Analyzing Software Process Alignment with Organizational Business Strategies using an Agent- and Goal-oriented Analysis Technique - an Experience Report

The continuous alignment of organizational processes with an organizations’ business strategy is a key factor to its success. This paper reports on the application of the i* framework to support the continuous alignment of corrective software maintenance processes with the strategic goals of a Software Design Maintenance Organization at Ericsson Marconi Spa. Using the i* modeling framework, alignment of process elements with related business goals was successfully represented, captured and analyzed, which in turn facilitated process improvement efforts. To better deal with large i* models, a model slicing technique based on goals was introduced, which made models more readable, and contributed substantially to how the maintenance processes were analyzed and improved.