This post will discuss options for integrating Dell warranty information data into your environment, whether within ConfigMgr or Intune, or just as a standalone reporting solution. It will outline different methods to obtain Dell warranty information (from manual checks to API automation) and explain how to incorporate this data into different workflows. Understanding these best practices and common pitfalls will help you get more value out of your Dell hardware management.
Why warranty information matters for unified endpoint management
Devices have a lifespan. Parts aren’t made to last forever. The more we use our equipment, the more it may break down. This is why we buy warranties for computers and many other items. They’re a key component of IT asset lifecycle management.
Dell makes it easy to purchase an extended warranty on their devices. You can choose the duration when you purchase business class equipment. In my previous role, we purchased warranties to cover the expected lifecycle of the device. A device with a five-year lifecycle would get a five-year warranty. Our thought was that for as long as we owned and used the device, Dell would pick up the cost to fix or replace it if anything broke.
Other organizations may just purchase the basic three-year warranty but not replace those machines for five or more years. This is where warranty tracking comes in to help bridge our knowledge. Warranty information lets us monitor when vendors will no longer fix devices if they break. It also lets us be more proactive. When devices are nearing their end of warranty, we can perform tests to make sure we don’t need to fix anything before the warranty expires. This way, the vendor covers the repairs.
Challenges in obtaining Dell warranty information
Now, we all know that it’s not hard to find warranty information for a single device. We just go to the Dell website and plug in the service tag or serial number, and it pulls right up. This is great if you’re dealing with only a few machines. But what if you want to pull warranty information on 1,000 machines, or even 100,000 machines? This makes it a lot more complicated and a lot more work.
You could wait until something breaks and then go and look it up. Or you could take your list of service tags and spend a month going to the site, individually looking all of them up and recording the results. All this manual work would be cumbersome and not an ideal way for admins to spend their time.
Ways to obtain Dell warranty information
Dell has provided several options for retrieving warranty information. You could use the Dell Support site for each service tag, or you can get an API key and automate the process. There is even a PowerShell module built to scour the Dell Support site for warranty information. If you could use the API though, it makes it a much easier process. But then you must take that data, format and report on it, and decipher all the details. Again, this can be cumbersome.
Integrating warranty data into ConfigMgr
If you are running your own process, you will need a place to store that information so you can report on it. There are many options, but one of the easiest is within ConfigMgr. That process could be a remediation script. It could also be a scheduled task on the client machine that runs a scheduled PowerShell script to check for warranty data and write it to the registry. You can then extend ConfigMgr’s hardware inventory to retrieve those new data points. This will generate tables in the ConfigMgr database, which you can use to generate reports.
Integrating warranty data into Intune
Another option is to use that same PowerShell script, but instead of writing to the registry, write directly to a log analytics table. Then you can create a workbook from that data.
Best practices and key takeaways
It is always a good idea to monitor warranty information as a common practice. Devices always seem to start breaking down more the closer they get to the expiration date. Being aware of when warranties expire allows you to plan maintenance or determine whether to purchase new equipment.
You also don’t want to perform the process manually as this is just time consuming. Setting up automation is always best, although it will take some time to get it built just the way you need it. My biggest recommendation in all of this is to think outside the box. There isn’t a single “right” way. Think of the bigger picture and factor in long-term outcomes and sustainability. Then design an approach that will meet your needs today as well as in the future.
Conclusion
Now if you really don’t want to manage all this yourself, Recast has an easier option. Right Click Tools Insights is a real-time visibility and reporting solution that can do all of this for you. It takes the guesswork and labor out warranty management. We provide everything you need and complete the work for you, even generating insightful reports. In addition, Right Click Tools Insights is not limited to Dell machines. It can retrieve warranty information over many different OEMs. The reports are built and ready to go. If this is something your organization has been looking at, reach out and we can help.
Happy reporting!
