How readiness is scored
The readiness score is one number on the dashboard saying how much of the pack is answered. It exists so that preparing a company for sale has a finish line rather than being an open ended chore.
Points, not percentages of effort
Every field in a section carries points, and answering it claims them. A section is complete when every field in it is answered, in progress when some are, and not started when none are.
Points are weighted by what a buyer asks about first rather than by how long a field takes to fill in. A single line naming who owns the shares is worth more than a long list nobody will read.
What the bar and the counts mean
Above the checklist sit two counts and a bar. The counts are sections complete against sections total, and the bar is the points claimed against the points available. They move at different rates on purpose, because finishing a heavy section moves the bar more than it moves the count.
Marking a section as not applicable
Some sections genuinely do not apply. A company with no employees has no payroll and no employee schedule.
Marking a section as not applicable counts it as complete and removes its points from the total, so the score reflects the company you actually have rather than punishing you for one you do not.
It is visible to a buyer as a deliberate answer rather than as a gap, which is exactly what it is.
What the score is not
It is not a valuation and it is not a credit score. It says how much of the pack is answered and nothing else.
A high score does not make a business worth buying. It makes the diligence on it fast, which is a different and more reliable kind of advantage.