What is Microsoft compliance score?

Last updated: 27 September 2026

Microsoft compliance score is a percentage in Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager that shows how well your Microsoft 365 setup meets data protection and regulatory requirements. It measures the controls you have in place and gives you a prioritised list of actions to improve.

Where do I find it?

Sign in to the Microsoft Purview portal (purview.microsoft.com) with an admin account and open Compliance Manager. Your overall score is shown on the dashboard, with a breakdown by assessment and improvement action.

How is it calculated?

• Improvement actions: each recommended control, such as enabling MFA, applying sensitivity labels or setting retention policies, is worth a number of points based on its risk.
• Microsoft-managed actions: controls Microsoft is responsible for count automatically.
• Your actions: some are detected automatically; others you mark as complete and record evidence.

Which assessments are included?

A default data protection baseline is included. You can add templates for frameworks such as UK GDPR, ISO/IEC 27001 and NIST. Some templates need Microsoft 365 E5 or a Purview add-on.

Compliance score vs Secure Score

Compliance score focuses on data protection and regulatory controls. Microsoft Secure Score, in the Defender portal, focuses on security settings for identities, devices, email and apps. The two overlap and are best used together.

Does a high score mean we are compliant?

No. It is a useful guide, not a certificate. Compliance also depends on your policies, processes and people. Use it alongside Cyber Essentials and a regular cyber security audit.

ABCOM can review your compliance and Secure Score and work through the improvement actions with you as part of our cyber security services.