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PHASE 3 - How to Assess Current State

Audience: Strategy Manager, Team Lead (Enterprise plan)
Page Type: How-To Guide
Phase: PHASE 3 (Assessment)
Duration: 3-4 hours

Goal​

In PHASE 3, you will:

  1. ✅ Analyze the current state of the organization (strengths, weaknesses)
  2. ✅ Identify market opportunities and threats (SWOT)
  3. ✅ Analyze external environment factors (PESTLE)
  4. ✅ Define strategic metrics (BSC)
  5. ✅ Assess digital maturity level (Digital Maturity)
  6. ✅ Assess whether the Gap is realistic

Roles & Permissions​

ActionStrategy ManagerTeam LeadMember
Create / edit / delete SWOT✅✅*❌
View SWOT✅✅✅
Create / edit / delete PESTLE✅✅*❌
View PESTLE✅✅✅
Create / edit / delete BSC✅✅*❌
View BSC✅✅✅
Create / edit / delete Current State✅✅*❌
View Current State✅✅✅

* Team Lead create/edit/delete requires the unit_level_strategy feature enabled on the Enterprise plan. Otherwise, Team Lead has view-only access.

Prerequisites​

  • ☑️ PHASE 2 completed (Resource approval obtained)
  • ☑️ Strategic cycle active
  • ☑️ Org tree finalized

Step-by-Step​

Step 1: Open Current State Page​

  1. Select Strategy → Strategic Cycle
  2. Open the Cycle
  3. Enter the PHASE 3: Assessment tab

Current State KPI records use single-axis KPI categories. Valid values are:

  • FINANCIAL
  • CUSTOMER
  • MARKET
  • OPERATIONS
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • PEOPLE
  • INNOVATION
  • ECOSYSTEM
  • EXTERNAL
  • OTHER

Step 2: SWOT Analysis​

Strengths:

  1. List corporate advantages (technical, brand, market position)
    • E.g., "Strong technical team", "Market leader in Asia"
  2. Based on internal resources
  3. Quantity: 5-10 items

Weaknesses:

  1. List internal challenges
    • E.g., "Legacy infrastructure", "Limited budget"
  2. 5-10 items

Opportunities:

  1. Market opportunities
    • E.g., "Emerging markets", "New customer segments"
  2. 5-10 items

Threats:

  1. Market threats
    • E.g., "New competitors", "Regulatory changes"
  2. 5-10 items

Step 3: PESTLE Analysis​

PESTLE analysis evaluates the organization's external environment across six dimensions. These provide critical input for strategic planning.

  1. Navigate to Strategy → PESTLE
  2. Click New PESTLE Analysis
  3. Evaluate each factor:
FactorDescriptionExample
PoliticalGovernment policies, regulationsTax reform, subsidies
EconomicMacroeconomic indicatorsInflation, exchange rates, interest rates
SocialSocial trends, demographic shiftsRemote work trend, aging population
TechnologicalTechnology developments & trendsAI/ML, cloud computing, automation
LegalLegal regulations, complianceGDPR, industry-specific regulations
EnvironmentalEnvironmental factors, sustainabilityCarbon footprint, circular economy
  1. Set risk level and probability for each factor
  2. Mark priority factors as strategic planning inputs
  3. Click Save to complete

Risk Scoring Model (PESTLE, Porter, VRIO, Product SWOT, Findings)​

Risk classification uses a common model across analysis modules and findings:

  • mark as risk checkbox enables risk fields on the same screen (no extra modal)
  • Primary category:
    • single select on PESTLE/Porter/VRIO entries
    • multi-select on Findings and Product SWOT entries
  • Secondary tags: multi-select enum tags
  • riskLevel and riskProbability: decimal values between 0 and 1
  • Risk score is calculated on the fly: riskLevel * riskProbability

When mark as risk is cleared, category/tags/level/probability fields are nulled automatically.

Findings integration:

  • Findings can be manually marked as risk
  • Findings can link PESTLE/Porter/VRIO inputs
  • If at least one linked input is risk-positive, finding effective risk is true
  • Linked risk scores are aggregated with sum (no upper limit)
  • Analysis Inputs tab in Findings lists cycle-scoped PESTLE/Porter/VRIO inputs and supports Import as Finding
  • Product SWOT and standard SWOT entries are excluded from this tab

Tip: PESTLE analysis supports the external part (Opportunities & Threats) of SWOT and provides a more structured framework.

Plan note: PESTLE module is available on Business and Enterprise plans.

Step 4: Define Balanced Scorecard (BSC)​

Strategic Themes:
├─ Theme 1: "Product Innovation"
│  ├─ Financial: Revenue from new products
│  ├─ Customer: Customer satisfaction with new features
│  ├─ Internal: R&D capacity
│  └─ Learning: Employee training hours
├─ Theme 2: "Market Expansion"
│  ├─ Financial: Revenue from new markets
│  ├─ Customer: NPS in new markets
│  ├─ Internal: Sales team expansion
│  └─ Learning: Market knowledge transfer
  1. Enter 4 perspective metrics for each theme
  2. Set Target value
  3. Determine Measurement frequency (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly)

Step 5: Digital Maturity Assessment (Optional)​

To measure your organization's digital maturity level:

  1. Navigate to Strategy → Digital Maturity
  2. Click New Assessment
  3. Assign raters (per-question assignment)
  4. Raters score questions on a 1-5 scale
  5. Answers go through an approval workflow
  6. Report is generated automatically

Details: See Digital Maturity Assessment for the complete guide.

Plan note: Digital Maturity module is available on Business (core) and Enterprise (extended) plans.

Step 6: Gap Assessment​

Vision (Goal):
  Revenue: 100M USD by 2027
  Market Position: #1 in Asia

Current State:
  Revenue: 25M USD
  Market Position: #5 in Asia

Gap:
  Revenue gap: 75M USD (4x growth)
  Market position gap: Move up 4 places

Realism check:
  ✅ Possible? (Historical growth 20% annually → 4x in 5 years realistic)
  ✅ Resources available? (Yes, from FAZ 2)
  ✅ Market conditions? (Yes, Asia growing)

Step 7: Assessment Result​

Scenario A: Assessment Positive ✅

  • Gap realistic
  • Resources adequate
  • Action: Proceed to PHASE 4

Scenario B: Assessment Negative ❌

  • Gap unrealistic (too large, impossible)
  • Resources insufficient despite PHASE 2 approval
  • Market conditions unfavorable
  • Action: Return to PHASE 1
    • Revise Vision (more realistic goal)
    • Restart PHASE 2, PHASE 3

Verification​

✅ Checklist:

  • SWOT analysis completed (20+ items)
  • PESTLE analysis completed (6 factors evaluated)
  • BSC defined (8-12 metrics)
  • Digital maturity assessment performed (optional)
  • Target values set
  • Gap realism assessed
  • Assessment result documented

Tips​

  • SWOT: Be realistic, don't be overconfident
  • BSC: Metrics must be measurable
  • Gap: Should be "Stretch but achievable"
  • Market research: Research external factors

Common Errors​

Error: "All items in SWOT are weaknesses"
→ Solution: Emphasize the organization's true strengths

Error: "Assessment is negative, what should we do?"
→ Solution: Return to PHASE 1, revise the vision

Error: "BSC metrics cannot be measured"
→ Solution: Change to operational KPIs (measurable)

See also​