Shell scripting in controlled web environment - powershell

Question

I'm working on some web-based tools for our IT department, and need to launch a PowerShell script to do remote maintenance queries prior to loaning out a laptop.
I have an existing web-based registry of the laptop inventory, when one is loaned out we get the borrower to log in before they leave to ensure their profile is on the machine. At that point, I would like to query the laptop using a PowerShell script collecting information from it which would feed to the database and show on the display page.
The page itself is restricted to IT personnel, and our environments are very homogeneous -- everyone is running Windows (7 or 10) and IE (10 or 11).
I can launch a PowerShell script server-side easily enough from the VB code.
[ CommandToRun is a textbox, PStext an output span ]
Dim app = New Process()
Dim psi As ProcessStartInfo = app.StartInfo
psi.FileName = "powershell.exe"
psi.Arguments = CommandToRun.Text
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = True
psi.RedirectStandardError = True
psi.UseShellExecute = False
PStext.InnerHtml &= "<br/>Launching app: " & psi.FileName & " " & psi.Arguments
app.Start()
app.WaitForExit(5000)
PStext.InnerHtml &= "<br/>OUTPUT<br/><pre>" & app.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd() & "</pre>"
PStext.InnerHtml &= "<br/>ERROR<br/><pre>" & app.StandardError.ReadToEnd() & "</pre>"
But it runs as the local system which does not have the authority to run remote PS commands. Lacking Administrator status, the server cannot execute anything on remote computers, therefore cannot query the laptop being loaned out.
I found a Javascript client-side solution that looks easy enough:
function tryLaunch(commandtoRun, commandParms) {
// Instantiate the Shell object and invoke its execute method.
var oShell = new ActiveXObject("Shell.Application");
// Invoke the execute method.
oShell.ShellExecute(commandtoRun, commandParms, "", "open", "1");
}
But it gets a Permission denied error launching the shell.
Other sources have had the same JavaScript with "WScript.Shell" as the ActiveXObject parameter -- that fails on the construction, whereas the "Shell.Application" version fails on the ShellExecute command.
I know what I'm doing is intentionally disallowed, as its usually a pretty dangerous idea to allow web servers to launch code on clients, and portability issues kill even the most well-meaning ideas -- but like I said, this is a very controlled and homogeneous environment.
So ... my questions:
Am I missing an obviously better way to do this?
Should I focus on trying to make PS scripts run on the client? ( If so, any clues?? )
Should I focus on running the script server-side with different
access rights? ( Can I shell as the web site user? I have their
"user" object from AD )
Am I ignoring some capability of IIS to install a PS script as an
application using an Administrator account? (Seems like this should exist, which means I'm probably looking right at it and not seeing it. )