Purpose and benefits

Scenario planning uses possible future outcomes (scenarios) to improve the quality of decision making (planning).
The emphasis has moved in recent years from building scenarios to successfully using them.
The techniques for building scenarios are well developed—the challenge is to incorporate an understanding and facility with possible futures into management thinking. This has led to an emphasis on using scenario planning for team development; improving the structural assumptions and data behind planning; and developing techniques for communication of scenarios.
Scenarios are beginning to be widely used in the public sector as well as in business.