FAQ: Which assessment methodology should I use?
- Laura McWilliams
It is possible to complete any kind of assessment using any of the three supported methodologies- organizational, app or vendor. There are pros and cons to each approach, and the three methods were developed with specific ideas in mind. However, you might be assessing a different type of object that doesn’t cleanly fit into any of the three categories. The following table attempts to itemize the differences between the three different methodologies to help you choose which one will work best for you.
| Organizational | App | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
Assess multiple targets in one step? | Yes (you can select multiple OUs at one time) | No | No |
Has questions? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Can be created from the Assessment page? | No | Yes | Yes |
Can be created/editing/deleted by a superuser from the Settings page? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Includes data enrichment (classification) as part of the survey? | Yes- optional (as of latest builds) | Yes- required (app classification) | No |
Can import previously filled survey data (if this is a repeated assessment within a series on the same target)? | Yes- optional (survey launch window lets you choose to import or not) | Yes- automatically imports if possible | No |
Allows anyone with access to a link to fill out the survey? | No | No | Yes |
Can be created by Assessment Managers? | No | Yes | Yes |
Can be created by Vendor Requestors? | No | No | Yes |
Who can launch the survey(s)? | Assessment Managers of each targeted OU | Assessment Manager of the owning OU | Anyone with VendorRequestor or better role in the requesting OU |
Has an acknowledgment step on the questions portion? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Entire survey can be prefinal acknowledged by an Assessment Manager? | Yes | No (there is no prefinal acknowledgment) | No (there is no prefinal acknowledgment) |
Entire survey can be acknowledged by an Assessment Manager? | No- only OU Head can final acknowledge. | Yes | N/A (anyone with access to the survey can acknowledge it) |
Entire survey can be acknowledged by an OU Head? | Yes | No | N/A (anyone with access to the survey can acknowledge it) |
Who can answer questions on the survey? | Assessment Managers and IT Staff of the targeted OU; Question Category delegates | Assessment Managers and IT Staff of the OU that owns the app; named app owners | Anyone with the link; anyone with VendorRequestor or higher role in the OU that owns the assessment |
Who can answer data enrichment (classification) questions? | Assessment Managers and IT Staff of the targeted OU; Host Delegates (Owners, Users, and It Staff on the hosts) | Assessment Managers and IT Staff of the OU that owns the app; named app owners | N/A |
In addition to the roles specifically mentioned in the table, superusers can perform all of the activities mentioned.
The different assessment methodologies also support slightly different e-mail notifications. To review those differences, see Notifications: What Causes Them to Trigger?