Summary
A finished Tech Assessment gives you one Overall Score and a score for every evaluation that ran, each with the reasoning behind it. Premium assessments add the Decision Synthesis card, which states a plain-language posture and names the evaluation holding the technology back. This article walks the result page in the order it appears on screen.
Start with one habit: read the Binding Constraint before you accept the Overall Score. The average can look reasonable while one evaluation sits far below the rest, and that weakest evaluation is usually the thing you have to act on.
The Binding Constraint sits in the Decision Synthesis card, so it is a Premium feature. On a Basic assessment, apply the same habit to the lowest-scoring evaluation. For what each tier includes, see Basic and Premium: what changes.
When to use
An assessment has finished and you need to decide what to do about it.
You are comparing several finished assessments and need to rank them fairly.
You are quoting a result to an inventor or a review committee.
A score surprised you and you want to see what produced it.
Before you begin
The assessment must have finished. A run still in progress shows its stage instead of results.
Know which assessment template the run used if the exact set of evaluations matters to you. For choosing and editing templates, see Assessment templates: choosing, creating and editing.
Know which tier the run used. Premium adds the Decision Synthesis card, which holds Overall Posture and the Binding Constraint. For the tier detail, see Basic and Premium: what changes.
You can open every evaluation and read every score without changing the result.
Step-by-step instructions
Read the result page in order
Important Read the Binding Constraint before you act on the Overall Score. The score is an average, and an average hides how uneven the result underneath it is. The Binding Constraint is a Premium feature. On a Basic assessment, open the lowest-scoring evaluation first and read it the same way.
Select Tech Assessment in the sidebar, then open a finished assessment. The assessment will open up to the Consolidated View first.Read the Overall Score ring under Overview.ne number out of 100. It is the weighted average of every evaluation that produced a score.
On a Premium assessment, read Overall Posture in the Decision Synthesis card below the ring. This states the same score in words, as Strong, Promising, Marginal, Weak, or Critical, next to how many evaluations it averaged.
Read Binding Constraint beside the posture, in the same card. This names the evaluation holding the technology back, with its score out of 100 and a line describing the problem.
Scan the score breakdown bar under the card. Every scored evaluation appears as a segment, weakest first, with its score in the legend.
Switch to any evaluation you want to check, using the selector at the top of the page or its Previous and Next controls. The evaluation shows its score and the criteria it assessed. Select Evaluation Details there to read its Score Guide, which explains all five score bands in the language of that question.
A Basic assessment does not show the Decision Synthesis card, so it shows neither the posture nor the constraint. It still runs every evaluation the template selected, with the reasoning and the reasoning behind each score. Read the Overall Score, then the individual evaluations, weakest first.
The Decision Synthesis card showing Overall Posture of Promising, a Binding Constraint of Subject Matter Eligibility at 49 out of 100, and the score breakdown bar listing every scored evaluation weakest first.
Why the Binding Constraint is worth reading first
The Overall Score averages your evaluations, so a strong result on one question dilutes a weak result on another. That average is a fair summary of the whole, and a poor guide to what you should do next.
The Binding Constraint cuts through that. It is part of the Premium Decision Synthesis card, and it names the weakest evaluation, with its score and a line describing the problem. Read it as the weakest part of the assessment and the first thing worth your attention, rather than as a blocker.
Where that evaluation is one your institution cares about, treat the result more cautiously than the Overall Score alone suggests. Where it is peripheral to the decision in front of you, the average is the fairer read.
What Overall Posture tells you
Overall Posture restates the Overall Score in one word so you can scan a result quickly. It appears on Premium assessments, in the Decision Synthesis card. The bands are Strong, Promising, Marginal, Weak, and Critical. When no evaluation produced a score, the card reports insufficient data instead of a band.
Posture describes the average and nothing more. A Promising posture can sit beside a Binding Constraint pointing at a genuinely weak evaluation, so read the two together rather than taking the single word as the answer.
Use the breakdown bar to see whether the result is balanced
The score breakdown bar is the fastest way to tell a balanced result from a lopsided one. Every scored evaluation gets a segment, ordered weakest first, and the legend lists each one with its score.
Segments at a similar level mean the technology scores consistently, and the Overall Score represents it well. A run of low segments beside one high segment means the average is resting on one strong evaluation. Quote the breakdown rather than the single number in that case, because the average flatters a narrow result.
The bar appears only when more than one evaluation produced a score.
Check an individual evaluation
Switch to an evaluation to see the reasoning behind a number. Each one carries the score and the criteria it assessed, with the Score Guide for that evaluation behind Evaluation Details.
Where a number drives a decision, check the Trust score on that evaluation before you rely on it. The Trust score is a Premium feature. For what each band means on a given evaluation, and for what the Trust score measures, see Evaluations: scope, limits and rubrics.
An evaluation for Public Disclosure Status showing its score of 36 out of 100, a Trust score of Medium, and the evaluation description.
Tips
On a Premium assessment, read the Binding Constraint first, every time. A good-looking average can still sit on top of one weak evaluation.
Do not quote the Overall Score on its own. Quote it with the posture and the constraint, or on a Basic assessment with the weakest evaluation. Otherwise people act on a number that hides the problem.
Check the bar before you rank two assessments against each other. A 65 spread evenly and a 65 carried by one evaluation are different positions.
If an evaluation shows a limited-evidence note, treat that score as thinner than the others and read it closely before relying on it.
Open the weakest evaluation before the strongest one. The weakest evaluation is usually where the decision sits.
Common issues
The result page shows no Overall Posture and no Binding Constraint. The assessment ran on Basic, which does not show the Decision Synthesis card. Every evaluation score is still there, with the reasoning behind it. See Basic and Premium: what changes.
The Binding Constraint names an evaluation that is not the lowest score on the bar. Two evaluations can take priority over score order: Subject Matter Eligibility and Public Disclosure Status. If either scores 50 or below, the card names it rather than the lowest scorer, because either one can foreclose patent protection outright. Read both.
Overall Posture reports insufficient data. No evaluation produced a score, so there is no average to band. Check each evaluation to see what did not complete.
The score breakdown bar is missing. The bar needs more than one scored evaluation. With a single score there is nothing to compare.
An evaluation shows as failed or pending. It did not complete, so the assessment leaves it out of the Overall Score rather than counting it as a zero. A score of 0 is a real finding and does count.
The Overall Score looks low for a technology you rate highly. Check the bar and the Binding Constraint. One weak evaluation pulls the weighted average down by design, and that is the assessment pointing at the real problem.
The Overall Score is different from the last time you opened it. Someone may have changed the weighting. See Editing weights after an assessment.
Frequently asked questions
Which do I look at first, the Overall Score or the Binding Constraint?
The Binding Constraint. The score is an average, and an average hides how uneven the result is. Read the constraint, then read the score in that light. On a Basic assessment there is no Binding Constraint, so start with the lowest-scoring evaluation.
Does a Binding Constraint mean the assessment is blocked?
No. On Premium the card always names something, because there is always a weakest evaluation. It points at what deserves your attention, not at a blocker.
Why is the Binding Constraint not simply the lowest number?
Usually it is. The exception is Subject Matter Eligibility and Public Disclosure Status: if either scores 50 or below it takes priority, because either one can foreclose patent protection however well the technology scores elsewhere.
Overall Posture says Promising but the Binding Constraint looks serious. Which is right?
Both are accurate about different things. Posture describes the average of the scores. The constraint points at the weakest one. Read them together.
What does an Evaluation score of X mean?
That depends on the evaluation. See Evaluations: scope, limits and rubrics.
Why did the same technology score differently when I ran it again?
Can I change how much each evaluation counts toward the Overall Score?
Yes. See Editing weights after an assessment.