Validating strategic alignment of organizational IT requirements using goal modeling and problem diagrams

Ensuring that organizational IT is in alignment with and provides support for an organization s business strategy is critical to business success. We present an integrated approach to requirements engineering for organizational IT. To help validate IT-business strategy alignment, we propose a single model according to Jackson s problem diagram framework to encompass both business strategy and system requirements. We use an organizational strategy analysis technique to deconstruct business strategy. Strategy is then modeled using a goal-oriented requirements engineering notation; a framework for modeling an organization s business strategy proposed by the Business Rules Group is used to construct the goal model. We use Jackson s context diagrams to represent both business and IT domain context. Our approach is illustrated via application to an exemplar, constructed from a variety of sources in the literature describing Seven–Eleven Japan. 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.