Devices

Created: Modified: Documentation

From the Devices tab, you can view your inventory of devices and information about them, including their Serial Number, Model & iOS, Name, Last Seen, Status and any associated Attributes.

Hide Health Metrics / Show Health Metrics

Health metrics filters are displayed by default, as a part of the Health Dashboard feature in GroundControl 5.8 and later.

Click Hide health metrics to hide the health metrics filters. Click Show health metrics to view them again.

Device Statuses

There are 3 device statutes: Active, Pending and Retired.

  • Active devices count towards your GroundControl license. A device that has had a successful deployment in the last 12 months counts as Active.
  • Pending devices include new devices uploaded via spreadsheet (see “Importing Many Devices,” below) or added manually. Devices are pending until their first deployment. Pending device do not use a license. Pending devices can be deleted from the system.
  • Retired devices do not use a license. GroundControl automatically marks devices as Retired when their 1-year license expires. You may also manually retire a device that has been lost or stolen. This frees up the license so you can use it on another device.

Devices that are Pending or Retired automatically become Active again after a successful workflow is once again deployed to them.

Editing device details

To edit a device, click on a device row. The Device Details dialog opens.

Retiring a device

To retire a device:

  1. In the Device details dialog, in the License status section, click Retire.
  2. To indicate a lost or stolen device, click the Lost or Stolen options.
    To specify additional device status, click the Other option, and enter additional details.
  3. Select Submit to Retire the device.

“Unretiring” a device

In the same fashion that you can retire a device, you can also “unretire” them. This is done by clicking on the Unretire box, which is located under Device Status. Clicking this will successfully change the device’s status from Retired to Active.

Adding One Device

To add to the list one at a time, click Add Device. You must add a serial number, and you may enter custom attributes.

Importing Many Devices

To upload a list of device Serial numbers and your Custom Fields, select Import on the Devices tab.  A CSV template is available for download on the resulting Import dialog:

The first row of the import file is for column headers. The header names are matched to attribute values and are case sensitive.

You must include a column named “Device Serial.” This column is used to match existing devices — updating any columns you include — or to add new pending devices. When scanning devices, the ‘S’ prefix for the serial number will be removed automatically by GroundControl.

You may also import as many Custom Attributes as you wish.

You may not import built-in attributes, such as Device Model, Device iOS, or Device Name. Built-in attributes are read-only. Any columns matching built-in attributes will be ignored.

Important Tips for Import:

  • When uploading a CSV file, the first row is for column headers.
  • You must include a column named Device Serial.
  • Other column headers should match names of your Custom Attributes.
  • Column names are case sensitive.
  • Unrecognized columns will be ignored.
Importing Custom Device Names

Built-in attributes, such as Device Name, are read-only. If you wish to import unique names for devices, do the following:

  1. Create a new device attribute called, for example, “Custom Name”.
  2. Create a spreadsheet with a column named “Device Serial” and a column named “Custom Name”.
  3. Enter your data into the sheet, save, and import into GroundControl.
  4. In your workflow, use the Set Name action and set the value to the attribute “[Custom Name]” — be sure to include the square brackets.
Exporting Devices

To export a list of the devices in your GroundControl account, in the Devices tab, click Export.

This spreadsheet contains all your devices, and a long list of built-in and custom attributes. Many GroundControl customers use this spreadsheet to create custom reports. If you filtered the Devices list, the CSV contains the results from your filter.