Importing assessment data

Many organizations already hold pieces of this picture in spreadsheets, prior assessments, or framework mappings. Forest lets you bring that data in rather than re-entering everything by hand, which is often the fastest way to get a first assessment off the ground.

When importing helps

Importing makes the most sense when you already have structured records of your capabilities and their current state. A prior maturity assessment, an audit workbook, or a tool inventory can seed the assessment so your team is reviewing and refining instead of starting from a blank page.

It also helps with scale. If you are assessing a large program across many domains, a clean import gets the bulk of the data in place before owners step in to verify their areas.

Review before you trust

Imported answers are a starting point, not a finished assessment. Treat them the way you would treat any inherited data.

• Confirm that each imported maturity value reflects the practice as it runs today, not as it ran when the source was created.

• Resolve anything that lands as Unknown, since imported gaps carry the same weight as gaps you enter directly.

• Check criticality, because importance is a judgment your organization owns and source data often gets it wrong.

Stale data scored confidently is worse than no data. An import that no one reviews can make a weak program look healthier than it is.

Once imported data is verified, it behaves exactly like answers entered by hand. The Forest Intelligence Service is deterministic, so the same values always produce the same scores and priorities, regardless of how they arrived.

After importing, route each domain to its owner for verification. See Collaborative assessment workflow.