Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit Privacy Statement

Published: July 13, 2009   |   Updated: August 15, 2016

Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy, while delivering software that brings you the performance, power, and convenience you desire in your personal computing. This privacy statement explains many of the data collection and use practices of Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit ("MAP Toolkit"). This privacy statement is applicable to MAP Toolkit 9.4 and all prior versions of the MAP Toolkit including, where noted below, pre-release versions. This document focuses on features that communicate with the Internet. It does not apply to other online or offline Microsoft sites, products, or services.

MAP Toolkit is a hardware and software inventory and assessment tool which is intended to discover and inventory machines on a network.

Collection and Use of Your Information

The information we collect from you will be used by Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates to enable the features you are using and provide the service(s) or carry out the transaction(s) you have requested or authorized. It may also be used to analyze and improve Microsoft products and services.

We may send certain mandatory service communications such as welcome letters, billing reminders, information on technical service issues, and security announcements. Some Microsoft services may send periodic member letters that are considered part of the service. We may occasionally request your feedback, invite you to participate in surveys, or send you promotional mailings to inform you of other products or services available from Microsoft and its affiliates.

In order to offer you a more consistent and personalized experience in your interactions with Microsoft, information collected through one Microsoft service may be combined with information obtained through other Microsoft services. We may also supplement the information we collect with information obtained from other companies. For example, we may use services from other companies that enable us to derive a general geographic area based on your IP address in order to customize certain services to your geographic area.

Except as described in this statement, personal information you provide will not be transferred to third parties without your consent. We occasionally hire other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as packaging, sending and delivering purchases and other mailings, answering customer questions about products or services, processing event registration, or performing statistical analysis of our services. We will only provide those companies the personal information they need to deliver the service, and they are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose.

Microsoft may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the services; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public. We may also disclose personal information as part of a corporate transaction such as a merger or sale of assets.

Information that is collected by or sent to Microsoft by MAP Toolkit may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or service providers maintain facilities. Microsoft abides by the safe harbor framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland.

Collection and Use of Information about Your Computer

When you use software with Internet-enabled features, information about your computer ("standard computer information") is sent to the Web sites you visit and online services you use. Microsoft uses standard computer information to provide you Internet-enabled services, to help improve our products and services, and for statistical analysis. Standard computer information typically includes information such as your IP address, operating system version, browser version, and regional and language settings. In some cases, standard computer information may also include hardware ID, which indicates the device manufacturer, device name, and version. If a particular feature or service sends information to Microsoft, standard computer information will be sent as well.

The privacy details for each MAP Toolkit feature, software or service listed in this privacy statement describe what additional information is collected and how it is used.

Security of your information

Microsoft is committed to helping protect the security of your information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. For example, we store the information you provide on computer systems with limited access, which are located in controlled facilities.

Changes to this privacy statement

We will occasionally update this privacy statement to reflect changes in our products, services, and customer feedback. When we post changes, we will revise the Updated date at the top of this statement. If there are material changes to this statement or in how Microsoft will use your personal information, we will notify you either by posting a notice of such changes prior to implementing the change or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to periodically review this statement to be informed of how Microsoft is protecting your information.

For More Information

Microsoft welcomes your comments regarding this privacy statement. If you have questions about this statement or believe that we have not adhered to it, please contact us at mailto:mapfdbk@microsoft.com.

Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, Washington 98052 USA

Specific features

The remainder of this document will address the following specific feature:

Check for Updates (MAP Toolkit 9.3 and earlier versions)

What This Feature Does:

This feature provides MAP Toolkit the ability to check online for updates to the MAP software as well as to MAP’s reference and device compatibility lists. You can also choose to have some updates automatically installed. Types of MAP Toolkit updates include updates to:

  • The device compatibility list that is used by the MAP Toolkit to perform assessments that can help you determine whether your computer is able to run a chosen operating system and to provide guidance for resolving device compatibility issues with that operating system.
  • The reference material lists that can provide you with a set of links to relevant data that support the assessment, planning, deployment and operation of computer environments.
  • The MAP Toolkit software. If a new version of the MAP Toolkit is available and the version you have currently installed is still supported, you will be notified and provided the opportunity to install the newest version or to continue to use the version currently installed upon your computer. If a new version of the MAP Toolkit is available and the version you have currently installed is no longer supported, you will be notified and provided the opportunity to install the latest version or to close the MAP Toolkit and update it at a later time.

Information Collected, Processed, or Transmitted:

This feature automatically checks the version of the MAP Toolkit you currently have installed on your computer and compares it with the version information stored by Microsoft for device compatibility, reference material lists, and application updates.

For device compatibility and reference material lists, if newer versions exist, Microsoft will download the updated information to you during the installation and execution of the MAP Toolkit.

Use of Information:

Information collected during the download of updates will be used for statistical analysis such as number of downloads of the MAP Toolkit, and it will not be used to identify or contact you.

Choice/Control:

During installation of the MAP Toolkit, you can choose to turn on this feature. If you choose to use this feature, the MAP Toolkit will automatically download and install updates for device compatibility, reference information and to the MAP Toolkit software during installation and every time MAP Toolkit is used for an assessment.

You may also enable or disable automatic Device Compatibility List Updates, Reference Material Updates, and Application Updates at any time. To enable or disable automatic updates, do the following:

  1. Open the MAP Toolkit.
  2. Open the Tools menu.
  3. Select Options.
  4. Select/deselect the 'Check for device compatibility, reference material updates and application updates' checkbox.

Customer Experience Improvement Program (MAP Toolkit versions 6.5 and above)

What This Feature Does:

The Customer Experience Improvement Program ("CEIP") collects basic information about your hardware configuration and how you use our software and services in order to identify trends and usage patterns. CEIP also collects the type and number of errors you encounter, software and hardware performance, and the speed of services. We will not collect your name, address, or other contact information.

Information Collected, Processed, or Transmitted:

When the CEIP option is enabled in the MAP Toolkit, it transmits the following anonymous information from the hardware and software data collected during an inventory:

  • Hardware and software configuration of the computer running the MAP Toolkit, which includes details such as processor count, memory installed, operating system installed and database installed.
  • Usage information about various features within MAP Toolkit, which includes details about type and count of assessments run, size of each assessment, options or settings used during assessment, size of the inventory run and type of machines inventoried.
  • Hardware and software configuration of machines inventoried by MAP Toolkit, which includes operating system, installed software, software configuration, hardware configuration (computer model, processor information, processor count, memory installed, and virtualization status) and for Windows Server, the roles installed.
  • Deployment, usage and telemetry data of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal and Security Compliance Manager (SCM).
  • For MAP Toolkit 7.0 and above, MAP Toolkit collects deployment details about Microsoft software and other third party client and server software.

As with all CEIP data this information is transmitted in an anonymous form and cannot be connected back to a particular customer or machine. For example, no machine names or IP addresses of the inventoried machines are transmitted in the data. For more information about the information collected, processed, or transmitted by CEIP, see the CEIP privacy statement at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=52097.

Use of Information:

We use this information to improve the quality, reliability, and performance of Microsoft software and services.

Choice/Control:

For final (non pre-release) versions of the MAP Toolkit, CEIP is turned off by default, and you would need to turn CEIP on, as described below, in order to participate.

For pre-release versions of the MAP Toolkit, CEIP is turned on by default so that we can collect information about how you use MAP Toolkit in order to improve the software.

If you choose to participate and later change your mind, you can turn off CEIP at any time by:

  1. In MAP Toolkit, on the Tools menu, click Customer Feedback Options.
  2. In the Customer Experience Improvement Program dialog box, do one of the following:
    • To turn CEIP off, select "I don’t want to join the program at this time".
    • To turn CEIP on, select "Yes, I am willing to participate anonymously in the Customer Experience Improvement Program".

Submitting Feedback ( MAP Toolkit 8.0 through MAP Toolkit 9.4)

Within the MAP Toolkit, you have the opportunity to submit a rating or feedback. When you provide a rating or your feedback, Microsoft does not ask for your contact information. Your rating or feedback is not associated with your identity. This is an optional feature and if you provide feedback, it will be used to improve Microsoft’s products, services, and technologies.