Meet Self Service+

At JNUC 2024 we announced Self Service+, an end-user app that was intentionally designed with a unified and streamlined user experience in mind. Self Service+ combines management and security in a single intuitive portal, giving end users and admins a landing pad for their device’s security status, updates, apps and resources.

When creating Self Service+, we considered:

• Feedback from customers noting that it’s taxing for end users to switch between different end-user apps and interfaces such as Self Service, Jamf Protect for macOS, Jamf Trust and Jamf Connect.
• A central location for admins to perform device actions improves IT productivity and decreases admin workload.
• Tools with a high return on investment (ROI) and long-term success in an organization are those that end users have a positive experience with.
• The importance of the employee technology experience for employer satisfaction: 50% of employees would leave their current role due to bad tools.

With this in mind, we added security information from Jamf Protect to the home screen, improved navigation, enhanced branding options and more — continue reading for more details.

Security on the home page

The new home screen now functions as a dashboard combining both the management and security of the end user’s device. This dashboard pulls macOS information from Jamf Protect to show a device’s security status and security policies. This transparency helps IT create a security-aware workforce which acts as the first line of defense against threats. Admins can also push content to the home page, like featured apps and other custom content.

Navigation and notifications

An updated sidebar breaks down categories, making it easier to navigate to:

• Home
• Bookmarks
• Catalog
• Books
• Updates
• Notifications

Notification noise is kept to a minimum and consolidated into a single source. Each notification provides value by either allowing action or informing the user. Disruption is minimized when in Focus mode; only the most critical notifications are allowed.

Easy software updates

Self Service+ continues to be a hub for software updates — users can autonomously download and update apps as needed from the catalog or Updates tab. Individual updates provide the end user with a description, giving contextual information about why that specific update is important for security. Notifications in Updates were designed not to disrupt the user’s workflows.

Onboarding and branding

The user experience starts on the first day a new employee opens their laptop. Self Service+ clearly communicates to the user to show what applications are being installed throughout the onboarding process.

The look and feel of Self Service+ can be configured by admins to keep it familiar to end users. Admins can update logos, text, banner images, and even the app icon and name.