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Assessment Scoring Model

The CYC Assess scoring model is derived from and compatible with the Microsoft Azure Review Checklists (ARC) spreadsheet dashboard. Enterprise clients familiar with the ARC spreadsheet will recognise the scoring dimensions and chart types in the CYC report.

CYC extends the model in three ways not present in the ARC spreadsheet:

  • WAF pillar scores computed per design area in addition to overall
  • Remediation effort classified per finding (quick win / medium / complex)
  • Drift comparison available for Tier 3 recurring assessments

Item Status Values

Every assessed checklist item is assigned one of five status values, directly mapping to the ARC spreadsheet taxonomy:

CYC StatusARC EquivalentMeaning
compliantFulfilledRecommendation followed. No action required.
non_compliantOpenRecommendation not followed. Action item exists.
not_applicableN/ADoes not apply to this environment — resource not deployed or organisational context makes it irrelevant.
not_requiredNot requiredUnderstood but intentionally not adopted. Confirmed via intake questionnaire.
data_unavailableNot verifiedInsufficient data to assess. Typically a missing permission or collection error. Excluded from scoring denominator.

Scoring Dimensions

The Assessment Engine computes scores across four dimensions:

Top-Level Metrics

MetricFormulaMeaning
Overall compliance %(compliant + not_required) / (total − data_unavailable)Percentage of applicable items that are compliant
Open items %non_compliant / (total − data_unavailable)Percentage of applicable items requiring remediation
Assessment coverage %(total − data_unavailable) / totalProportion of items with sufficient data. Equivalent to the collection quality score.
WAF pillar score(compliant + non_compliant − min) / (max − min)Normalised score per WAF pillar. Identical to ARC spreadsheet formula.
Progress per area(compliant + not_required) / total per areaClosure rate per design area. Feeds the radar chart.

Report Visualisations

All chart types are directly comparable to the ARC spreadsheet dashboard:

ChartTypeData source
Overall statusPieAll items: compliant / non_compliant / not_applicable / data_unavailable
High severity statusPieHigh severity items only
Medium severity statusPieMedium severity items only
Low severity statusPieLow severity items only
Status per design areaStacked barStatus counts per design area
Item distribution by areaPieTotal item count per design area
Item distribution by severityPieTotal item count per severity level
Design area coverageRadarProgress % per design area — primary executive visual
WAF pillar scoresRadarNormalised score per WAF pillar (CYC addition)
WAF × area matrixHeatmap tablePillar score per design area combination (CYC addition)

Drift Detection (Tier 3)

Tier 3 recurring assessments include a delta comparison against the most recent prior assessment for the same tenant:

  • Items moved from non_compliantcompliant — remediation confirmed
  • Items moved from compliantnon_compliant — regression detected
  • New checklist items added since last assessment
  • Items that changed severity classification upstream

Drift comparison uses CYC IDs as the stable join key across assessment cycles. This is why fixed-sequence ID generation was chosen — assessment-scoped IDs would make drift tracking impossible.