Institutions that have organized and centralized their data enjoy an obvious advantage in grappling with strategic planning and other issues. As the drumbeat for accountability, planning, and demonstrating effectiveness to internal and external stakeholders intensifies, the stature and importance of institutional research offices on most campuses have grown substantially. Developing actionable information intersects with the need that all institutions have to be strategic in their thinking. This article seeks to inform campus communities, including faculty and staff, and perhaps also institutional research offices themselves, about the elements of strategic planning that can be combined to create a strategic plan. Together, the techniques that are highlighted in this article form the basic foundation from which institutions can make rational choices about the future. (Contains 1 figure.)