A score only helps if you know what to do with it. This is how to read the one in a Sovereignty Index® report, using the sample report as the example. Every figure in the sample is fictional.
Look at the shape before the total
The overall score gives you a classification. The five pillar scores tell you where to act.
In the sample, the overall score is 56.2 and the firm is classed as Operational Drag. The shape underneath tells a sharper story. Resilience sits at 40 and Cognitive sits at 70, so the work is concentrated in one area and the total alone would hide it.
The lowest score is not always the first job
In the sample, Resilience is both the lowest score and the highest priority. Priority also reflects the consequence of the risk, and that is why the two can come apart.
A pillar that scores in the middle can still sit at the top of the list if a failure there would stop the business. A weak score in an area that cannot hurt you much can sit lower. Read the priority column next to the score, and ask why they differ where they do.
The cost figure is a range
The sample puts the cost at £214,600 a year and reads it as a range from £171,700 to £257,500. The range is deliberate. It reflects the judgement involved in any assessment, and it is built to help you decide what to do first, not to forecast a bill.
It is also not money you have to spend. It is an estimate of the cost the business already carries each year through lost time, recovery exposure, security risk and missed opportunity.
Targets and movement
Each pillar carries a 12-month target, and the action plan is sequenced to reach it. The first phase covers the first 30 days and removes the largest risk.
The score that matters to you is the one after the first 90 days. Compare it with the baseline and look at which pillars moved.
What the score does not mean
The Sovereignty Index is a diagnostic assessment. It does not certify or audit your business, and it is not legal advice.
The 50 questions are mapped against recognised standards, and mapped does not mean certified. A good score does not mean you hold any certificate, and a weak one does not mean you have failed anything.
See it with data
The sample report shows all of this with fictional figures. Open it and read as far as you like.
Then get your own. Request an Index and you receive a written report with your own cost figure and a ranked plan to bring it down. Prefer to talk first? Book a 15-minute call and we will agree the scope and confirm the fixed fee in writing before any work begins.