Overview
Compliance Matrix
A grid view showing every company against every tool in your stack, with color-coded deployment statuses.
Planner Integration
Automatically creates planner items when tools are synced to companies, so deployment tasks appear in your team’s workflow.
Category Organization
Group tools into categories like Security, Backup, Cloud, and Monitoring for clear organization.
Health Score Integration
Tool deployment percentages feed directly into the Client Health Tool Stack dimension score.
Setting Up Your Tool Stack
Before using the compliance matrix, you need to define the categories and tools you want to track.Managing Categories
Navigate to Settings > MSP Tools > Tool Stack to manage your tool stack.Create a category
Click Add Category to create a new tool category (e.g., Security, Backup, Cloud, Monitoring).
Configure the category
Click the edit button on the category header to set:
- Description - Optional description of what this category covers
- Planner Type - Links to a planner item type for automatic categorization of created tasks
- Icon - Choose an icon to represent this category
Managing Tool Items
Each tool item has the following fields:| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The name of the tool (e.g., “SentinelOne EDR”, “Veeam Backup”) |
| Vendor | The vendor name (e.g., “SentinelOne”, “Veeam”) |
| Description | Optional description of the tool’s purpose |
| Default Price | The default cost used when creating planner items (shown as a dollar amount) |
| Required | Whether this tool is mandatory for all companies |
- Total number of categories
- Total number of items
- Number of required items
Syncing to Companies
After defining your tool stack, you need to sync it to your companies to create tracking records.Click Sync All Companies
Click the Sync All Companies button at the top of the Tool Stack settings page.
Review the confirmation
A dialog shows what will happen:
- How many items across how many categories will be synced
- Existing company statuses (deployed, in progress, etc.) will not be overwritten
- A planner item is created for each new tracking row
- The sync runs as a background task
Syncing is non-destructive. It only creates new tracking records and planner items where they don’t already exist. Companies that already have a status for a tool will not be affected.
Using the Compliance Matrix
The compliance matrix is accessed from Tool Stack in the sidebar under MSP Tools. It has its own dedicated page.Reading the Matrix
The matrix displays:- Rows - One row per company
- Columns - Tool items grouped by category (category names appear as group headers)
- Cells - Color-coded status indicators. Click any cell to navigate to its linked planner item for full details.
Status Indicators
Each cell shows one of four statuses:| Status | Symbol | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deployed | Checkmark | Green | Tool is fully deployed and operational |
| In Progress | Circle | Amber | Deployment is underway |
| Not Started | X | Gray | Tool has not been deployed yet |
| N/A | Dash | Light gray | Tool is not applicable to this company |
Summary Statistics
At the top of the matrix, summary statistics show:- Total number of companies being tracked
- Overall deployment percentage across all companies
- Count of deployed items vs total items
Updating Statuses
To change a tool’s deployment status for a company:- Right-click (or long-press on mobile) the cell you want to update
- Select from the context menu:
- Mark Deployed - Tool is fully deployed
- Mark In Progress - Deployment has started
- Mark Not Started - Reset to not started
- Mark N/A - Mark as not applicable
Searching Companies
Use the search field at the top of the matrix (placeholder: “Search companies…”) to filter the company list. This is helpful when you need to quickly find a specific company’s tool status.Planner Integration
When tool stack items are synced to companies, MSPortal automatically creates corresponding planner items. This means every tool deployment appears as a trackable task in the Planner.How It Works
-
When a tool item is synced to a company, a planner item is created with:
- Title matching the tool name
- Due date set to the end of the current month
- Business value set to “Medium”
- Cost estimate from the tool’s default price
- Source marked as “Tool Stack”
-
The planner item and tool stack tracking record are linked bidirectionally:
- Updating the tool stack status automatically updates the linked planner item
- Updating the planner item status automatically updates the tool stack status
- Changes flow in both directions, so you can manage from whichever view is most convenient
- You can view and manage these items in the regular Planner views (list, timeline, monthly).
Deleting Tool Items
When deleting a tool item that has linked planner items:- A warning shows how many linked planner items will be deleted
- You must type the item name to confirm deletion
- Both the tool tracking records and linked planner items are permanently removed
Impact on Health Scores
The Tool Stack deployment percentage directly feeds into the Tool Stack dimension of Client Health scores:- Only required tools count toward the health dimension
- The score is a linear mapping: 80% deployed = 80 dimension score
- Companies with no required tools show N/A for this dimension
Best Practices
Start with your core stack
Start with your core stack
Begin by adding the 5-10 tools that every company should have (EDR, backup, email security, etc.). Mark these as Required. Add recommended but optional tools later.
Use categories to organize logically
Use categories to organize logically
Group tools by function (Security, Backup, Productivity, Monitoring) rather than by vendor. This makes the compliance matrix easier to read.
Set realistic default prices
Set realistic default prices
The default price is used when creating planner items. Set it to the typical per-company cost so your planner accurately reflects deployment budgets.
Link categories to planner types
Link categories to planner types
Set the Planner Type on each category so that automatically created planner items are properly categorized and appear in the right views.
Review the matrix weekly
Review the matrix weekly
Use the compliance matrix in your weekly team meetings to track deployment progress. Filter by Not Started to identify gaps.
Use N/A strategically
Use N/A strategically
Mark tools as N/A for companies where they genuinely don’t apply (e.g., a backup tool for a company that uses a different backup solution you support). Don’t use N/A to hide gaps.