as OS version and disk encryption, and return that data for reporting.
Step 2: Automate data collection
To simplify data collection, use scripts to automate the process.
$devices = Get-Content "devices.txt"
$results = foreach ($d in $devices) {
$status = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $d -ScriptBlock {
Get-MpComputerStatus | Select-Object AMServiceEnabled, RealTimeProtectionEnabled
}
[PSCustomObject]@{ Device = $d; AVEnabled = $status.AMServiceEnabled }
}
$results | Export-Csv "C:\Compliance\compliance.csv" -NoTypeInformation
Use Task Scheduler, Intune, or an RMM platform to schedule the script to run daily or weekly.
Step 3: Visualize your data
Once you have all your data, you can use PowerShell Universal or Azure Monitor Workbooks to convert it into a digestible format for analysis and reporting.
(A) Create an interactive dashboard with PowerShell Universal
Use the PowerShell Universal Dashboard module below to generate a real-time, browser-based dashboard:
Import-Module -Name UniversalDashboard
$dashboard = New-UDDashboard -Title "Compliance Overview" -Content {
New-UDHeading -Text "Endpoint Compliance"
New-UDTable -Title "Compliance Status" -Headers @("Device","Status") -Endpoint {
$csv = Import-Csv "C:\Compliance\compliance.csv"
$csv
}
}
Start-UDDashboard -Dashboard $dashboard -Port 8080
This script allows you to turn basic CSV output into a usable UI, perfect for conducting internal IT reviews or prepping for QBRs.
(B) Visualize compliance data with Azure Monitor Workbooks
If your compliance data is already in Azure Log Analytics, you can use Workbooks to create rich, dynamic dashboards. It allows you to:
- Graph compliance over time (e.g., number of non-compliant devices weekly)
- Segment devices by OS version, location, or compliance state
- Pin live visuals to shared dashboards for stakeholder access
Step 4: Distribute insights to stakeholders using emails and reports
Finally, you need to share the insights you’ve gathered with users who don’t have access to your compliance dashboard. You can use PowerShell or Microsoft Graph to:
- Email compliance summaries to your team
- Export PDF snapshots for executives
- Attach CSVs or graphs to your weekly or monthly reports
This step ensures that everyone stays informed, even if they don’t have access to the dashboard.
A quick overview of what a compliance dashboard is
A compliance dashboard is a visual tool you can use to monitor and manage your organization’s adherence status. It provides real-time data on device health, security configurations, and patch levels, all of which affect your organization’s overall standing.
But what does an effective compliance dashboard look like?
- Easily extractable: An excellent compliance dashboard can easily be exported into PDF and other formats for auditing and reporting.
- Customizable: Users should be able to customize the dashboard according to their specific needs, whether it involves changing pie charts into bar graphs for a more tailored visualization.
- Granular insights: A comprehensive dashboards give you detailed information on key metrics, such as which devices are missing critical updates and which have outdated antivirus definitions.
- Scalable: Finally, the dashboard should be scalable. It should be able to grow with the organization that uses it.
Using NinjaOne to enhance your compliance dashboard
While this compliance dashboard is tool-agnostic, platforms like NinjaOne can improve its functionality by:
- Running PowerShell compliance scripts via automation policies
- Exporting device health and patch data for ingestion into dashboards
- Tagging devices as compliant or at-risk based on results
- Adding dashboard URLs or compliance snapshots to device documentation
- Triggering alerts if scripts detect failed compliance criteria
Adding these integrations to your dashboard workflow can provide better oversight of your organization’s compliance posture. It’s also helpful for validating the data in your generated reports.
Enhancing compliance oversight with custom dashboards
You don’t need to invest in new software to create your own compliance dashboard. With tools like PowerShell, Log Analytics, and Azure Workbooks, you can monitor and report on compliance should your existing platforms fall short.
It gives you enough flexibility to tailor your compliance views to your exact needs, whether you’re building quick prototypes for executive reporting or conducting internal audits.
Pairing these custom dashboards with platforms like NinjaOne allows you to create a comprehensive and scalable workflow for monitoring compliance.
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