Patent ID: 6993515

Claim:
A method of generating flags for use in an intelligence system, comprising the steps of: (a) defining a plurality of flags, wherein each of said plurality of flags has a specific condition associated therewith; and (b) storing said plurality of flags in a storage medium, wherein each of said plurality of flags has a flag status indicator associated therewith, and wherein said plurality of flags are searchable by a search engine, wherein said plurality of flags comprise a plurality of early warning signals, wherein each early warning signal is a descriptor of a specific condition, and wherein said early warning signal is used to predict the occurrence of specified scenario, wherein the plurality of early warning signals are defined at step (a) by performing the following steps: (i) identifying a strategic goal; (ii) identifying one or more scenarios associated with said strategic goal; (iii) identifying one or more examples of past occurrences of at least one of said one or more scenarios; (iv) for each of said one or more examples of past occurrences, identifying a plurality of conditions that have been satisfied within a specified period of time prior to the occurrence thereof; (v) determining a plurality of reliable indicators that at least one of said one or more scenarios will occur, wherein said plurality of reliable indicators is a subset of said plurality of conditions; and (vi) defining a plurality of early warning signals, wherein each of said plurality of early warning signals is a descriptor of a reliable indicator of said plurality of reliable indicators determined in step (v).