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Standards (formerly Tool Stack) shows which of your recommended tools and practices each company has deployed. It is for MSP staff. Company users see the related work in Planner when you share it with them. Standards answers whether a client has something. To check whether it is configured properly or meets a set of requirements, use Compliance. See Standards vs. Compliance.

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Before you start

  • You need an MSP staff account with Standards read access and the Client Health feature turned on for your tenant. If Standards is missing from the MSP Tools sidebar group, ask an administrator to check your role under Settings > Users & Roles.
  • Changing statuses needs Planner Write permission and active billing. Defining categories and standards is a separate permission. See Configure Standards.
  • Define at least one category and standard first. Until you do, the page shows No standards configured with a link to Settings > Standards.

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Open the Standards matrix

1

Open Standards

In the sidebar, open MSP Tools > Standards. Companies are rows and standards are columns, grouped by category.
2

Set the company scope

Use the company selector at the top of the app to limit which companies load.
3

Find a company

Type in Search companies… at the top of the matrix.
4

Read the cell

Each cell shows one status as a round mark. The key is in the table’s header row, next to the company count. Hover a cell for details. Right-click it to change the status.

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Compare billed revenue and white space

White space and Opportunity are available to MSP staff. The White space tab summarizes standards linked to agreement SKUs for the companies in your selected scope: For example, $138,231.02 billed** and **$355,531.39 estimated white space mean the first amount is already billed and the second is the estimated additional monthly opportunity. The deployment count is separate from either dollar amount.
White space with monthly money values and deployment counts underneath.

White space on a phone, scoped to the synthetic Acme example company.

The Opportunity tab uses the same compact summary bar. Open opportunity / month adds estimated white space and deployed-but-unbilled value; Open opportunity / year annualizes that total. The client table shows where it sits. Partner products are available from the table toolbar when recommendations exist; they are not added to the main opportunity total.
Opportunity with four compact metrics and one synthetic client.

Compact Opportunity summary and client table on a phone.

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Drill into the numbers

Every count on these tabs leads to the rows behind it.
  • On White space, click a standard to see its clients, or click its Open or Not billed count to see only those clients.
  • On Opportunity, click a client to see its standards, or click its Billed, Open or Deployed, not billed count to see the standards behind that number.
The drill-down table has column filters for State, SKU linked, Users, Monthly value and Planner, plus Export CSV. A count opens the table already filtered; click Clear Filters to see every row. Hover a column header to read what it counts. Not billed means a client is marked deployed in the matrix but no linked agreement SKU is billed. Add the SKU to the client’s agreement, or link the SKU they’re billed under to the standard.
Drill-down table for one client with State filtered to Not billed and SKU linked set to Yes, showing Acceptable Use with an Open in Planner link.

MSPortal Demo: clicking a client's Deployed, not billed count on Opportunity opens its standards filtered to that state.

Each row’s ⋯ menu offers:
  • Open in Planner: opens the client’s planner item for that standard, which the Standards sync keeps.
  • Add to Meeting: adds that planner item to the client’s meeting agenda.
  • Open followed by an agreement’s name: opens the agreement whose SKU proves the standard is billed, when you can read agreements.
Select rows to Export selected or Add to Meeting. A meeting belongs to one client, so Add to Meeting works when every selected row is the same client’s. Standards that aren’t on Planner yet are left out; Sync All Companies in Standards settings creates their planner items.

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Export a client report

Select standards on White space, or clients on Opportunity, and choose Actions > Export client report. The report has one line per client and standard, with its state, users, monthly value (billed or estimated), billed SKUs, agreements and Planner item, ready to hand to your team. Export CSV on either tab downloads the summary table as shown. On Opportunity, a client’s ⋯ menu also offers Open client’s Planner.
White space tab with one standard selected and the Actions menu open, showing Export client report and Add to Meeting (one client at a time).

MSPortal Demo: Export client report from the White space actions menu.

Switching between Matrix, White space and Opportunity keeps each tab’s filters and table state. Changing the company selector resets the controls and loads the new scope. SKU links and deployment changes refresh the affected analysis. On a phone, tap Filters to choose Rows per page, filter columns or sort them with the arrow buttons. Changes apply as you make them; tap Done to return to the table. The number on Filters shows how many column filters are active. Reopen the sheet and tap Clear Filters to remove them. The Columns icon sits beside the table’s action button.
Opportunity Filters sheet with Rows per page, labelled column filters, sort arrows and Done.

The phone Filters sheet includes page size, column filters and sorting, with Done at the bottom.

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Choose your task

Read the matrix

Find a company, read the status symbols and understand the deployment percentage.

Update a company's deployments

Set a status or implementation for one company and standard.

Update Standards in bulk

Set one company’s whole row, or one standard across companies.

Exclude or include companies

Remove a company from Standards scoring, or bring it back.

Configure Standards

Categories, standards, tiers and synchronization.

Standards work in Planner

How matrix statuses map to Planner items, and what company users see.

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How the matrix is scored

The matrix records Deployed, In Progress, Not Started, N/A and Declined. A deployed cell can also carry a deployment option and tier.
  • Each Required standard counts as one check.
  • A category marked 1 of N counts as one check, met when any member is deployed.
  • N/A and Declined standards drop out of the count.
  • Optional standards are counted separately.
The same deployment percentage feeds the Standards dimension of Client Health.

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Read monthly cost and margin

Cost requires the Cost feature and the appropriate Standards and financial-reporting access.
Open Cost to compare the monthly vendor cost of deployed standards with the monthly price charged to clients. Clients not fully costed counts clients with a deployed standard that lacks a vendor cost or the user/device count needed to calculate it. The vendor-cost subtotal includes known costs. Monthly margin stays unknown while any included client has a cost gap. Each client’s Margin / month becomes available once that client’s deployed standards are fully costed. A dash is not a zero margin; check the missing cost or count before using the figures to make a pricing decision. Standards Cost showing an unknown monthly margin and 123 clients not fully costed.

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Standards and Planner

Each standard can have a linked Planner item per company.
  • Click a status cell with a linked item to open it in Planner.
  • With Manage Planner, click a company name to open Planner List View filtered to that company’s Standards items.
  • Changing a status in the matrix updates the linked Planner item. See Standards work in Planner.

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Troubleshooting

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Frequently asked questions

No. Tool Stack is the former name. Older links may still say Tool Stack.
In Planner, on items you share with them. They do not get the MSP Tools matrix.
No. It records the status your team set. Check live inventory and protection in your device and security tools.
No. A standard column’s Mark all companies as action covers every non-excluded company in the loaded scope, including rows hidden by the search.