Baseline Alignment
See where tenants deviate from their baselines, and decide what to do about it
This page shows how tenants measure up against the baselines assigned to them, and is where deviations are triaged. The same data is presented four ways, and you switch between them with the toggle above the table. Each view carries its own columns, filters, and actions.
Tenant View
Work through every standard applicable to the tenant you have selected.
Standard View
See how a single standard is faring across the whole estate.
Baseline View
See which tenants a baseline covers, and how far each has progressed its stages.
Historic View
Read every recorded run and operator decision for the selected tenant.
Deviation States
Every row in the Tenant and Standard views carries a state.
Compliant
The setting matches what the baseline expects.
Drift
The setting differs from the baseline and is awaiting a decision.
Accepted
The deviation has been accepted, so the tenant counts as aligned until the acceptance expires.
Partially Accepted
Individual properties of the setting have been accepted, but others still deviate.
Denied - Remediate Pending
The deviation was denied, and the setting is corrected back to the baseline on the next run.
Denied - Delete Pending
The deviation was denied, and the offending policy is removed on the next run.
Error
The last attempt to correct the setting failed, so it cannot be accepted or denied. The run logs explain why. A deviation already denied keeps its Denied state instead.
Conflict
Two baselines configure the same standard at the same assignment level with different settings, so nothing is compared or corrected. Edit one of the baselines to resolve it.
Skipped - No License
The tenant is not licensed for the standard, so it is left out of scoring.
No Data
Nothing has been collected for the standard yet.
Tenant View
The view opens on the tenant currently selected, and is laid out as a score bar, the baselines assigned to that tenant, and the table of applicable standards.
Score Bar
Compliant with accepted deviations
The share of standards counting as aligned, including deviations you have accepted. The tooltip shows how much of the score comes from acceptances.
Compliant with baseline
The share of standards genuinely in their expected state, with accepted deviations excluded.
Open Deviations
How many deviations are awaiting a decision.
License Missing
The share of standards left out of scoring because the tenant is not licensed for them.
Assigned Baselines
One card per baseline assigned to the tenant, showing how closely the tenant matches the standards rolled out to it so far, which stage it is in, and what has to happen before it reaches the next one. Where the next stage needs manual approval the card is marked Awaiting approval and carries a Move to next stage button, which applies that stage's standards on the following run.
Where the next stage is reached automatically, the card instead carries Re-evaluate stage conditions, which checks the tenant against that stage's conditions straight away rather than waiting for the next scheduled check. If the conditions are met, the tenant moves into the stage and receives its standards on the following run; if not, the result lists the conditions still unmet.
What-If Report
Produces a client-ready report previewing what the configured standards would change for the tenant, including the stages still to come. The preview opens in a dialog and can be downloaded as a PDF.
Branding
The branding preset the report is styled with. Presets are managed in Settings, under Branding.
Simulate additional baselines
Adds baselines the tenant is not assigned to, so everything they would bring appears in the report as planned changes.
What Is Already In Place
Includes the policies already deployed and the settings already enforced, with their values.
Rollout Stages
Includes how the remaining stages arrive and when.
What Is Already In Place and Rollout Stages each switch their section of the report on and off. Changes are reflected in the preview as you make them.
While a run is in progress a tracker appears next to the view toggle, showing its progress.
Filters
Open Deviations
Standards that deviate from the baseline and have not yet been ruled on.
Accepted
Standards whose deviation has been accepted.
Denied
Standards whose deviation was denied and which are queued for correction.
License Missing
Standards excluded from scoring because the tenant is not licensed.
Table Details
Standard
The standard being checked.
Category
The area of Microsoft 365 the standard covers.
Stage
The stage of its baseline the standard belongs to.
Status
The current deviation state, as listed above.
Reason
The justification recorded when the deviation was accepted or denied.
Set By
The operator who made that decision.
Set At
When the decision was made.
Expires
When an acceptance lapses, after which the deviation is raised again.
Configured By
The baseline whose settings are in force for this tenant, or Tenant Override where one is set.
Last Run
When the standard was last checked.
Selecting a row opens the Standard Details flyout. It lists every baseline configuring the standard for this tenant and marks which one is effective, as the most specific assignment wins, and shows whether each one fixes drift automatically and whether it raises alerts.
Below that, the expected and current configurations are compared property by property, with each deviating property marked. An individual property can be accepted on its own, which tolerates only that value and still raises a deviation if anything else changes. Where the standard detects policies that no baseline covers, the offending policy can be opened and read in full, and can be denied and queued for deletion. The flyout also carries any manual task instructions, and the most recent runs for the standard, each of which can be expanded to show exactly what was expected and what was found. View Logs beside Last Run, and on each recent run, opens the log entries for that run.
Table Actions
Compare Now
Re-checks the standard against the tenant without changing anything. Greyed out for rows in Conflict.
Remediate Now
Applies the expected configuration to the tenant immediately, once, whatever the standard's own remediation setting says. Greyed out for rows in Conflict, and not offered for manual tasks.
Accept Deviation
Records the deviation as accepted, so the tenant counts as aligned and alerts stop until the acceptance expires. You give a reason, optionally an expiry date, and whether the setting should be corrected automatically when the acceptance lapses. Greyed out unless the row is in Drift or Partially Accepted, and not offered for manual tasks.
Deny & Fix Deviation
Rejects the deviation, so it is corrected back to the baseline on the next run regardless of the configured remediation setting. The fix happens once, so if the setting drifts again it shows as a new deviation. Greyed out unless the row is in Drift or Partially Accepted, and not offered for manual tasks.
Undo Accept/Deny
Clears the accept or deny decision along with any accepted properties, so the deviation surfaces again on the next run. Greyed out where no decision has been recorded, and not offered for manual tasks.
Mark Task Complete
Marks a manual task as done for this tenant. It is raised again on the recurrence the task defines. Only offered for manual tasks, and greyed out unless the task is in Drift.
Create Tenant Override
Configures the standard for this one tenant, replacing whatever the baseline applies. The settings are pre-filled with what is currently in force. Greyed out where an override already exists or the standard has no configurable settings, and not offered for manual tasks.
Remove Tenant Override
Deletes the tenant override, so the tenant falls back to the baseline's configuration on the next run. Greyed out where no override is set, and not offered for manual tasks.
More Info
Opens the Extended Info flyout with the full details for the selected row.
Standard View
One row per standard, aggregated across every tenant it applies to.
The Baseline and Stage selectors above the table narrow the view to one baseline, and optionally one of its stages. Stage is greyed out until a baseline is chosen. The counts then cover only the standards that baseline has rolled out. Standards shared with another baseline are scored once per tenant, so they count toward every baseline that includes them. The Baselines tiles open this view with their filter already applied.
Filters
Has Open Deviations
Standards deviating on at least one tenant and awaiting a decision.
Has Accepted Deviations
Standards with at least one accepted deviation.
Has License Missing
Standards excluded from scoring on at least one tenant for want of a licence.
Table Details
Standard
The standard being checked.
Category
The area of Microsoft 365 the standard covers.
Impact
How disruptive applying the standard is likely to be.
Compliant with accepted deviations
The share of tenants counting as aligned, including accepted deviations.
Compliant with baseline
The share of tenants genuinely in the expected state.
Accepted
How many tenants have an accepted deviation for the standard.
Open Drift
How many tenants are deviating and awaiting a decision.
License Missing
How many tenants are excluded from scoring for want of a licence.
Tenants
How many tenants the standard applies to in total.
Selecting a row opens the Standard Tenant Summary flyout, which adds the Secure Score points the standard is worth, a compliance trend once there is more than one day of data, and a card per tenant giving its state. Deviating tenants can be accepted or given a tenant override directly from those cards.
Table Actions
Deploy To All Tenants
Applies the standard's configured expected value to every applicable tenant. Accepted and suppressed deviations are left alone. Not offered for manual tasks.
Mark Task Complete (All Tenants)
Marks a manual task as done for every applicable tenant. Each raises it again on the recurrence the task defines. Only offered for manual tasks.
Compare All Tenants
Re-checks the standard on every tenant without changing anything.
Edit Baseline
Opens the baseline that configures the standard in the editor.
More Info
Opens the Extended Info flyout with the full details for the selected row.
Baseline View
One row per baseline, with the tenants it covers and how far the rollout has progressed.
Table Details
Baseline
The name given to the baseline.
Standards
How many standards it carries across all of its stages.
Stages
The names of its stages, in the order tenants pass through them.
Assigned Tenants
The tenants and tenant groups the baseline applies to.
Remediation
Whether the baseline reports on deviations only, or corrects them automatically.
Updated At
When the baseline was last saved.
Selecting a row opens the Baseline Rollout flyout, which gives a card per tenant showing the stage it is in, when it entered that stage, what has to happen before it advances, and an estimate of when that will be. Tenants waiting on manual approval carry a Move to Next Stage button. Tenants whose next stage is reached automatically carry Re-evaluate Stage instead, which checks that stage's conditions for the tenant straight away, in the same way as Re-evaluate stage conditions on the tenant's own card.
Table Actions
Edit Baseline
Opens the baseline in the editor.
Run Baseline Now
Runs the baseline immediately against a single covered tenant, or against every tenant it is assigned to. Standards sitting in report-only stages are compared without anything being changed.
More Info
Opens the Extended Info flyout with the full details for the selected row.
Historic View
A timeline of everything recorded for the selected tenant: scheduled and manual runs, and the decisions operators have made. Runs are collapsed into a single entry carrying a count per outcome, which expands to the individual standards. Entries where an alert was sent are marked, and each run can be opened to show its logs.
The timeline can be narrowed by standard, outcome, and run type, or searched, and loads in blocks of fifty entries.
Compliant
The standard was verified as matching the baseline.
Remediated
The standard was changed back to the expected configuration.
Drift
The standard was found to deviate.
Error
The change failed. The run logs explain why.
Skipped - No License
The tenant is not licensed for the standard.
Skipped - No Data
Nothing had been collected for the standard yet.
Accepted
An operator accepted the deviation.
Property Accepted
An operator accepted a single property of the setting.
Denied - Remediation Ordered
An operator denied the deviation and ordered it corrected.
Denied - Delete Ordered
An operator denied the deviation and ordered the policy removed.
Property Denied
An operator denied a single property of the setting.
Triage Cleared
An earlier accept or deny decision was cleared.
Property Triage Cleared
An earlier decision on a single property was cleared.
Task Completed
A manual task was marked as done.
Override Created
A tenant-specific override of the standard was created.
Override Removed
A tenant-specific override was deleted.
Stage Advanced
The tenant moved into the next stage of a baseline.
Deleted
A policy was removed after its deviation was denied.
Delete Failed
The removal did not complete. The run logs explain why.
Feature Requests / Ideas
We value your feedback and ideas. Please raise any feature requests on GitHub.
Last updated
Was this helpful?

