Balanced Scorecards and Gqm: What Are the Differences?

This paper compares two quantitative approaches recommended for developing and supporting software process improvements, that is, the Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) technique and the Balanced Scorecard (BSc) framework. While both offer the opportunity to implement a quantitative analysis of software projects, they are often misinterpreted as either interchangeable or, on the contrary, mutually exclusive. After summarising the key aspects of the two approaches, three main characteristics are proposed as a basis of comparison: measurement object, nature of the approach and strategy. These make it possible to identify similarities as well as key differences. In particular, it will be illustrated that strategy is the key point of differentiation between the two. More specifically, the added value in the BSc approach resides in its structuring of a causal relationship chain among the business goals of the various perspectives, which allows for a proper alignment of business and operative goals for achieving success. Examples of the research effort on the joint use of GQM and BSc are presented, as well as the way in which they can contribute to improving the extensions of BSc to the IT field, such as improvements to the ESI-Balanced IT Scorecard (BITS).