• Identify and define key intelligence requirements

• Manage assets to meet requirements

• Integrate and coalesce pieces of information

• Convert information into intelligence

• Impact – The higher the impact, the more likely the information requires analysis.

• Clarity – Information that is easy to understand and apply is usually more value added.

• Reliability – Different sources of information have different levels of reliability. For example, a Wall Street Research Report is probably more reliable than an online discussion board.

• Timeline – The timeliest sources of information tend to be primary (unpublished) since there is a time lag for published materials.