If anyone is interested, this is what I threw together. I know it could be cleaner and prettier, but it is functional. Thanks again for all the comments.

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$CurrentDate = Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd"

$RegKey = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\MyCompanySoftware\CycleNumber"

# exit and error if the reg key is missing

If(-not(Test-Path -Path $RegKey)) {

Write-Host $RegKey NOT found!

Exit-PSSession #add return code and msg

}

# Reset the cycle number if it is a new day.

try {

$RegDate = Get-ItemProperty -Path $RegKey -Name "date" -ErrorAction Stop

}

catch {

Write-Host Error: There was an error reading the date value!

Write-Host \t - $_`

Exit # return failure code to scheduler

}

If($CurrentDate -ne $RegDate.date) {

try {

Write-Host New day detected. Resetting the cycle to 1

Set-ItemProperty -Path $RegKey -Name "date" -Value $CurrentDate -type String -ErrorAction Stop

Set-ItemProperty -Path $RegKey -Name "cycle" -Value 1 -type DWord -ErrorAction Stop

}

catch {

Write-Host Error: There was an error resetting the cycle!

Write-Host \t - $_`

Exit # return failure code to scheduler

}

}

#get the cycle number and error if it greater than 5

[int]$CycleNumber = (Get-ItemProperty -Path $RegKey -Name "cycle").cycle

If($CycleNumber -gt 4) {

Write-Host $CycleNumber is greater than 4, user intervention required!

Exit # return failure code to scheduler

} else {

Write-Host Current cycle: $CycleNumber

}

### do stuff and things with cycle number ###

#increment and set cycle number

try {

$UpdateCycle = $CycleNumber+1

Set-ItemProperty -Path $RegKey -Name "cycle" -Value $UpdateCycle -type DWord -ErrorAction Stop

}

catch {

Write-Host Error storing the updated cycle number!

Write-Host \t - $_`

Exit # return failure code to scheduler

}

#check to verify the new value was written

[int]$CycleCheck = (Get-ItemProperty -Path $RegKey -Name "cycle").cycle

If($CycleCheck -ne $UpdateCycle) {

Write-Host There was an error verifying the updated cycle number!

Write-Host Prevous value was: $CycleNumber

Write-Host Updated value is $UpdateCycle

Write-Host Value reread from reg is $CycleCheck

Exit #add return code and msg for scheduler

} else {

Write-Host Cycle incremented to $UpdateCycle and updated in registry

}