SWOT Analysis Template
Quick Tip!
The SWOT Analysis doesn’t just use words to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It can also use quantifiable data.
Helpful Staff for this Topic
The SWOT Analysis framework allows the Digital Corps to evaluate a project by evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This helps teams better understand a project’s goals and plan further strategy.
Internal vs. External Analysis
The SWOT Analysis is divided into internal analysis and external analysis. With internal analysis, the project team must look internally at its strengths and weaknesses. The team has control over its strengths and weaknesses, so after listing them, they can decide how to further use and develop their strengths and how to improve their weaknesses.
With external analysis, a team must look outside of itself at the opportunities and threats offered by the industry, the Ball State community, and sometimes (for internal projects) the Corps as whole. The team cannot control their opportunities and threats; they can only respond to them. The team can plan how to take advantage of their opportunities, and they can decide how approach and work around their threats.
SWOT Analysis Template
The Digital Corps follows the SWOT Analysis template below. Download it to create your own.
Strengths
Under the Strengths section, the team would identify the strengths of its staff, students, technologies, and other factors. Consider the areas the team excels in, its favorable qualities, its resources, etc. For external projects, the team would think about the same considerations but in terms of the client. Think about what strengths the client possesses.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses are just the opposite of strengths. For an internal project, the team would identify any shortcomings or challenges concerning its staff, students, technologies, and other factors. Consider the team’s struggles, its areas for improvements, its limitations, etc. For external projects, the team would instead consider the client’s weaknesses.
Opportunities
Under Opportunities, the team would look at the opportunities that the industry or the Ball State community offers to this project. For internal projects, the team may not need to look outside of their team at the entire Corps (as shown in the SWOT Analysis Example).
Consider what is happening in the industry or the Ball State community that gives the team an advantage on this project. Also consider the team’s healthy competition. How is competition advantageous in this project? And lastly, think about this in terms of blank space. There’s a blank space out there where the industry or the Ball State community needs something. What do they need? Can the team provide this?
Threats
Now, think about Threats, the opposite of opportunities! Under the threats section, the team would identify factors from the industry or the Ball State community that may affect the project’s success. Just like with opportunities, for internal projects, the project team may need to look at how the Corps as a whole affects the project (as shown in the SWOT Analysis Example).
Consider the competition and look at how it may negatively affect the project. Also consider if any external forces are causing the team to struggle or causing changes that might affect the project.
SWOT Analysis Example
If the Reference Guides Project Team wanted more students to read Reference Guides content, they could do a SWOT Analysis to better assess the current situation and plan next steps. The example SWOT Analysis below illustrates how their SWOT Analysis might look. This example is only a guide, so depending on the project, the team may need to add more details than this example shows.
Strategy
After completing a SWOT Analysis, it is time to strategize! The team can hone in on specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats. Since the team has control over its strengths and weaknesses, they can strategize by planning how to best use their strengths or by deciding next steps to improve upon their weaknesses. Since the team does not have control over their opportunities and threats, they can strategize how to best respond to them. This may include mapping ways to take advantage of their opportunities or brainstorming how to work with their threats.
The team can also strategize by analyzing the SWOT Analysis as a whole. They can create a SMART goal (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound) that relates to many of the notes on the SWOT Analysis. Then, they can use the GOST Model to break down how they will achieve their SMART goal.
As one of the Corps Values states, the Corps “strives to be the best.” Teams can use the SWOT Analysis as a tool toward being the best because it can help them define their struggles and plan for the future.
