Benoit Lecours, Author at System Center Dudes

For this post, I’ve built a little scenario to explain how to use SCCM Collection variables in Task Sequence.

I get often asked how to reduce the number of SCCM task sequences and how to make them dynamic. I’m always surprised when I hear from an SCCM administrator that they don’t use variables in their task sequence.

Let’s say you are working in an international company and use SCCM to deploy operating systems. Each office has its own configuration and specific software to install. You decide to create 1 task sequence per office. Wrong! You’ll end up in a management nightmare. One task sequence is often enough and this is where you need variables to the rescue.

The magic that you need to understand is collection variables. You have 2 choices, let the user enter the variable value at the beginning of the deployment (explain later) or pre-load these values using collection variables. I prefer the second option which speeds up the deployment process.

Scenario :

You manage SCCM for 3 offices (Alabama,Boston and Charlotte)
Each Office have a different Administrator password, different timezone, place their computer in different OU in Active Directory
Alabama Office needs Office 2010, Adobe Flash 15 and 7zip
Boston Office needs Office 2013 and Adobe Flash 11
Charlotte Office needs Adobe Acrobat Reader XI

Here is how to achieve this :

SCCM Collection variables Task Sequence Step-by-Step Guide

#1 – Create your OSD Collections

Create 1 collection per office. For this post, I created 3 collections Offices in Alabama, Boston, and Charlotte. Each Office will receive different configurations and software based on their variables.

#2 – Create your Office variable

Right click the Alabama collection
Select Properties
Select the Collection Variables tab
Click the star icon
Create a new variable named Office
Give it a value of Alabama
Repeat steps for Boston and Charlotte collection

You’ll end up with 3 collections with their variables having different values.

#3 – Open your task sequence and create condition based on those variable

*I assume that you already have a functional task sequence.

Open Software Library \ Operating Systems \ Task Sequences
Right Click your task sequence
Select Edit
To place the computer account in a specific OU :
- Browse to the Apply Network Settings Section
- Create 3 Apply Network Settings steps, 1 for each site
- Click Add, Setting, Apply Network Settings
- On each Office configure the Name and Domain OU to fits your needs

On the Options Tab
Click Add Condition
Select Task Sequence Variable
Enter the variable name Office
Condition : Equal
Value : Alabama

***Repeat above steps for Boston and Charlotte changing the value of the variable***

Browse to the Apply Windows Settings Section
Create 3 Apply Windows Settings steps, 1 for each site
Click Add, Setting, Apply Windows Settings
On each Office configure the TimeZone and Administrator password

On the Option Tab
Click Add Condition
Select Task Sequence Variable
Enter the variable name Office
Condition : Equal
Value : Alabama

***Repeat above steps for Boston and Charlotte changing the value of the variable***

Browse after the Setup Windows and Config step
Click Add, General, Install Application
Create 3 Install Application steps, 1 for each site
On each step configure the desired software

On the Option Tab
Click Add Condition
Select Task Sequence Variable
Enter the variable name Office
Condition : Equal
Value : Alabama

***Repeat above steps for Boston and Charlotte changing the value of the variable***

Summary

So what we basically did in the previous steps is told the task sequence to run our step based on the Office variable value.

Next, you need to deploy your task sequence to the 3 collections. Ask your IT guys in Alabama, Boston, and Charlotte to use their respective collections.

When the task sequence runs, it will evaluate each step and run only the Alabama step when in the Alabama collection, the Boston step when in the Boston collection, and the Charlotte step when in the Charlotte collection.

Verification

Start a task sequence
Open Monitoring\Overview\System Status\Status Message Queries
Select All Status Messages from a Specific System
Enter your machine name and select 1 hour ago

Follow the installation process
Then the task sequence evaluate a variable you’ll see this message

You will see when your variable gets skipped meaning that it works

SCCM Collection variables Task Sequence – Extra

If you prefer to have only 1 collection for OSD and ask you IT people to fill in the Office variable, you can achieve that easily.

Do the same procedure but create only 1 collection for OSD
Create the Office variable on this collection but leave the value empty

Doing so, the task sequence will start and wait for a value to be entered in the Office variable
Double-click the value and enter Alabama, Boston or Charlotte and the task sequence will deploy options based on the designated office

From there, only imagination is the limit. You now understand the power of the variable in a task sequence. Use it in order to maintain the lowest amount of task sequence in your organization.