Provisioning all the resources for onboarding new employees is one of the most frequent activities that help desk technicians and system administrators do. These tasks could include setting up VoIP extensions in the phone system, creating Active Directory user accounts, creating home folders, provisioning new Office 365 mailboxes, and more, depending on the organization.
You can create an automated employee PowerShell Onboarding script that completes the majority of this job quickly and easily with a little PowerShell scripting.
What Is PowerShell Onboarding Script?
In Microsoft PowerShell script, PowerShell Onboarding refers to a script or a set of scripts that automate the process of onboarding new users or systems into a PowerShell environment. These scripts streamline the setup and configuration steps, making the onboarding process more efficient and consistent.
A PowerShell Onboarding script typically performs the following tasks:
- Environment Setup: The PowerShell Onboarding script ensures that the necessary dependencies and prerequisites are in place. This can include checking if PowerShell is installed, verifying the version, and installing any required modules or extensions.
- Configuration: The script handles the configuration of PowerShell settings and preferences. It can automate tasks such as customizing the prompt, setting up aliases, defining environment variables, and modifying execution policies based on predefined standards or user preferences.
- Access and Permissions: The script automates the assignment of appropriate access and permissions to the user or system being onboarded. It can create user accounts, assign them to security groups or roles, and configure access controls to grant or restrict specific actions.
- Script and Module Management: The script assists in the setup and management of necessary scripts and modules. It can automate the installation or deployment of required scripts, modules, or script repositories. It may also assist in configuring module repositories and managing module versions.
- Documentation and Training: The script can provide links or references to training materials and documentation to assist the user in understanding PowerShell concepts and best practices. It may generate or provide access to relevant documentation, tutorials, or examples.
- Logging and Reporting: The script can incorporate logging and reporting capabilities to track the progress and outcome of the onboarding process. It may generate logs or reports indicating the tasks completed, any errors encountered, and the overall status of the onboarding process.
By using an PowerShell Onboarding script, organizations can automate repetitive tasks, ensure consistency across the onboarding process, and reduce the potential for human error. It allows for a more streamlined and efficient onboarding experience for new users or systems joining a PowerShell environment.
How To Build A PowerShell Onboarding Script?
With a PowerShell onboarding script, automating Active Directory tasks is one of the simplest jobs to do. Almost anything you want to do with AD can be scripted using a free PowerShell module.
- You need to write a script to add the employee to a few standard groups and generate a new user account for her.
- Get a copy of Remote Server Administration Tools and do this. You’ll receive the ActiveDirectory PowerShell module as a result.
- Make sure you’re on a computer that has joined the domain and that you have the necessary permissions to create new users.
- There is a command named New-AdUser in the ActiveDirectory PowerShell module.
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Web
$password = [System.Web.Security.Membership]::GeneratePassword((Get-Random -Minimum 10 -Maximum 24), 3)
$secPw = ConvertTo-SecureString -String $password -AsPlainText -Force
$NewUserParameters = @{
GivenName = 'alpha'
Surname = 'beta'
Name = 'albeta'
AccountPassword = $secPw
}
New-AdUser @NewUserParameters
Additionally, we offer the command Add-AdGroupMember. This will include the newly created user in the group.
Add-AdGroupMember -Identity 'Accounting' -Members 'albeta'
One of the best things about using PowerShell to automate employee onboarding is that, once the code is written, it can be executed for one, ten, or one hundred workers with no additional work. For instance, You could need to furnish a lot of new staff in AD. You may execute the code we just discussed by reading each entry from that CSV file using the Import-Csv command.
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Web
Import-Csv -Path C:\Employees.csv | foreach {
  $password = [System.Web.Security.Membership]::GeneratePassword((Get-Random -Minimum 10 -Maximum 24), 3)
  $secPw = ConvertTo-SecureString -String $password -AsPlainText -Force
$userName = '{0}{1}' -f $_.FirstName.Substring(0,1),$_.LastName
$NewUserParameters = @{
GivenName = $_.FirstName
Surname = $_.LastName
Name = $userName
AccountPassword = $secPw
}
New-AdUser @NewUserParameters
Add-AdGroupMember -Identity 'Accounting' -Members $username
}
This code might be the start of a much larger employee onboarding process that can be completely automated if your company has an established process with particular rules that must be followed.
