It is possible to complete any kind of assessment using any of the three supported methodologies- unit, application or third-party vendor produict. 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.
| Unit | Application | 3p Vendor Product | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assess multiple targets in one step? | Yes (you can select multiple units at one time) | No | No |
| Has questions? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can be created from the Assessment page? | Old UI- No; New UI- Yes | 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- | Yes- | No |
| Can import previously filled survey data (if this is a repeated assessment within a series on the same target)? | Yes- | Yes- automatically imports if possible | Yes (as of latest builds) |
| 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 Requesters? | No | No | Yes |
| Who (apart from superusers) can launch the survey(s)? | Assessment Managers of each targeted unit | Assessment Manager of the owning unit | Anyone with VendorRequester or better role in the requesting unit |
| 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 unit; Question Category delegates | Assessment Managers and IT Staff of the unit that owns the application; named individual application owners | Anyone with the link; anyone with VendorRequester or higher role in the unit that owns the assessment |
| Who can answer data enrichment (classification) questions? | Assessment Managers and IT Staff of the targeted unit; Asset Delegates (Owners, Users, and It Staff on the assets themselves); sheet owners of the sheets where the assets reside | Assessment Managers and IT Staff of the unit that owns the application; named individual application 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?