Profiling is an ordering of categorized information into a form that is descriptive of the community. Stakeholders need to work together to determine the parameters that will be highlighted in the profile. The community profile is used to project what could happen in the affected community under several scenarios during a specified period of time. This is a significant variation from contemporary Extension trends. Forecasting is done along with projection.
Forecasting involves predicting the future based on outcomes of projection discussions.
Some groups may choose not to undertake the assessment phase since it often results in no significant improvement in the understanding of how a proposed project will affect the community. Assessment is however, a requirement for some grant programs and therefore may be significant for groups seeking funding from sources that require it. The last step is to take the collective results of consideration by stakeholders and experts to the broader community for evaluation. If the community agrees with assumptions and conclusions of those who conducted the SIA, they are likely to cooperate in bringing about the targeted changes of the development project. This article suggests that wide spread use of SIA in Extension program planning would reduce initiatives created primarily for pursuit of grant funds.