The present invention relates to a system and method for collecting and analyzing
intelligence data regarding events, organizations and other entities, relevant
to a specific individual or organizational goal or function. To facilitate analysis
of intelligence data by a user, flags that describe a condition are defined, where
a condition can be a state or event, or a predictor of a future state or future
event. Data items of various types are stored in one or more databases, and can
be associated with flags. Data items and flags can be subsequently searched together
by users. In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of generating
flags where the flags include early warning signals used to predict the occurrence
of a specified scenario. In another aspect of the invention, there is provided
a method of generating flags where the flags include value indicators used to identify
value in context objects such as an asset in an industry of interest. The flags
can then be employed in an intelligence system that is configured to collect intelligence
data, and which provides means for users to analyze the data to help them in achieving
a specified strategic goal. The present invention can be applied to any industry
of interest.