A portfolio heat map template with a records-and-rights column

A private equity portfolio heat map is a one-page grid that rates every portfolio company red, amber or green on performance, risk and value creation measures. Adding a records-and-rights column, scored on size at peak, years of history, systems count and rights clarity, shows in the same review which companies could license data to AI developers.

When to use a portfolio heat map

A portfolio heat map is the page that opens most quarterly portfolio reviews: one row per company, one column per measure, each cell red, amber or green. It lets a managing partner or investment committee see in a minute where attention is needed, and it gives the operating team a shared vocabulary for escalation.

Use the template below for the quarterly review and for annual planning. The added records-and-rights column answers a different question from the rest of the grid: not where a company is at risk, but whether it holds operational records it could license to AI developers. AI developers look for records of real work that the public web holds little of. Epoch AI researchers project that language models could fully use the stock of public human-generated text between 2026 and 2032 if current trends continue, a forecast with wide uncertainty that, if it holds, raises the value of permissioned, non-public business records.

The heat map template

The rows below are Illustrative and the companies fictional.

Company	Revenue vs budget	EBITDA vs budget	Liquidity	Covenant headroom	Customer retention	Leadership	Value creation plan	Records and rights
Company A, IT services (fictional)	Green	Amber	Green	Green	Green	Green	Amber	Green
Company B, distribution (fictional)	Amber	Amber	Amber	Amber	Green	Green	Green	Amber
Company C, marketing agency (fictional)	Green	Green	Green	Green	Amber	Red	Amber	Red
Company D, engineering services (fictional)	Red	Red	Amber	Red	Green	Amber	Red	Green

Put the legend at the foot of the pack:

Green: on plan; normal monitoring only.
Amber: off plan or at risk; an owner and a date for the fix.
Red: materially off plan; on the agenda for the next review.

Company C is red on records and rights even though its finances are green, because an agency's records mostly belong to its clients. Company D is the reverse: under financial pressure, but holding a deep history it created itself. That contrast is the reason to keep the column separate from the rest.

How to score the records-and-rights column

Score four sub-measures and apply the weakest-link rule: the cell takes the color of its lowest sub-measure, because one hard no stops a license.

Sub-measure	Green	Amber	Red
Size at peak	50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), documented	Headcount history unclear, or the peak relied on contractors	Clearly below the baseline at every point
Years of history	Several years of documented operations, with archives kept through migrations	History exists, but some systems were replaced without exports	Archives deleted
Systems with history	Many systems hold exportable history; strong companies often run 10-15+	A handful of systems, or exports never tested	Nobody can export the data
Rights clarity	The company created the records, and its contracts and policies allow licensing	Contracts, notices or policies not yet reviewed	Records belong to clients, are mainly consumer personal data with no licensing basis, are mainly protected health information without authorization or de-identification, or were already licensed for AI training

Amber is the most useful color in this column, because many amber findings can be fixed: test an export, review the standard customer contract, keep the old system's archive at the next migration.

Templates for collecting the column

How to personalize the template

If your portfolio is	Adjust
Mostly software and IT services	Split systems into engineering (code, pull requests, issue trackers) and customer-facing (support, CRM)
Heavy in services firms that work inside client systems	Score rights clarity first; it decides most outcomes
A buy-and-build platform	Score each add-on separately until its systems are integrated
Small, with a lean operating team	Score annually at budget season instead of every quarter
Preparing several exits	Add a sale-timing column so licensing conversations are coordinated with deal teams
Companies with tight covenant headroom	Ask counsel whether the credit agreement or liens limit licensing company assets, and reflect the answer in the rights score

The portfolio operations annual calendar shows where scoring fits in the year, and the CFO and CIO councils described in communities of practice across a PE portfolio are the natural group to agree the definitions.

How to use the results

Result	What it means	Next action
Green	Size, history, systems and rights all look clear	Offer the CEO an introduction; each company decides for itself
Amber on exports or archives	Records probably exist but are not yet reachable	Test an export, and protect archives at the next migration
Amber on rights	Contracts or notices have not been reviewed	Ask counsel to review standard customer terms and policies
Red on rights	The records are not the company's to license	Park it; revisit only if the business model changes
Red on history	The archives are gone	Park it; keep exports from now on

A green score is a reason to talk, not an approval. Each company still goes through SourceX's own qualification, and the company decides whether to proceed; the comparison of opt-in and mandated portfolio programs explains why that choice should stay with the company. For companies that opt in, the deeper diligence steps are set out in how private equity teams assess portfolio company data opportunities.

Follow-up timing

Refresh the column with each quarterly review, but expect it to move slowly: rights and history rarely change within a quarter, and exports change mostly at migrations. Act on green companies within the quarter, before a system change or a sale process overtakes them.

If anyone at the firm registers as a partner, the standard terms apply. Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company, and the reward becomes payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee. A green score, an introduction or a signed agreement alone does not trigger payment.

What never goes in the heat map

Record contents, customer names or sample data of any kind.
License price or revenue estimates.
Reward amounts or promises of payment.
Wording that implies a company has been approved or selected by SourceX or by a buyer.

Next step

Add the column to the next quarterly pack and score two or three companies you know well first. Settle edge cases against who qualifies, map further candidates and contacts with the network opportunity finder, and register as a partner before the first introduction.

Step 1Share your linkSend your personal link to a company you know.
Step 2Company appliesThe company applies itself at /apply.
Step 3Buyer selects and paysThe buyer selects and pays for the data and SourceX receives its fee.
Step 4You get your rewardYour share of SourceX fees becomes payable.

Common questions

Should the records-and-rights score change a company's overall color?

No. Keep it out of any overall rating. The standard columns measure risk and performance, while the records column measures an optional opportunity. A company under financial pressure can still hold a deep history it has the right to license, and a strong performer can hold records that belong to its clients. Mixing the two hides both signals.

Who should fill in the records-and-rights column?

The portfolio company CFO, working with the head of IT or CIO. The CFO can speak to headcount history, contracts and policies, while IT knows which systems hold history and whether exports work. The operating team checks the answers for consistency across companies but should never ask for, collect or look at records in order to score them.

Can an amber company still be introduced to SourceX?

Yes, if the CEO wants to explore and the amber items are fixable, such as untested exports or contracts nobody has reviewed yet. Say what is unresolved in the introduction. SourceX's qualification checks size, history, data breadth and rights with the company directly, so open questions get answered there rather than guessed in the heat map.

What if a company scores green but the CEO is not interested?

Record the score and leave it. Data licensing is opt-in: the company keeps ownership, approves scope and price, and nothing is binding until it signs. Revisit at a natural moment, such as budget season or before a system is retired, but do not push. An unwilling sponsor is one of the clearest signs a license will not happen.

How is a heat map different from a portfolio monitoring dashboard?

A monitoring dashboard usually tracks metrics from company data feeds, while a heat map is a judgment layer prepared for a review meeting. The records column fits the heat map better because it rests on qualitative evidence, such as contract terms and export tests, that does not arrive through a data feed and changes slowly from quarter to quarter.

Free resources

PDF bank statement to CSV converter — Turn Chase, Bank of America or Wells Fargo PDF statements into CSV, privately in your browser.
Client data licensing eligibility checker — A transparent preliminary screen for one company.
Enterprise value calculator — Enterprise value from equity value, debt and cash.
All free tools · MCP resource center

By SourceX Partnerships Team · Published 2026-10-09 · Updated 2026-10-09

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