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Your MSP can use Standards to track tools and practices such as backup, endpoint protection and acceptable-use policies. Standards can create a Planner item for each company and standard. This guide helps company users and MSP staff read that work. Standards was formerly called Tool Stack. When your MSP excludes your company from Standards, the generated Standards tasks are archived and disappear from the active Planner for both staff and company users. Manually created planning work stays visible. Re-inclusion can restore the same Standards tasks with their history, if their standards still apply and the archived tasks have not been changed.

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Before you start

  • You need Planner read access. Company users see Standards items only when their MSP shares them, within the company’s access.
  • A Standards task in Planner does not mean you opened a support request or bought the product.
  • Your MSP manages the Standards catalog, deployment choices and sharing.

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Find Standards work

1

Open List View

Choose Planner Menu > List View.
2

Check the company selector

Select the company you want.
3

Filter by source

Under Source, choose Standards. You can also search for the title your MSP gave you.
4

Open the item

Click its title to read the description, dates, status, notes and estimates. Standards items show a Standards badge.
If the item is missing, clear the other filters and ask your MSP to check sharing, company access and whether the item was archived. Older links and screens can still say Tool Stack. Current Planner labels say Standards.

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Hide optional Standards

Some standards are marked optional. When your items include optional-standard work, the timeline Filters drawer shows Hide Optional Standards.
1

Open Filters

Click the Filters button on the timeline toolbar.
2

Turn on Hide Optional Standards

Planner hides items created from optional standards. An Optional standards hidden chip appears. Click the chip’s close button to show them again.

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Read the status

A Standards item mirrors a deployment decision in Standards. The statuses line up like this: Cancelled does not tell you whether the standard did not apply (N/A) or was offered and declined. Ask your MSP which one was recorded. Completed reflects the recorded deployment. It does not prove current device health. On Hold and Pending Approval are Planner-only statuses with no Standards equivalent. The Standards sync does not overwrite an item that your MSP set to one of them. If the Planner item and the deployment record disagree, ask your MSP to check both.

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Read dates and costs

A due date is a planning target, not a booked appointment. Some Standards work has no due date and sits in Unscheduled. Ask your MSP to confirm the deployment plan when a date is unclear. The item can carry a default estimate from the MSP’s catalog. Read the amount, currency and recurrence as shown. It is not a quote or a subscription price. For proposal documents use the Quotes guide. The Standards sync keeps each item’s title, description, cost estimate and Planner type in step with the catalog. A standard can also apply a Planner template to its open items. If the same detail keeps changing across related tasks, ask your MSP to check the standard.

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Ask your MSP about an item

Send the company, the Planner title, the value you expected and the value you see. Useful questions:
  • Is this standard required, optional or one of several alternatives?
  • Was it marked N/A, declined or deployed?
  • Is the estimate a planning amount or a quoted price?
  • Who schedules the work, and what needs approval?
  • Should company users see this item?
If you need support instead, use the Home AI Assistant to open a ticket. A Planner item is not a submitted ticket.

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Troubleshooting

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Frequently asked questions

Your MSP syncs Standards into company Planner work. It does not mean you submitted a request or bought the product.
The MSP can hide generated work from company users. Ask your MSP.
Not always. Both N/A and Declined show as Cancelled.
No. It reflects recorded deployment. Verify device health separately.
No. It is a planning target and can be empty.
No. Check the amount and recurrence, and use a real quote document for proposals.
No. Your MSP manages it.
No. Open a ticket through the Home AI Assistant to request support.