SIAM: Strategic Impact and Assumptions-Identification Method for project,program, and policy planning

This paper presents a method, called SIAM, for assessing the “social soundness” of projects, programs, and policies (with emphasis here on the first two). It is based on work by R.O. Mason, I.I. Mitroff, and J.R. Emshoff. SIAM was applied initially as one part of a computer-assisted framework for the socioeconomic assessment of highway infrastructure plans. It has since proven useful in a wide range of projects and programs.A development project at the planning stage is a future scenario. Its final form and impact will be conditioned not only by its structural and economic characteristics, but also by the characteristics of the environment in which it is embedded. It is vital therefore to assess not only a project's technical and economic viability, but also its strategic viability involving sociopolitical considerations. A project embodies certain expectations about the present and future behavior of a variety of interests. These assumptions are implicit in the technical design and projected impacts, including the estimated benefits. The success of the project hinges on the validity and stability of these assumptions. SIAM provides a procedure for the comprehensive identification of relevant stakeholders, stakeholder-project linkages, and for identifying the critical assumptions implicit in the technical design of the project and in its economic assessment.