Business Goals Model. A goal model is a hierarchy that organizes the goals discovered for the business. A goal model places a general goal or goal category at the highest level in the hierarchy, which is referred to as the model's root. More specific goals which support or further describe the root are organized below it. The lower in the hierarchy the goal appears, the more detailed the goal.
Goals may be organized in a variety of ways depending on the categorization scheme used. A typical categorization scheme organizes goals by target. For example, all customer satisfaction goals are grouped, as are employee effectiveness goals, product quality goals, etc. These categories are then arranged in a hierarchy from general to specific. Goal models may be built to mirror a process model where the top level goals apply to a business process, and are then detailed based upon the component activities and sub-activities. Likewise, goal models may be built to mirror the organization structure where top level goals apply across the entire organization, and lower level goals are supported by the lower level organizations within it. The categorization scheme used should be agreed upon by project participants before building the goal model.