The external context

 

The purpose is to identify major external trends and strategic directions that affect your organization's business activities and planning. They may already be emerging or may lie in the foreseeable future. Your information needs to be detailed enough to be a basis for planning. You may also need to monitor these trends over a period of time (e.g. three months).

You should assume that government policies will probably affect what you do, although the amount and kind of effects vary between organizations.