The data for this expert system are the manager's perceptions of the external business environment. These perceptions should be expressed as a set of emerging issues. The user of this system has two ways of creating a set of emerging issues: mode A, which is structured, and mode B, which is unstructured.
Mode A: Structured. In the structured mode the user scans the environment by responding to a number of questions chosen by the designer of the system and organized in a framework known as STEPE. The emerging issues are arranged along a continuum, starting with social issues and ending with economic issues. The basic theory behind this framework is that issues develop first in the social sphere. Social issues translate into technological issues, for social developments are often accommodated by the discovery of new ways of assisting humans via technological mechanisms. Technological developments will sooner or later create some ecological issues, as the use of technology creates additional demands on the ecosystem's life-support and waste-carrying capacities. Ecological issues will trigger political debates on the solutions and will, therefore, eventually develop into political issues. Finally, political issues are usually resolved via legislation, which will eventually create economic consequences; thus political issues become economic issues. 1
Mode B: Unstructured. In the unstructured mode the user has the choice of either inputting his or her own issues by listing them one after another or selecting a number of issues from an issue databank provided by the system. This databank contains the latest top ten or twenty issues identified by public polling companies, associations, newsletters, and other organizations specializing in issues management.
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