Command Center

The Command Center gives you complete insight into your app portfolio, allowing you to track app usage, licenses, and costs across your organization. Use it to understand your software investments, identify potential savings, and manage app governance.

Access and requirements

• Admin users have full access to view and edit all data in the Command Center. Non-admin users can access the Command Center in view-only mode. Non-admins see the apps they have viewing permissions for, plus all discovered apps. Admin permissions are required to edit fields such as app owners, labels, notes, costs, and renewal dates.
• If required, organizations can opt for upgraded permissions to have greater control over who can access and view the Command Center. With this level of permission, a non-admin can only view the Command Center if an admin grants them view-only access. Contact your Pendo account representative or our support team to request access.
• Before using the Command Center, we recommend you configure App discovery in Settings > Subscription settings > Extensions. App discovery uses the Pendo Launcher extension to surface app usage across your organization, including apps that haven't been set up in Pendo. Once set up, these apps will be surfaced in the Command Center. For setup instructions, see Turn on app discovery.
• To access the Command Center go to Product > Command Center in the left-side menu.

Feature functionality

Apply filters to customize your Command Center view

Use the filters at the top to update your data. The first three filters, on the left, are also global filters, which means that they change the data you see across Pendo. You can update these filters at any time.

• Segment. Segment the data. You can use existing segments or create a custom segment, such as a segment for certain functions or departments in your organization.
• Date range. Specify a date range. The Last xx days options include all complete days. This means data from today is excluded as it’s only a partial day.
• Apps. Select one or more apps. Select the checkboxes next to the apps you want to view data for. You can search for apps using the search box at the top of the dropdown menu. Selected apps appear at the top of the dropdown list to make them easy to find and deselect as needed.
• View by. Use the View by dropdown in the top-right corner of the filter bar to group your app usage data. This applies to the App table and the breakdown table below it.
  • View by Domain: Shows app usage across all domains where activity was detected. Use this to understand which parts of an app employees are using, such as a production domain, sandbox environment, admin site, or another related domain. This can help you validate license usage, investigate unexpected activity, and confirm that each app includes the domains you expect to track. In the App table, expand an app to see the domains where activity was detected in the Group column. For ChatGPT and Gemini, expanding the app also displays activity for any custom agents used, such as GPTs and Gems. Domains appear when Pendo records browser-extension activity on a domain and can associate that activity with an app. You can review the domains associated with an app in the App catalog. For managed apps, you can also review and update domains in Settings > Application Settings.
  • View by [visitor metadata]: Groups the App table by the selected visitor metadata value, such as Department or Location, and updates the App breakdown by [metadata] table. Use this to compare app usage across teams, locations, or other visitor groups.

Additional filters

• All app types. View by All, Managed, or Discovered apps. Managed apps are apps where Pendo is fully installed and configured. Discovered apps are apps detected through browser activity using the Pendo Launcher extension, but not yet set up as managed apps in Pendo. These apps:
  • Are automatically identified when employees access them through their web browser.
  • Are matched against the Pendo app catalog, which includes popular enterprise SaaS apps. For more information, see How the Pendo app catalog works.
  • Provide visibility into app usage across your organization without requiring Pendo installation.
  • Help surface shadow IT - apps that employees use but may not be officially managed or monitored by your IT departments.
  • Can be promoted to managed apps if you want full Pendo functionality.
• All cost sources. Filter apps based on how cost data is tracked:
  • Manually verified. Cost manually entered by users.
  • Estimated. Cost based on Pendo app catalog pricing. Learn more about How the Pendo app catalog works.
  • Missing. No cost data assigned.
• All categories. Filters apps by different categories, such as Collaboration, Productivity, and AI as categorized in the Pendo app catalog. The number next to each category shows how many apps match that category in your current view. Learn more about How the Pendo app catalog works.
• All labels. Filters apps by the labels assigned to them in the Command Center. Select one or more to show apps with those labels. Select No labels to show apps without any labels assigned.
• All app owners. Filters apps by assigned app owner. Select one or more app owners to show the apps assigned to those people.
• All renewal dates. Filters apps by license renewal date. Use this to identify apps with upcoming renewals so you can plan reviews.
• Shadow IT. Filters apps by their Shadow IT risk rating: No shadow IT risk or High shadow IT risk. Use this to focus on apps that are more likely to have been adopted without IT approval. Learn more about Shadow IT risk ratings in Discover unmanaged apps with app discovery.
• Select Clear filters to reset all additional filters to their default values.

Reviewing the Overview metrics

The Overview section provides key metrics about your app portfolio.

• Estimated annual cost. Shows the total yearly cost for all applications in your current view. This includes both manually verified costs and estimates based on industry benchmarks.
  The subtitle shows the percentage of costs that have been manually verified (for example, "20% manually verified").
• Total active employees. Shows the number of employees who signed in to at least one app during the selected date range.

• Average license usage. Shows the average license usage rate across all apps with license data. The subtitle shows how many apps have license data (for example, "based on 9 apps with licenses"). License usage is calculated as: (active employees ÷ licenses) × 100.

  Note: Apps without license data aren't included in this calculation.

• Potential savings. Shows an estimate of annual savings from underused licenses. This is based on applications where the number of active employees is significantly lower than the total number of licenses. The subtitle shows the number of apps contributing to potential savings (for example, "based on 5 low usage apps").
• The conditions previously shown under Apps to review now appear as signal cards in the What needs attention section. See Review signal cards, below.
• Total monitored apps. Shows the total number of applications being monitored in the Command Center
• Average apps per employee. Shows the average number of applications used per employee. Calculated as: total app instances ÷ number of active employees. If your subscription includes Agent Analytics, this metric is replaced by the AI leaderboard (by prompts), which displays the top visitors based on the number of prompts submitted across your AI agents.
• Average cost per employee. Shows the average annual app cost per employee. Calculated as: total application costs ÷ number of active employees.

When you select a metadata field in the View by filter, the top two and bottom two metrics are displayed by cost per employee. You can view the full breakdown by selecting View full breakdown.

How cost and risk data is decided

The Command Center uses the Pendo app catalog to provide cost estimates and calculate the shadow IT risk for discovered apps.

How cost is estimated

The Estimated annual cost for apps comes from the Pendo app catalogue, which includes:

• Published vendor pricing for standard tiers (such as Business or Pro plans).
• Market research from reputable industry sources.
• Category-based benchmarks when vendor pricing isn't publicly available.

Cost data may be missing for apps that use usage-based pricing (such as API calls or storage), require custom enterprise quotes, or bundle multiple products into suite licensing.

Important: Cost estimates are directional benchmarks for portfolio analysis. Always validate against your actual contracts and invoices for budgeting and procurement decisions.

When you manually enter cost data using Add cost, the cost is considered Manually verified and overrides the catalogue estimate.

Shadow IT risk

The Potential shadow IT filter under All apps surfaces apps rated as a high shadow IT risk in the Pendo app catalogue. Each app is assigned a risk level (Low, Medium, or High) based on how likely it is to be adopted without IT approval.

Note: Only apps rated High are flagged with the warning icon in the Command Center. Apps rated Medium or Low don't show the warning icon, even if they're discovered apps.

Apps are rated High when they:

• Offer easy self-serve signup or free trials.
• Can be used effectively by individuals or small teams without admin setup.
• Don't require SSO, security configuration, or central IT involvement to start using.

Apps are rated Low when they:

• Require formal procurement and enterprise setup.
• Need SSO, security reviews, or deep integrations to be useful
• Are typically deployed centrally (such as IAM platforms, ERP systems, or security tools)
  Apps are rated Medium when adoption patterns vary based on organizational controls.

Note: A legitimate, enterprise-grade application can still have high shadow IT potential if it's designed for bottom-up adoption. The rating reflects how easily the app can be adopted across your organization before IT has visibility or control.

You can override the automatic rating for an individual app. For details, see Take action on an app.

For more information on how apps are identified and categorized, see Discover unmanaged apps with app discovery.

Review signal cards

Prioritized signal cards appear under What needs attention and highlight where to take action across your app portfolio, replacing the former Apps to review metric. The section is expanded by default each time you open the Command Center when at least one signal is identified and needs action. If no cards qualify, the whole section is hidden.

Cards are ordered by priority, so the most time-sensitive insights appear first. Use the carousel arrows to move through multiple cards.

Why use signal cards

• Review portfolio risks without checking every app individually.
• See the estimated financial or operational impact before you decide what to address.
• Open a filtered — and, where applicable, sorted — view of the relevant records.
• Complete missing portfolio data so that cost, savings, license usage, and renewal metrics are more accurate.
• Find AI tools that you can monitor with Agent Analytics.

Signal card types

Cards are grouped by category. Select the link on each card to open the relevant records and take action.

Renewals

• Prepare upcoming renewals. Shows the total annual cost of contracts due for renewal within the next 90 days, and the number of renewals, so you can prepare to renew, renegotiate, or cancel.
• Confirm overdue renewals. Shows the number of contracts past their renewal date that might already have auto-renewed, so you can confirm vendor status and update your records.

Over limit

Resolve license overages. Shows the estimated overage cost, the number of users above the contracted seat count, and the number of affected apps.

Low usage

Reclaim underused licenses. Shows the unused license spend, along with the number of seats and apps running below 60% engagement, so you can reclaim or reassign licenses.

Shadow IT

Triage potential shadow IT. Shows the number of discovered apps with a high shadow IT risk, the active employees using them, and the estimated annual cost, so you can prioritize security, compliance, and spend reviews.

AI governance

Govern AI agent activity. Shows the number of apps with potential AI agent capability that aren't monitored with Agent Analytics, and the employees using them. Selecting Review opens the Agents tab and expands Apps with potential AI agents.

Missing data

These cards highlight apps where key fields are missing, which affects the accuracy of your portfolio cost and savings totals.

• Verify cost data. Shows unverified spend across apps with missing or estimated costs, and how many have no cost on record. Selecting Review opens the missing-information view, sorted by cost.
• Add missing renewal dates. Shows the spend that isn't visible to renewal planning, across the affected apps and employees. Selecting Review sorts apps missing renewal dates to the top.
• Add missing license counts. Shows the license spend without usage visibility, across the affected apps and employees. Adding counts lets the Command Center calculate usage, overages, and potential savings.

Ownership

Assign app owners. Shows the unassigned spend across the affected apps and users. Assign owners to establish responsibility for renewals, spend, and governance decisions.

Setup

• App discovery is off. Appears when app discovery is turned off for your subscription. Turning it on helps you find every app your employees use, including shadow IT. Admin users can select Turn on App Discovery to open the extension settings or Learn more to review the setup information.

Connect a detected AI provider

If your subscription includes Agent Analytics, a card labeled AI activity can appear for ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Copilot when Pendo detects activity that isn't yet connected to an agent. Each card is titled AI agent data is available for [tool] and shows the number of active employees in the last 30 days. Select Add agent to open the agent setup flow with that app preselected.

If a card doesn't appear

A card is hidden when there are no matching results in the current view. If you expect a card to appear, review your filters and confirm that the required portfolio data is available. For example, license signals require license counts and activity data, renewal signals require renewal dates, and provider-specific AI cards require detected activity and access to Agent Analytics.

Managing apps in the table

The table displays detailed information about every app in the Command Center based on your applied filters.

Table controls

• Search. Find apps by name using the search field above the table.
• Manage columns. Show, hide, or reorder columns (column icon).

• Download. Export visible columns and filtered data to CSV (download icon).

  Note: The CSV download doesn't include the domain breakdown.

• Pagination. Navigate through pages when your view includes more than the items per page limit. Use the page selector and navigation arrows at the bottom of the table.

App table columns

• Application. App icon and name. When Domain is selected in View by, expand an app to see activity by domain. For ChatGPT and Gemini, expanding also shows a breakdown by custom agents in the Group column. For managed apps, select the app name to open the application details page. Discovered apps are not linked.
• Group. Displays the domain and custom agents (for ChatGPT or Gemini), or the selected metadata group value, when Domain or a metadata field is applied in the View by filter.
• Category. Functional category from the Pendo catalog.
• Engagement. Visual bar chart showing engagement level for the app.
• Active employees. Count of unique visitors with activity in the app during the selected date range. Select the active employee count to open a right-side panel with the full list of visitors for that app, including visitor ID, metadata, last visit date, and days active. If you expand an app to view specific domains and custom agents, the active employee count will filter the visitor list for the specific domain or agent. Select Download CSV to export the full visitor list. Select a visitor row to navigate to their visitor page in Pendo.
• Licenses. Editable field for total license count. Select the number to edit.
• License usage. Calculated percentage of licenses actively used. Only displays when both licenses and active employee counts are available. Shows as "N/A" when license data is not available. Formula: (active employees ÷ licenses) × 100.
• Usage status. Displays a badge indicating the app's license usage health:
  • Unknown. No license data available
  • Low usage. License usage below 60%
  • Healthy. License usage between 60% and 90%
  • High usage. License usage between 90% and 99%
  • Over limit. License usage at or above 100%
• Annual cost. Editable field for the app's total annual cost. Select the number to edit. Displays "Est." when the cost is estimated (from the Pendo app catalog).
• Potential savings. For apps with low license usage, this shows the calculated cost of unused licenses. Shows as "--" when not applicable. Formula: (licenses - active employees) × cost per license
• App owner. Shows assigned app owner or displays Unassigned. Select the dropdown to assign or change the app owner. Assigning an app owner will automatically grant them Viewer permissions for that app.
• Labels. Any custom labels associated with the app.
• Notes. Any notes about the app.
• Renewal date. Shows the license renewal date for the app, if one has been entered. To add or edit a renewal date, select the cell and choose a date. This column is available through Manage columns and is hidden by default.

View activity by custom agent (GPTs and Gems)

When employees use custom agents within ChatGPT or Gemini, such as GPTs and Gems, the Command Center breaks app activity down by the specific custom agents used. This shows you which custom agents are active across your organization. This breakdown doesn't require Agent Analytics. If you have Agent Analytics, you'll see the Agents tab which gives a more detailed view of how visitors interact with your agents.

To view activity by custom agent:

1. At the top of the page, open View by and select Domain.
2. In the App table, find ChatGPT or Gemini and expand the app.
3. Each custom agent with activity in the selected date range appears as an item in the Group column, alongside any domains.
4. Select the Active employees count to open a right-side panel listing the visitors for that custom agent. The title shows the app and custom agent names.

Edit license and cost data

You can manually update license counts and annual costs to improve accuracy across the Command Center metrics.

1. In the app table, locate the app you want to update.
2. To edit licenses:
   1. In the Licenses column, select the number.
   2. Enter the license count.
   3. Select the check icon.
3. To edit cost:
   1. In the Annual cost column, select the number.
   2. Enter the annual cost.
   3. Select check icon.

License usage and potential savings recalculate automatically based on your entries. These values persist and update all related metrics across Overview and data breakdowns.

Assign app owners

You can assign owners to applications to establish accountability for each app.

1. In the app table, locate the app.
2. In the App owner column, select the dropdown (or Unassigned if no owner is set).
3. Enter or select an email address to assign as the app owner.
4. The owner is saved automatically.

Promote a discovered app to managed

When you promote a discovered app, it becomes a fully managed Pendo app. You can then tag elements, track detailed usage, and create guides for that app.

1. In the app table, locate a discovered app (indicated by the Discovered label next to the app name).
2. Hover over the app row.
3. On the right side of the row, select Promote app.

In the confirmation modal that appears, select Promote app to confirm. A confirmation message will appear, and the app will be promoted to managed status.

Note: Once promoted, the app appears in your Pendo subscription as a managed app with full analytics capabilities.

Take action on an app

From the app table, you can act on any app directly from its More menu. You can change an app's shadow IT status, or create a guide or email to communicate with employees about it.

Change shadow IT status

Changing an app's shadow IT status keeps your shadow IT view accurate for your organization. You can clear the flag from apps you've reviewed and approved so they no longer appear as potential risks, or flag an app your IT team considers risky that wasn't detected automatically. This keeps the Potential shadow IT count and review list focused on the apps that genuinely need attention.

Only apps rated High show the warning icon and appear under Potential shadow IT. Hover over the warning icon next to the app's Discovered label to see the Shadow IT risk explanation. Editing shadow IT status requires admin permissions.

Marking an app as shadow IT adds the warning icon. Marking it as not shadow IT removes the warning icon. The change takes effect immediately, with no confirmation step, and the app's Potential shadow IT count in the Overview updates to match. Your change is kept in place through future discovery cycles.

To untag an app:

1. In the app table, find the app you want to change. To see only flagged apps, open the Shadow IT filter and select High shadow IT risk, or select Potential shadow IT under Apps to review in the Overview.
2. Select the More icon (⋯) at the end of the app row.
3. Select Mark as not shadow IT.

The warning icon is removed and the Potential shadow IT count updates immediately. To reverse the change, open the More menu again and select Mark as shadow IT.

To tag an app:

1. In the app table, find the app you want to flag.
2. Select the More icon (⋯) at the end of the app row.
3. Select Mark as shadow IT.

When you enter license or cost data for an app that has a high shadow IT risk, the Update shadow IT status? window opens. Because adding this data suggests the app is approved, Pendo asks whether you also want to mark it as not shadow IT.

• Select Yes, update to save your data and remove the shadow IT flag.
• Select Not now to save your data and keep the shadow IT flag.

Your license or cost data is saved either way.

Create a guide or email

You can create guides and emails directly from the Command Center to communicate with employees about specific applications. The Command Center includes prebuilt templates tailored for common IT use cases. When you select a template, any [App] placeholders are automatically replaced with the selected app's name.

1. In the app table, select the More icon at the end of the app row.
2. Select Email app visitors or Create in-app guide.
3. Select a template. The layout chooser includes default templates such as:
   1. Blocking app access. An in-app guide to block access to unapproved apps.
   2. Data policy reminder. An in-app guide to remind employees about data policies.
   3. Scheduled downtime. An in-app guide to notify employees of upcoming maintenance.
   4. Jobs to be done (JTBD) survey. An in-app poll to understand what employees are trying to accomplish.
   5. App access confirmation. A transactional email to confirm whether an employee still needs access to an app.

4. Build and launch your guide or email.

   Note: If you create an email or guide on a discovered app, you're prompted to promote the app to managed first. After you approve, the action continues in the same flow as a managed app. See Promote a discovered app to managed.

These templates are available to all customers and can also be used outside of the Command Center. They can't be deleted.

Managing agents in the table

If your subscription includes Agent Analytics, you will see the Agents tab, giving you a view of AI agent activity. The tab shows which agents are active, how many employees interact with them, how many prompts they generate and the percentage of rage prompts. To explore detailed analytics for a specific agent, including use cases, issues, and full conversation data, select the agent to navigate to its Agent Analytics page. For more information, see Overview of Agent Analytics.

Agents table columns

• Agent. The agent name. Select the name to navigate to the Agent Analytics detail page for that agent.
• Agent context. The context provided during agent setup, which describes who the agent serves, what it does, and how it creates value. Pendo uses this to tailor how prompts are grouped and how insights are generated in Agent Analytics. 
• Application. The managed app linked to this agent. Select the app name to open the application details page.
• Active employees. The number of unique employees who interacted with the agent during the selected date range. Select the number to open a right-side panel with a detailed activity list. Select Download CSV to export the list.
• Prompts. The total number of prompts submitted to the agent during the selected date range. Select the number to navigate to the Agent Analytics detail page.
• Rage prompts. The percentage of prompts flagged as rage prompts. A rage prompt occurs when a visitor submits multiple prompts in quick succession, which can indicate frustration.
• Capture type. Shows how data is being collected for the agent: Full conversations or Prompts only. For more information, see Overview of Agent Analytics.

Add an agent from the Command Center

You can add an agent manually or directly from the Apps with potential AI agents discovery table.

Add an agent manually

1. Select the Agents tab.
2. Select + Add an agent.
3. Follow the steps in the agent setup flow to configure the agent. For detailed instructions, see Add and configure AI agents in Pendo.

After saving, the agent appears in the Agents table. Select the back arrow to return and view in the Command Center.

Add a discovered agent

Below the configured agents table, you can expand the Apps with potential AI agents section to view applications that have AI agent capabilities but aren't yet monitored by Agent Analytics.

1. Select the Agents tab.
2. Expand the Apps with potential AI agents section.
3. Locate the app and select + Add Agent. This opens the agent setup flow with the application pre-selected.

Note: If you add an agent for an app that's currently only discovered (not managed), the app is automatically promoted to a managed app.

View the data breakdown

Below the app table, the Breakdown by table provides a detailed breakdown of your app data. The table organizes data by Group when you select a metadata field in the View by filter in the top right of the page.

Below the app table, the data breakdown table provides a detailed breakdown of your app data when you select a visitor metadata field in View by. The table organizes data by Group.

Access the data breakdown

1. At the top of the page, open View by.

   Select a visitor metadata field, such as Department or Location.

   The App breakdown by [metadata] table appears below the app table.

Alternatively, select See full breakdown on the Average cost per employee card in Overview to view the breakdown table.

Data breakdown table columns

• Group. Each unique value from your selected metadata field. Includes an "N/A" row for visitors with missing metadata.
• Number of apps. Count of unique apps used by employees in this group.
• Active employees. Count of unique visitors in this group with tracked activity during the selected date range.
• Average apps per employee. Average apps per employee for this group.
• Estimated cost per employee. Average cost per employee for this group. Formula: total cost of apps used by this group ÷ active employees in this group

If you see a "No data available" message, consider adjusting any applied filters.

Download and sort breakdown data

The breakdown table supports:

1. Sorting by any column.
2. CSV download of all rows without size limits.
3. Pagination for large datasets.

Your applied filters and date range affect which groups and metrics display in this table.

How filters, metrics, and tables work together

All sections of the Command Center update in real time as you change filters, edit data, or adjust settings.

Example workflow:

1. Set the Date range filter to Last 30 days.
2. Set the Segment filter to Engineering Team.
3. Overview metrics recalculate to show only Engineering team activity.
4. The app table shows only apps used by the Engineering team.
5. If you've selected a Breakdown by metadata field, the data breakdown table shows Engineering team cost per employee alongside other departments.

Data refresh timing

• Filter changes, search, and manual edits update data in real time.
• Usage metrics refresh every two minutes.
• Historical data updates through batch processes.