Introduction to Environmental Scanning

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Introduction toEnvironmental Scanning

• A. Mark Macias
• Director of Institutional Research
• Spokane Community College

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Purpose of this presentation

• Introduction to the environmental scanning
  process
• Definition of scanning
• Types of scans
• What to include in your scans
• Tips on conducting scans
• Tips on producing scan report
• Resources
• References

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What is environmental scanning?
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What is environmental scanning? Definition

• The process of collecting, analyzing, and
  distributing information for tactical and
  strategic purposes

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What is environmental scanning?Purpose of an
environmental scan

• To provide strategic intelligence by evaluating
  potentially significant environmental changes
• Conveys both current environmental status and how
  it is changing ? trends
• Alerts planners to trends that are converging,
  diverging, interacting, accelerating, or
  decelerating
• Ideal end-goal allows for adaptive planning
  before these trends occur or fully develop

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What is environmental scanning?Other
characteristics

• Often refers only to the environment that is
  external to the organization (also called the
  macroenvironment)
• Good strategic planning requires information on
  internal organizational factors, so whenever
  possible include these also(unless obtained in
  separate processes)

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What is environmental scanning?How it fits in
the planning cycle

• One cycle in the strategic planning process

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Types of environmental scans
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Types of environmental scans
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What goes into a scan?

• Depends
• No, this is not a cop-out

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What to include in your scan

• Depends
• Type of scan (Ad hoc, Periodic, Continuous)
• Your institutions relationship to its service
  area
• How the scan information will be used
• Things to consider including
• Customer analyses
• Current and potential students
• Current and potential students parents
• Current and potential employers
• Other institutions of higher education (for
  transfer students)

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What to include in your scanMore things to
consider including

• Community relations
• Community satisfaction
• Community needs assessment
• Competitors
• Other public and private CCs, universities, and
  technical colleges
• Campus ( District) Climate
• Students
• Staff
• Faculty
• Administration
• Macroenvironment STEEP
• Socio-cultural
• Demographics
• population size and distribution
• age distribution
• education levels
• income levels
• race and ethnicity

• Socio-Cultural (continued)
• Attitudes about higher education
• Cultural shifts
• Technological
• New products and services ? training
  opportunities
• New manufacturing processes
• Infrastructure changes
• Economic
• Industry/career demand and decline
• Unemployment
• Inflation
• Environmental/Ecological
• New industry opportunities
• Political
• Political climate/stability
• State budget deficit or surplus
• Changes in legislation

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Evaluating the data in your scanKnowing what to
discuss

• Rate factors on two dimensions
• Potential impact on your institution
• Probability of occurrence
• Look for changes in current trends
• Look for potential interaction effects between
  factors.

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Tips and Suggestions
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Tips on conducting a scan

• Dont try to do this alone!
• Assemble a research team
• Divide the workload
• Allow your team ample time to do the work

Then give yourself even more time!
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Tips on writing/publishing a scanDocument
Content

• Use an editor to create a common voice in the
  text.
• Consider your audience.
• Present your data so that it tells a story, then
  actually tell that story. Because
• The reader must be able to envision the future
  and engage in future-thinking.

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Tips on writing/publishing a scanDocument
Appearance

• Again, consider your audience.
• Use charts and graphs to clearly present past and
  future trends.
• Refer to The Visual Display of Quantitative
  Information by Edward Tufte for guidance of best
  practices.
• Use color in charts and graphs to draw readers
  attention to important factors, and avoid chart
  clutter.
• But, make sure they are still readable if
  photocopied or printed in grayscale.

Dont do what we did! (And we even knew better)
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Tips on writing/publishing a scanDocument
Production

• Plan on producing both printed and electronic
  (PDF) versions.
• Plan for limited color printing (for key
  stake-holders), with additional copies in black
  and white for general distribution.
• Documents that stakeholders areproud of will be
  more widely distributed and more widely used.

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Data Resources

• A small sampling

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Resources
These data sources were found to be very helpful
in preparing the CCS environmental scan, and
would be useful for any college in WA.
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References

• Morrison, J. L. (1992). Environmental scanning.
  In M. A. Whitely, J. D. Porter, and R. H. Fenske
  (Eds.), A primer for new institutional
  researchers (pp. 86-99). Tallahassee, Florida
  The Association for Institutional Research. Out
  of publication, but still available on the web
  http//horizon.unc.edu/courses/papers/enviroscan/
  
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_scannin
  g
• Tufte, E. R. 2001. The Visual Display of
  Quantitative Information. Cheshire, Connecticut
  Graphics Press LLC.

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Discussion

• Share Tips or Advice ?
• Share Data Sources ?
• Share Resources ?PowerPoint slides and PDF of
  CCS Environmental Scan available upon
  requestA. Mark MaciasSpokane Community
  Collegemmacias_at_scc.spokane.edu509-533-8871