A mission goal is an expression of some operational objective — sometimes referred to as a mission driver — and is focused on what the solution driving an acquisition endeavor should do or how it should behave.A business goal is an expression of some organizational objective — sometimes referred to as a business driver — not specific to the solution, but focused on what the organization should do or how it should behave.
There is a distinction between mission goals and business goals. Systems can be highly reliable, yet ineffective because they fail to adequately support business objectives. In fact, this circumstance is quite common.
Examples of Business Goals in Software Acquisition
Reduce Total Cost of Ownership
Reduce cost of development; reduce cost of deployment and operations; reduce cost of maintenance; and reduce cost of retirement and moving to a new system.
Reduce cost of development:
- manage flexibility
- distributed development
- portability
- open systems/standards
- testability
- product lines
- integrability
- interoperability
Reduce cost of deployment and operations:
- ease of installation
- ease of repair
Reduce cost of maintenance:
- flexibility and configurability
Reduce cost of retirement and moving to a new system:
- retiring systems
- smooth transition to follow-on systems
- replace legacy systems
Note that many of these business goals are quality attributes. All quality attributes are potentially business goals, but not all business goals are quality attributes.
Improve Capability and Quality of System
Another frequently mentioned group of business goals refers to the improvement of a system capability or quality compared to prior versions of the same system or contrasted with the systems being replaced. Sometimes the business goals only specify requirements on the current system without reference to prior systems.
The underlying groups of goals in this category are as follows:
-performance
-reliability/availability
- product lines
-ease of use
-security
-safety
-scalability/extendibility
-functionality
- system constraints
-internationalization
Improve Market Position
The groups of goals underlying this category are as follows:
-expand or retain market share
-maintain or improve reputation
-enter new markets
-reduce time to market
Support Improved Business Processes
Another significant category of business goals is concerned with improving the internal business processes and the structure of the organization.
Improve Confidence in and Perception of the System
The final category includes goals intended to enhance the reputation of the developing organization.
