Checklist: Business Goals

Do all Business Domains and Functional Areas have defined goals

Each business domain and functional area (collectively, "business system") needs to be guided by goals. These goals can either be unique to the domain/area or sub-goals of goals defined for the business as a whole. There will usually be a parallel decomposition of goals and business systems with each system having its own goals and inheriting goals from parent systems.

Is the goal related to competitive advantage

Goals, in general, need to encompass areas of competitive advantage and must be leading a business to expand on such advantages. Obviously some business goals are related more to the management of the business, but these need to be outnumbered by those representing business competencies.

Is the name unique

It is important to uniquely name goals so as to ensure that goals can be easily distinguished. It is also possible to use a hierarchical numbering system as a part of the goals name; for example (1) for the parent goals, (1.1), (1.2), etc. for sub-goals.

Does the name reflect the intention of the goal

The name of a goal needs to reflect its intention; while a goal has a description field it will most often be presented in reports and other material simply by its name.

Is the goal unambiguous

Is the description of the goal unambiguous? All stakeholders must be able to agree not only on the validity of a goal but also its meaning and value.

Are KPIs included for all goals

All goals need to be supported by a set of Key Performance Indicators which describe the manner in which the business will measure success. A goal that has sub-goals can choose to not have explicit KPIs if its sub-goals have defined and measurable KPIs.

Is the change value consistent with the change kind

When using the UML Profile for Business Modeling, each Business Goal has an associated change value (in lieu of a separate KPI) which must be consistent with the specified change kind.

Is the change value consistent with the metric

When using the UML Profile for Business Modeling, each Business Goal has an associated change value (in lieu of a separate KPI) which must be consistent with the specified metric.

Is the change value measurable

When using the UML Profile for Business Modeling, each Business Goal has an associated change value (in lieu of a separate KPI) which must be directly measurable.

Is the change by date realistic yet ambitious

When using the UML Profile for Business Modeling, each Business Goal has an associated change date (in lieu of a separate KPI) which stakeholders must agree is reasonable for the change.

Is it clear how the goal contributes to any higher-level goals it supports

Each sub-goal must clearly support any higher-level goal. A parent goal can choose to not have associated KPIs if it is clear how all sub-goal KPIs can be combined to define its own measures.

Is there at least one business use case, or business process, that traces to the goal

The primary mechanism for a business to enact its goals is through the execution of business processes. Business processes might be represented either directly using a process modeling tool, or might be represented using a Business Use Case (with the UML Profile for Business Modeling).

Does the goal conflict with any other goals

Goals need to be validated to ensure they do not conflict; this is particularly important in a goal model where sub-goals might be modeled and maintained by different business organizations.

Is the goal traced to other goals to which it might contribute

Goals might form a hierarchy with goal/sub-goal relationships. It is also possible for a goal model to form more of a network or matrix with sub-goals contributing to more than one parent goal. Ensure that all such relationships are explicitly modeled.

Is the hierarchy of goals between three and seven levels deep

A goal model needs to be precise enough to be measurable and enactable; if you have less than three levels, you must verify whether these goals are concrete enough to be measurable. If more than seven, consider flattening the hierarchy.

Is the goal hierarchy reasonably balanced

Do different sub-trees at the same level in the hierarchy have similar depth? If not, it might indicate that one area has received more attention than others.