--- title: Understand your data protection score description: What the data protection percentage means, where you see it, what raises or lowers it, and why it can show a dash or Not applicable. --- [Skip to content](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#main-content) English Show submenu for translations [More support](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/kb-tickets/new?hsLang=en) [Customer portal](https://help.schoolday.com/support?hsLang=en) ![gg4l logo](https://help.schoolday.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Automated%20emails/gg4l%20logo.png?width=100&height=33&name=gg4l%20logo.png) - [Go to Knowledge Base](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Go to Knowledge Base](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge) - English Show submenu for translations - [More support](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/kb-tickets/new) - [Customer portal](https://help.schoolday.com/support) What are you looking for? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. 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[Governance](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/data-management-connect?hsLang=en#governance) November 1, 2026 # Understand your data protection score ## How the protection score is calculated, where it appears, what moves it, and how to improve it **In this article** > [Requirements](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#requirements) > > [How protection score is counted](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#how-protection-score-is-counted) > > [Where the protection score appears](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#where-the-protection-score-appears) > > [How the protection score is shown](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#how-the-protection-score-is-shown) > > [What changes the protection score](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#what-changes-the-protection-score) > > [Raise an application's protection score](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#raise-an-application-s-protection-score) > > [Decide where to start](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#decide-where-to-start) > > [Protection scores you cannot improve](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#protection-scores-you-cannot-improve) > > [When there is no protection score](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#when-there-is-no-protection-score) > > [Related articles](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#related-articles) Your data protection score (percentage) shows how much of the sensitive personal data an application receives is protected. Protected means the data is masked, or the application does not receive it at all. The protection score runs from 0% (every sensitive attribute arrives with its real value) to 100% (none does). A low protection score is not automatically a problem, and a high one is not automatically safe: the protection score measures how much of what you send is protected, not whether sending it was the right decision. ### Requirements - A Governance subscription. If you don't see **Governance** in the sidebar, ask your account manager to turn it on for your district. - The District Administrator role. To send a masking request, you must be your district's primary administrator. For other administrators, the page reads "You are not authorized to request changes. Please reach out to your Primary Admin." ### How protection score is counted Two things decide how much each attribute counts: - **How many people it reaches.** An attribute sent for 1,200 students counts far more than the same attribute sent for 80 teachers. Students, teachers, contacts, and admins all count, including admins, even though no attribute table lists them. - **How sensitive it is.** A last name counts more than a phone number. SchoolDay uses the privacy levels it assigns to each attribute, together with your district's own list of sensitive data. The district protection score adds every connection that SchoolDay can measure together the same way. An application scores 100% when every sensitive attribute is masked or not sent. If its masking settings list no sensitive attribute at all, the screen shows a dash instead. ### Where the protection score appears You can see your data protection score in these places: - **Discover:** the **Data protection** tile (district-wide), and the **Data protection** column in the **Applications** table and **Data protection by application** (per application). - **Enforce:** the **Protection** column in **Sensitive data by application** (per application), and **Sensitive data by attribute**, which shows how well one attribute is protected across every application that receives it (per attribute). - **Validate:** the **Data protection** card (district-wide). - **Application panel:** **Protection** (per application). ### How the protection score is shown Governance shows each protection score as a bar with a label: - **Rounding:** Protection scores are rounded down to a whole number. For example, 79.9% shows as 79%. - **Weak, Fair, and Strong:** Below 60% is Weak, 60% to 79% is Fair, and 80% and above is Strong. The bar is red, yellow, or green to match. - **Grey bar with no label:** The connection isn't delivering data right now, for example because it expired or was suspended. The protection score reflects its settings. ![governance-data-protection-score-01-protection-bars](https://help.schoolday.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Knowledge%20Base/SP%20ecosystem/Connect/Governance%20dashboards/governance-data-protection-score-01-protection-bars.png?width=670&height=347&name=governance-data-protection-score-01-protection-bars.png) **Read the bar captions** Some bars on Enforce have a caption that shows how high the protection score can go: - **Up to N%:** This is the most the application can reach with its vendor's current settings. It assumes you mask every attribute the vendor can mask and stop sending every attribute the application doesn't require. The hatched part of the bar is out of reach. Hover over the bar to see "Your vendor's settings allow up to N% protection." You might not reach N% if your attribute settings still send an attribute that Governance counts as removable. - **Maximum reached:** The application is at its limit. Everything that can be masked is masked, and nothing it doesn't require is still sent. Hover over the bar to see "Your vendor's settings allow no higher protection." Because the protection score is rounded down, a fraction of a point can remain. - **No caption:** The application can reach 100%, or SchoolDay doesn't know its maximum yet. You see these captions only on Enforce and in the application panel. They don't appear in the Discover lists or the Validate card. If you can't raise a protection score, see [Protection scores you cannot improve](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-data-protection-score#protection-scores-you-cannot-improve). ### What changes the protection score An application's protection score changes when you change what it receives: - **It goes up** when you mask an attribute the application already receives, or stop sending an attribute. An attribute the application no longer receives counts as protected. - **It goes down** when you unmask an attribute, or add a new unmasked attribute to what the application receives. Masking an attribute or no longer sending it can only raise the protection score, never lower it. A very small change might leave the whole-number protection score where it was. ### Raise an application's protection score 1. In Discover, use **Data protection by application** to find your weakest applications. 2. In Enforce, open **Sensitive data by application** to see which attributes reach each application unmasked. 3. Decide which of those attributes the application needs. For example, a rostering application might not need birth dates. 4. Choose how to protect each attribute: - **The application doesn't need it:** switch it off in the data-sharing request. Attributes marked with an asterisk (\*) are required and stay on. See [Data-sharing request settings](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/data-sharing-requests-parameters?hsLang=en). - **The application needs it:** confirm with the vendor that they accept a masked value. Some vendors need the real value, and masking it can make their syncs fail. Then, in the application panel, select **Mask** beside the attribute and send the data-sharing request. Only your district's primary administrator can send it. See [Monitor shared data](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-monitor-shared-data?hsLang=en) for the full steps. 5. After the vendor approves the request, select **Refresh** and check that the protection score rose on Enforce. Then check the next sync in Validate. See [Monitor sync reliability](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-monitor-sync-reliability?hsLang=en). **Note:** The protection score rises when the change takes effect, but that doesn't show the change was safe. Only a successful sync afterwards tells you the vendor can still work with what you're sending. ### Decide where to start Two approaches get the most from each change: - **Start with the applications that hold the most people's data.** In Enforce, sort **Shared data** by **Most persons shared**, and compare it with **Most exposed PII**. An application at 46% that holds 4,000 students exposes more people than one at 20% that holds 30 staff. - **Work by attribute instead of by application.** In **Sensitive data by attribute**, you can decide once that birth date should be masked across your portfolio, instead of reviewing 13 applications one at a time. Each application still needs its own data-sharing request and vendor check. ### Protection scores you cannot improve Some protection scores can't go higher. What you see tells you why: - **Masking not available:** the vendor offers no masking for the attribute, but it still counts in the protection score. Narrow what the application receives, or reconsider the connection. - **Up to N%, Maximum reached:** the application requires some attributes and the vendor offers no masking for them, so those attributes stay exposed. Ask the vendor which attributes it needs and whether more can be masked. The maximum changes if the application's needs or its masking options change. ### When there is no protection score If a connection shows something other than a protection score, here's what it means: - **No shared PII data:** No people's records currently reach the application through the sensitive attributes SchoolDay counts. - **A dash:** SchoolDay can't calculate a protection score. This happens when the application's record counts aren't available, or when its masking settings list no sensitive attribute at all, not even one that's switched off. - **Couldn't check:** SchoolDay couldn't read this connection's masking settings or your district's sensitive-data list. Select **Refresh** to try again. - **Not applicable (Discover):** SchoolDay doesn't measure this connection. It only imports data, hasn't been configured yet, is waiting for the vendor's first answer, is your district's own data source, or is used for sign-in only. - **n/a (Enforce):** The connection hasn't been configured yet. It's the only kind of unmeasured connection that Enforce lists. ### Related articles - [Understand masking statuses](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-masking-statuses?hsLang=en): the statuses that drive the protection score - [Monitor shared data](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-monitor-shared-data?hsLang=en): where you start a masking change - [Monitor sync reliability](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/governance-monitor-sync-reliability?hsLang=en): how the protection score trends over time - [Troubleshoot Governance findings](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/troubleshoot-governance-findings?hsLang=en): protection scores that cannot be improved, and why - [Getting Started](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/getting-started?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Introduction](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/getting-started?hsLang=en#introduction) - [Getting Started by Role](https://help.schoolday.com/knowledge/getting-started?hsLang=en#getting-started-by-role) - 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