The Basic SCM Questions
An SCM study can be used to get answers to any, or all, of four (4) basic questions:
• What is really happening?
• What results, if any, is the program helping to produce?
• What is the value of the results?
• How could the initiative be improved?
The SC inquiry directed to these questions can range from the very simple to the more complex. At the simplest end of the spectrum, an SC inquiry can be used just to discover and illustrate the ways in which a new innovation is being used or helping determine whether anything good is happening as the result of a new program or change. More
complex, an SC study can indicate what proportions of people, in what organizational units, are using new tools and methods, and what success they are having. At the even more complex end of the spectrum, an SC study can provide estimates of return-on-investment and help make decisions about how much more value a program is realistically
capable of making above and beyond its current level of impact. Here, in more detail are four basic SC questions and some illustrations to demonstrate the range of inquiry that might be directed to each: