Desktop policy overview
The Desktop policy page (sidebar → Desktop policy, owner-only) is where you control what the tracker is allowed to do on every employee computer in your organisation.
Changes saved here propagate to running trackers within a few minutes, or immediately when the tracker next signs in.
The two scopes
The page is split into two panes. The left pane is a scope picker:
- Whole organisation — the default policy. Applies to every member who isn't covered by a team override.
- One per team — every team you've created appears below. Open a team to override specific fields just for its members.
Pick a scope on the left and the right pane shows that scope's policy.
How team overrides work
Inside a team scope, every individual setting is either:
- Inherited from the org — the team picks up whatever you set at the org scope. This is the default state for every field on a fresh team.
- Team override — an explicit value just for this team's members. Overridden rows display a blue Team override badge.
A "Use org default" button next to every overridden row lets you revert. Toggling a boolean or typing into a number input is what creates an override; clicking "Use org default" sends the row back to inheriting.
Locked fields
Some fields can be locked by ScreenJournal staff for enterprise customers with a custom contract. Locked rows show a grey Locked badge and a disabled control. If you need a locked field unlocked, contact your account manager.
The seven groups of settings
The right pane is organised into seven cards. Each gets its own deep-dive page.
| Card | What it controls | Deep dive |
|---|---|---|
| Productivity prompt | The 1–5 rubric the AI uses to score every segment. | Productivity prompt |
| Recording modes | Whether screen and meeting audio are recorded / saved. | Recording modes |
| Sensitive-app exclusion | Apps / domains / titles to censor automatically. | Sensitive-app exclusions |
| User capabilities | What employees can change inside the desktop app. | Capabilities & forced features |
| Forced features | Behaviours employees cannot turn off. | Capabilities & forced features |
| Locks | Restrictions on what employees can configure themselves. | Capabilities & forced features |
| Data retention | How long recordings stay on the employee's device. | Data retention |
Saving and discarding
A sticky Save changes bar appears at the bottom of the page when you have unsaved edits, with the scope you're editing called out by name. You can:
- Save changes — commits the patch. A toast confirms whether org or team policy was saved.
- Discard — reverts the in-progress edits to the last saved state. Doesn't undo previously saved changes.
Saves are atomic per click — either the whole patch applies or none of it does.
A sensible starting policy
If you want a defensible baseline that won't make your team uncomfortable on day one, configure:
- Productivity prompt — pick the template closest to the role most of your team plays (the built-in "Software engineer" and "Call centre / Virtual assistant" templates are good starting points; otherwise keep the default).
- Screen recording mode — Record Only (analyse for the timeline but don't keep the video). Switch to Record + Save later if you genuinely need playback.
- Audio recording mode — Disabled unless you need meeting transcripts.
- Sensitive-app exclusion — enable at least Banking, Payroll, HR, and Health category packs.
- Forced features — leave off at the start. You can ratchet up later if needed.
- Retention — leave the defaults (3 days, 5 GB).
Once your team is comfortable, you can ratchet specific fields up according to your security or compliance needs.