The process assessments window is accessed by clicking on either the "Import assessments" menu option or the "Search for assessments" menu option from navigation menu on the main screen of ASSET Manager. The Process Assessments window is where users will perform all actions concerning assessments that are submitted to ASSET Manager for aggregation. Once opened, users have the option to import new assessment information or search for specific assessments using the search screen. For a more detailed description of the user interface of ASSET Manager consult the following help topic:
For a further description of the capabilities of the Process Assessments window, please choose the option you wish to obtain help for below:
In order to import assessment information you must ensure that you have a valid ASSET System assessment XML export file that you can import. To import assessment information press the import button
on the Process Assessments toolbar. This will open a file chooser dialog box where you can navigate to the ASSET System assessment XML export file that contains the assessment information you wish to import. Once you choose the file you will be presented with a confiration dialog box that double checks your action, allowing you to change your mind about import the assesment information.
Once you initiate the assessment import please be aware that depending on the hardware capabilities of your system, and the number and percentage completed of the assessments you are importing the import process may take 2 - 10 minutes. If you wish you can open the ASSET System assessment XML export file and examine comments at the top of the file. The last comment will tell you exactly how many assessments are contained in that file. A sample set of comments may look like this:
<!--NIST Self-Assessment Tool Auto-generated Assessment Results-->
<!--Generated on: Thu Apr 04 08:58:09 EST 2002-->
<!--This file contains the results of 5 assessments-->Once you have initiated the assessment import, and waited patiently for it to finish the import process is complete! You can now import more assessments, search on the assessments you have imported or perform one of the other actions described above.
NOTE: if you decide to import more assessments, and choose the exact same assessment export file as the one you just imported, you will not recieve an error, the information will simply overwrite what is present in the ASSET Manager database already.
The Search for Assessments screen allows you to select any subset of the total set of systems in the ASSET - Manager database. In practice, there may be some systems that you wish to exclude, possibly because they didn't meet the definition for a system needing a self-assessment.
To search the ASSET Manager database the Process Assessments window must be active.
You can now perform a search of the assessment database using the search screen. To begin, you must enter a string into the search query field. Once this is done you must choose a field on which you wish to search in the choose field box. The values of this box are:
- System name
- System number
- Location
- Primary assessorIf you choose a value from this list you then have the option to place a limit on the number of results that are returned. To do this you must enter an integer limit in the Limit Results Returned box. If you enter anything other than an integer you will receive an error. Once you have chosen a limit on the size of the results that will be returned you must press the Search button at the bottom of the screen. If you press the Reset button all fields on the search screen will be reset.
The Search by date field allows you the option to search by assessment start date. This search must be performed independently of searching on a specific field. To search by date, click on the Choose Date option on the search screen. This will open a calendar of dates that you may choose from. Choose an active date by clicking on any of the dates on the calendar. You may change the active month and year by click on the associated drop down boxes at the top of the window. Once you have chosen a date, the calendar will disappear, from here you can click on the Search button to run the date search.
If you decide to change your mind after initiating a date search you must press the Reset button in order to be able to search on a specific field again.
Once you have imported assessments into the ASSET Manager database and performed a search on these assessments, you have the option to delete one or all of the assessments that are returned from your search. After performing a search of the ASSET Manager database you can select an assessment(s)) to delete in one of two ways:
Select the assessment by clicking on the row in the results table
OR
Select one or all of the assessments returned from your search by clicking on the select checkbox in the last column
Once you have selected the assessments you wish to delete, you can delete them by pressing the delete button
on the Process Assessments toolbar. This will present you with a confirmation dialog allowing you to reconsider your action before performing the actual delete of the assessments. Once you have deleted the assessments you can not recover the information UNLESS you re-import that assessment XML export once again
NOTE: If you press the delete button without selecting an assessment(s) to delete first you will be presented with an error.
Once you have searched the ASSET Manager database for assessments, you can re-open a specific assessment if necessary. To open a saved assessment, click on the row in the search results table that represents the assessment that you wish to import to select that particular assessment. Once you have selected the assessment that you wish to import you can open that assessment by clicking on the open button
on the Process Assessments toolbar to open that assessment.
Once the assessment has completed loading it will open in the ASSET Manager workspace for you to edit.
NOTE: Once this assessment has been opened nothing prevents you from modifying the data that it contains so unless you specifically wish to modify the data, DO NOT change any of the contents of the assessment because this may affect your aggregate reporting totals.
Select assessment subset for reporting:
Once you have searched the ASSET Manager database for assessments you have the option to "pair down" the contents of the database before you generate any aggreagate reports. This has the effect of creating reports only over those assessments that you selected as active from the Process Assessments Window. To select assessments as active you can either check the Select checkbox in the last column of the search results table or you can press the "Select all" button
on the Process Assessments toolbar.
Once you select assessments as active you can either save the results of your search by pressing the save button
on the Process Assessments toolbar or you can open the reporting window by pressing the report button
on the Process Assessments toolbar. Saving the results of your search may be useful if you wish to examine information about only a specific subset of assessments that is not available as a report function. To remove all other un-selected assessments from the results table you can press the refresh button
on the Proces Assessments toolbar.