The SWOT, Porter 5 Forces, PESTEL and McKinsey 7S models are all supported by the same set of Insights. The Insights appear on each of the models depending on the settings you give to each. The models appear (or disappear) on your Strategy Board as long as there are any Insights which are marked to appear on them.
Insight Setting and Models
- All Insights appear on the SWOT analysis.
- Insights that are marked External appear on the SWOT as either Opportunities if they are marked Positive, or Threats if they are marked Negative.
- Insights that are marked Internal appear on the SWOT as either Strengths if they are market Positive, or Weaknesses if they are marked Negative.
- You can filter insights on the SWOT model by level of impact. Simply click the filter icon at the top right of the screen.
- Insights appear on the Porter 5 Forces analysis if they are marked External, and the Porter's Five Forces drop-down is set to anything other than 'select'.
- Insights appear on the PESTEL if they are marked External, and the PESTEL domain drop-down is set to anything other than 'select'.
- Insights appear on the McKinsey 7S if they are marked Internal, and the McKinsey 7S drop-down is set to anything other than 'select'.
StratNavApp takes care of most of this behind the scenes for you as you work with the different models.
A worked example
The insight that "An impending trade war between America and China could disrupt supply chains" could appear under:
- Threats on the SWOT analysis.
- Political on the PESTEL analysis.
- Bargaining Power of Suppliers on the Porter 5-Forces analysis.
However, it remains the same insight for analysis purposes. The system will understand the different roles it could play in your strategy.
Creating Models
You can access the SWOT, Porter 5 Forces, PESTEL or McKinsey 7S models by clicking on "Insights" on the Strategy Board, or selecting Analysis -> Insights on the main menu. Select which of the models you want to use on the Selector at the top of the screen. You may need to click the + (plus or add) option on the selector if the model you want is not shown.
A model is considered to be 'created' as soon as an insight is added to it.
When you create an insight, StratNavApp uses linguistic analysis in order to attempt to categorise it and place it on any models where that categorisation suggests it belongs.
Using AI to Generate Insights
You can generate your insights manually yourself, or use the inbuilt AI to suggest insights.
To activate the inbuilt AI, simply click the #stratBot icon on either the SWOT or PESTEL analysis pages.
In generating the insights, the AI will take into account everything you have told it about your strategy, including all your analysis, vision, mission, values, goals, objectives, KPIs, initiatives, etc. This allows it to generate very specific and relevant insights.
However, these are only suggestions, and you should review and/or amend them before accepting them as part of your strategic analysis.
The AI-generate insights can be as useful for modelling what good insights look like, as they are for the insights generated themselves. In this way, they are a valuable learning tool.
How AI Categorise Insights
Whether you use the inbuilt AI to generate insights or generate them yourself the inbuilt AI will still attempt to categorise them across all the insight models.
For example:
- On the SWOT
- If you create a Strength or a Weakness, it will attempt to categorise it on the McKinsey 7-S model if this makes sense.
- If you create an Opportunity or a Threat, it will attempt to categorise it on the PESTEL and/or Porter 5 Forces model if either of those make sense.
- If you create an insight on the McKinsey 7-S analysis, it will categorise it as a Strength or Weakness on the SWOT.
- If you create an insight on the PESTEL analysis, it will categorise it as an Opportunity or Threat on the SWOT analysis, and may also categorise it on the Porter 5-Forces model.
- If you create an insight on the Porter 5-Forces analysis, it will categorise it as an Opportunity or Threat on the SWOT analysis, and may also categorise it on the PESTEL model.
In this way, the AI works to help you develop a more multi-faceted analysis.
These AI categorisations are only suggestions, and you can easily change them.
The AI for generating and categorising insights allows you to work much more consistently, quickly and thoroughly than you would be able to working without AI.
Deleting Models
To delete any model, you have three options:
- Go into that model, and delete each insight which appears on it. You will have to click on them one at a time, and then click the 'trash can' icon at the bottom of the Insight editor screen. Once the model is empty, it will stop appearing on your Strategy Board (until you add it again). If you do it this way, then the Insights will be deleted from all models, and may also cause those models to disappear from your Strategy Board.
- Go into each insight on the models and change its settings so that it will no longer appear on that model (as per the rules described above). Those insights will then disappear off the model in question, but still appear on any other models.
- Finally, you can leave the model on your Strategy Board, but exclude it from the HTML or MS-Word reports. When you click on Reports, you will see a list of options to include in the report - simply uncheck the option for the model in question. In most cases, this would be the preferred option.
See also:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do Insights function within StratNavApp's insight models?
In StratNavApp, Insights are central to models like SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces, PESTEL, and McKinsey 7S. Their appearance in these models depends on specific settings: for SWOT, all Insights are included, categorized as Opportunities or Threats (External) and Strengths or Weaknesses (Internal). For Porter’s Five Forces and PESTEL, Insights marked as External with relevant domain selections appear. For McKinsey 7S, Insights marked as Internal with appropriate category selections are displayed.
How can I create an insight model in StratNavApp?
To create an insight model in StratNavApp, navigate to 'Insights' on the Strategy Board or select Analysis -> Insights from the main menu. Choose the desired model from the selector at the top of the screen. If the model isn't visible, click the '+' option to add it. A model is automatically created once an Insight is added to it. StratNavApp utilizes linguistic analysis to categorize and place the Insight appropriately within the model.
What are the steps to delete an insight model in StratNavApp?
To delete an insight model in StratNavApp, you have three options: 1) Enter the model and delete each Insight individually by selecting it and clicking the 'trash can' icon. Once all Insights are removed, the model will no longer appear on your Strategy Board. 2) Modify each Insight's settings so they no longer appear in the specific model, causing them to disappear from that model but remain in others. 3) Keep the model on your Strategy Board but exclude it from the HTML or MS-Word reports by unchecking the model option in the report settings.