FAQ for Assessment Owners

This assessment was created by Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) based on experience with many customers who have implemented Service Oriented Architecture with the guidance of MCS. There are practices recommended at each level of maturity in the model; however, you should consider which level of maturity is right for your business requirements.

Setting a timeframe for your assessment helps you think about and manage expectations around when you expect the assessment to be completed. It also allows the application to automatically close an assessment for you when that time expires.

The Owner Token provides a way for you to transfer ownership of the assessment account. You can transfer ownership at any point in time. This allows your organization to maintain a single Application Platform Assessment account, which provides the ability to generate comparative reports over time.

Microsoft has provided the quick assessment as a means for an individual to quickly create a high level overview of your SOA & Business Process capabilities that you can use for further investigation and discussion. It is not intended to provided a detailed, thorough assessment experience that would involve several members of your team and likely the guidance of a consultant or partner.

Go to Manage Assessment, and then click on the Modify button. Select the check-box for Close Assessment and click Update. Once an assessment is closed you cannot re-open it.

Reports are only available once you have closed the assessment. Once the assessment is closed you can go to Manage Assessments. You will then see the Generate Report button activated under Report. You can generate the report as many times as you like.

You can export the report to Excel or XML. Once you generate the report you can use the Export feature (located at the top of the report). Select the export format you would like using the drop-down list. Then click Export and follow the on-screen prompts.

Microsoft may contact the owner of a completed assessment once in order to discuss this assessment and advise on next steps. In most cases Microsoft will recommend you work with a partner or Microsoft Consulting Services to review the report, develop an impact map that shows which areas and practices impact your business the most, and create a solution roadmap. If you are already working with a partner or consultant you might share the report with them so that they can then review the report and work through next steps with you.

In general you should allow approximately 15 - 20 minutes to complete the assessment.

Yes, as long as you register the application will save your progress to date and you can return at anytime. Just click on Manage My Assessments to access the assessment when you return.

We recommend you answer all as best you can; there are no right or wrong answers. If you do not feel you have sufficient knowledge to answer a particular question, you can select Don’t Know.

Please send an email to apiohelp@microsoft.com with a clear description of what the behavior is that you are seeing, what action you are attempting when you see the behavior and any other information that you feel will help us assist you as efficiently as possible.