Well using guiminer you can add the 'summary' page.
I don't know about a multiple machine summary, similar to Nagios/Spiceworks.
I just do like you do. I keep HWINFO and the summaries open and check on them once in awhile.
I suppose you could have HWINFO or GPU-Z to save a logfile in a dropbox and check on that instead.
Ah, I believe someone had a proxy website they built to automatically fail-over pools and check on mining stats.