Skip to main content
Audience: MSP staff with Standards read access and the MSP Tools feature available. Company users should start with Standards work shared in Planner. Reading the matrix does not grant permission to change statuses or configure the catalog. Standards records which tools or practices your MSP tracks for each company. Its deployment labels reflect the recorded status; they are not a live device scan, proof of subscription ownership or confirmation that every endpoint is protected.

​
Find the company and standard

  1. Open MSP Tools > Standards. If the entry is missing, ask your MSP administrator to check feature availability and Standards read access.
  2. Check the company selector at the top of the app. It limits the loaded company scope.
  3. Enter a company name in Search companies… inside the matrix.
  4. Read across the company’s row to the standard you need. Categories group the columns; scroll horizontally for more standards.
  5. Clear the search to return to the other loaded companies.
Company rows can include indented child companies. Each row has its own recorded statuses; a parent’s result does not automatically describe its child companies.

​
Read the status symbols

A green check without a tier is not the same as meeting a company’s target tier. If tiers are configured, hover a colored status dot to read its selected option and tier. A red outline/warning indicates a deployed option below the company target; it remains deployed but needs a separate alignment review. The tier badge next to a company name, when present, is its target. The MSP configures targets and deployment options in Standards settings. An absent badge does not prove that the company meets a target.

​
Understand required checks and the percentage

The summary follows the company search and current scope. It is not necessarily the MSP’s entire portfolio. Excluded companies do not contribute even when shown.
  • In a normal category, each Required standard counts as one check unless it is N/A or Declined.
  • A category marked 1 of N contributes one check for the company. Any deployed member satisfies it; several deployed alternatives do not earn several required checks.
  • If every member of a one-of group is N/A or Declined, that group has no applicable check for the company.
  • Optional deployment counts are shown separately. They do not increase the required deployment percentage.
For example, three deployed checks, one In Progress check and one N/A check produce 3/4 required, or 75% deployed. The N/A check is outside the denominator.
A higher percentage can result from marking work N/A, recording a decline or excluding a company, without deploying another tool. Read the status and exception counts alongside the percentage. 0/0 required means there are no applicable required checks in that result; do not interpret its displayed percentage as a deployment failure rate.
When tiers are configured, tier counts, unclassified and below target add detail to the deployed results. They answer a different question from “is it deployed?” A 1 of N group still counts once, using its strongest deployed tier for the group’s alignment. Standards also contributes to Client Health. Compare scope, exclusions and refresh time before expecting a Client Health score to equal this matrix’s current filtered percentage.

​
Open the supporting Planner work

Click a status cell that has a linked Planner item to open that item. If the cell has no link, clicking does not create one. The MSP may need to review Standards synchronization. Click the company name to open Planner List View for that company’s Standards source items. Older links may use the former name Tool Stack. Access and client visibility still apply to the destination items. Use Read a Planner item to review its dates, status, notes and estimates. A Standards deployment record and its Planner task use different status labels; Standards work in Planner explains the mapping.

​
Inspect menus without changing data

The question-mark button beside the legend opens Right-click actions, which explains the menu scopes. Escape closes this help.

The built-in help explains the three menu scopes. Selecting a status inside an action menu saves a change.

Right-clicking a status cell opens actions for one standard at one company. Right-clicking a company name opens actions for all its standards and company exclusion. Right-clicking a standard’s column header opens actions for that standard across companies. Opening the menu does not save; choosing a status or exclusion action does.
The company search does not limit a column’s “Mark all companies” action. That action covers every non-excluded company in the loaded company scope, including rows hidden by the search. Do not use a bulk menu as a way to inspect or filter statuses.
To review exclusions, use Show N excluded when it is available. Excluded rows appear faded with an Excluded badge. Hide N excluded hides them again. This display toggle does not re-include a company or change its records.

​
Troubleshooting

​
Make changes

Follow Update a company’s deployments, Update Standards in bulk, or Exclude or include companies for the saving boundaries and scope of each action.

​
FAQs

MSP staff open MSP Tools > Standards with the feature and Standards read access. Company users normally review the work shared in Planner instead.
No. It is a recorded deployment status. Verify device health and protection in the relevant inventory or security workflow.
The standard is recorded as deployed without a selected deployment tier. It does not by itself prove that the company’s target tier is met.
Yes. A deployed option can be below the company’s target tier. Deployment progress and alignment are separate measurements.
No. Declined records an offered standard that was turned down; N/A means it does not apply. Neither is a deployed result, and both are excluded from applicable required checks.
Any one deployed member satisfies one required check for that company. Deploying several alternatives does not multiply the required-check credit.
No. Optional deployment counts are informational and shown separately from required checks.
The matrix summary follows the currently matching company rows and excludes companies marked excluded. Clear the search to review the wider loaded scope.
No. Changes to N/A, Declined, exclusions or scope can change the denominator. Read exception counts and the deployed/required fraction too.
No applicable required checks are present in that result. Its displayed percentage is not evidence that a set of required deployments failed.
No. Parent and child rows show their own recorded statuses. Indentation organizes the rows.
No. Mark all companies applies across all non-excluded companies in the loaded company scope, including rows hidden by the matrix search.
No. It only displays excluded rows. Re-including a company is a separate saved action.
A cell without a linked Planner item has no item to open. It does not create a task on click. Ask the MSP to review synchronization if one is expected.
No. An unsuccessful read can also lead to that display. Check access and loading before creating duplicate configuration.