Document analysis as extension of the GQM+strategies® approach to support evaluation

In large distributed organizations or projects it is difficult to elicit goals and strategies at different organizational levels with workshops. And if strategic documents are available, they are not analyzed systematically, which may lead to inefficient goal elicitation. To improve the GQM+Strategies® goal elicitation process, we define a document-based goal elicitation approach and investigate its feasibility in three field studies. With only a small number of strategic documents we were able to construct GQM+Strategies® models for large scopes with reasonable effort. Only a few interviews were needed for verifying and updating them. We conclude that our approach successfully enhances the GQM+Strategies® goal elicitation process, but its feasibility and cost effectiveness for a large number of documents should still be investigated.