Profile Management Overview

BigFix Profile Management is a WebUI-based feature of BigFix Lifecycle.

Profile Management is referred to as the process of managing user personalization settings on a device. Typically the most sensitive settings to be managed are in the area of security. For example, administrators might define policies for password or passcode length and complexity, network access, storage management restrictions, permissions to run built-in or external applications. Additionally, they can enforce restrictions on specific user activities, registry key content, and other properties.

Organizations typically have several scenarios to consider when they deploy devices. In many organizations, both Bring Your Own (BYO) personal devices and Choose Your Own (CYO) company-owned devices are deployed. In both cases, the device must be registered with a system that can configure it with the required settings in compliance with the security requirements of the organization as a whole. Moreover, devices must also comply to specific role-based requirements of the employee and department.

BigFix Profile Management can deploy device configuration profiles based on the specific business needs and security requirements of an organization. Depending on the organizational structure and the specific employee roles, profiles can address the security requirements of the organization and ensure continuous compliance of all devices. Profile Management ensures a high degree of control and allows for flexibility in establishing different policies that depend on the type of device and who uses it. Security Administrators can define and implement policy settings on any corporate device that is registered to the BigFix server.

This feature provides Security Administrators profile management capabilities for Windows 10 and Mac OS devices.

Profile management terms

The following terms represent the core of the feature.
Profile
A Profile represents a set of security settings that you want to enforce on devices. Settings are grouped into four categories for user convenience. Each category corresponds to a tab in the profile page in the WeBUI. You can enforce the following categories:
Password//Passcode
Contains password or passcode requirements.
Device
Contains settings that restrict usage of hardware devices.
Application
Contains settings that limit application functions.
Restrictions
Contains settings that disable the use of specific applications or device features.
Save profile
Action that stores the profile in the Bigfix database and generates a Fixlet that checks the values set in the profile for relevance on devices for which this profile is not yet enforced.
Deploy profile
Creates an action that deploys the Fixlet associated to the Profile and which enables continuous enforcement of the configuration settings.

Supported Client Operating Systems

Profile Management is available in BigFix Lifecycle 9.5 and supports Windows 10 and MAC OS X 10.12 Sierra, available with BigFix Platform Version 9.5.3. For a list of supported Windows 10 Editions, see https://help.hcltechsw.com/bigfix/10.0/platform/Platform/Installation/c_spcr_platform.html.