Create a compass

A compass is a list of rules that Astrolabe checks on your components. You write the rules (assessments) first, then you group them in a compass.

Before you start

You need to be an administrator, and Compass must be on (Turn on Compass).

1. 📝 Create an assessment

An assessment is one rule: "this datapoint, compared this way, with this value".

1. In Administration, under INTELLIGENCE, click Compass, then the Assessments tab.

2. Click Create Assessment.

3. Fill in the form:

   Field	What to write	Example
   Name	What the rule checks	Has an on-call schedule
   Description	Why it matters	Someone is on call for it.
   Datasource	Where the value comes from	Catalog
   Datapoint	The value to read	PagerDuty Set
   Passes when the check is	What it must be	True

   A yes-or-no datapoint, like this one, asks only Passes when the check is. A datapoint that reads a number (a count, a duration, a percentage) asks an Operator and a Value instead, for example Greater than and 80.

   Under Rules, All Of means every rule must pass, Any Of means one is enough. Click Add Rule for a second rule.

4. Click Save. Assessment saved successfully appears, and the rule is in the table.

Which datasources can I use?

The Data Sources tab lists every datasource and datapoint. A datasource other than Catalog (GitHub, GitLab, Jira, SonarQube, Azure, Repository) needs its connection in Administration › Company connections.

2. 🧭 Create the compass

1. Click the Compasses tab, then Create Compass.

2. Fill in the form:

   Field	What to write	Example
   Name	The name of the compass	Production readiness
   Description	What it is for	What a service needs before it goes to production.
   Entity Kind	The kind of entity it grades	Component
   Entity Type	A type, or all	all
   Owners (optional)	Only the components of these owners

3. Under Assessments, click Add Assessment. Tick the rules to use (Select All ticks them all), then click Save Selected Assessments.

4. Click Save. Compass created appears, and you are back on the Compasses tab, where the compass has its card.

3. ✅ Turn it on

1. On the card of the new compass, click the switch at the top right. Compass updated appears.

2. Click the score link on the card. The Scores tab shows a column for your compass.

✅ That's it!

Next: Run a campaign.