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Findings

Audience: All users
Page Type: How-To Guide
Duration: 15 minutes

What are Findings?​

Findings are structured records that collect important signals from analysis modules in one place. They are used to move from analysis evidence to action.

In COS, each finding has:

  • Type: Strength / Weakness / Opportunity / Threat / Gap / Insight
  • Severity: Critical / High / Medium / Low
  • Status: Open / In Review / Promoted / Dismissed
  • Source module: Digital Maturity, Excellence, Status Report, PESTLE, Porter, VRIO, BCG, or Manual
  • Inputs (Evidence): selected source items that justify the finding

Creating a Finding​

  1. Go to Findings
  2. Click + New Finding
  3. Fill in:
    • Title
    • Description (optional)
    • Finding Type
    • Severity
    • Inputs (Evidence) from source modules (optional but recommended)
  4. Save

Notes:

  • Planning period is required and comes from the selected global cycle.
  • Source module is derived from selected inputs; if no input is selected, it is treated as Manual.
  • Who can write: Company Admin, Strategy Manager and Group Admin across the company. A Team Lead only in the units it leads and their sub-units; a finding without a unit (company level) only by the leader of the root unit. Members view only. Details: Roles & Permissions.
  • Closed planning period: after the planning period is closed, creating, editing, closing, promoting to SWOT, unlinking and deleting findings is blocked for everyone (Super Admin included).

Risk Model in Findings​

Findings use explicit risk fields (no separate risk type):

  • isRisk (mark as risk)
  • riskPrimaryCategories (multi-select)
  • riskSecondaryTags (multi-select)
  • riskLevel (0..1, decimal)
  • riskProbability (0..1, decimal)

Risk score is calculated on the fly:

  • riskScore = riskLevel * riskProbability

Behavior rules:

  • If isRisk is unchecked, risk categories/tags/level/probability are cleared.
  • If isRisk is checked, at least one primary category and both numeric fields are required.

Risk Taxonomy​

Primary CategoryTypical Secondary TagsScope
FinancialFinancial, Strategic, Governance / Control, Data / Reporting, Legal / ComplianceRevenue, profitability, cash flow, budgeting, investment, cost, pricing, financial sustainability and reporting accuracy
CustomerService / Quality, Reputation / Brand, Legal / Compliance, Data / ReportingSatisfaction, churn, retention, trust, onboarding, SLA and customer experience risks
MarketCompetitive, Strategic, Reputation / Brand, Macro / RegulatoryMarket share, competitive intensity, demand shift, positioning, brand perception and growth potential risks
OperationsGovernance / Control, Legal / Compliance, Service / Quality, Third-partyDaily operations, process flow, delivery, capacity, efficiency, continuity and internal control risks
TechnologyCyber / Security, Data / Reporting, Legal / Compliance, Service / QualitySystems, infrastructure, integrations, applications, data platforms, availability and technical sustainability risks
PeopleCapability / Culture, Governance / Control, Legal / Compliance, StrategicCapability, leadership, culture, engagement, capacity and key-person dependency risks
InnovationProduct / R&D, Strategic, Capability / Culture, TechnologyProduct development, R&D, innovation capacity, roadmap execution and differentiation risks
EcosystemThird-party, Reputation / Brand, Legal / Compliance, Service / QualityPartners, suppliers, external providers, distribution/channel dependency risks
ExternalLegal / Compliance, Macro / Regulatory, ESG / Sustainability, Reputation / BrandRegulation, macroeconomics, politics, geopolitics, natural environment and external pressure risks
OtherManual / CustomExceptional or temporary cases not fitting the standard taxonomy

Status Flow​

OPEN → IN_REVIEW → PROMOTED
   └──────────────→ DISMISSED
  • OPEN: Newly captured, needs review
  • IN_REVIEW: Under evaluation
  • PROMOTED: Promoted to SWOT and linked
  • DISMISSED: Closed without promotion

Evidence and Linking​

Findings support two core link patterns:

  • Inputs/Evidence links: Attach source items from analysis modules
  • SWOT links: Promote a finding to SWOT and keep traceability between the two records

When you promote, select:

  1. Target SWOT analysis
  2. SWOT category (S/W/O/T)

Analysis Inputs Tab (Cycle-Scoped Import)​

The Analysis Inputs tab lists entries from the same source modules available in the finding input picker for the selected global planning period:

  • Digital Maturity
  • Excellence
  • Status Report
  • PESTLE
  • Porter
  • VRIO
  • BCG

Notes:

  • Data is restricted to the same tenant and selected planning period.
  • Product SWOT and standard SWOT entries are intentionally excluded from this tab.
  • You can import any listed row with Import as Finding.
  • Risk columns are populated for risk-capable modules/entries; non-risk sources are shown with empty risk fields.
  • Status Report KPI rows show latest-measurement achievement (actual / target), while Digital Maturity and Excellence rows show dimension score as score / max.

Effective Risk Aggregation​

A finding can be risk-positive by manual input, linked inputs, or both:

  • If at least one linked input is risk-positive, finding effective risk becomes true.
  • Linked risk score is the sum of linked input scores (no upper limit).
  • Total finding risk score is:
    • manualRiskScore + linkedRiskScore
  • Effective primary categories and secondary tags are merged (union) from:
    • manual finding risk fields
    • linked input risk fields

Promote to SWOT Behavior​

When promoting a finding to SWOT:

  • Finding cycle and target SWOT analysis cycle must match.
  • Risk data is snapshotted to the new SWOT entry:
    • risk flag
    • primary categories (multi)
    • secondary tags
    • manual level/probability values when available

Filtering Findings​

The Findings list supports filtering by:

  • Status
  • Type
  • Severity
  • Source module
  • Planning period
  • Risk (Yes/No)

Tips​

  • Prefer evidence-backed findings over free-text-only entries
  • Use In Review actively to separate raw capture from decision-ready findings
  • Promote only high-confidence findings to SWOT
  • Ask the AI Assistant: "Summarize open high-severity findings for this cycle"