Clearly, the hierarchical structure suggested by GQM moves the organization, project or projects, to realize for improvement you must first have baseline information regarding current practice, and this information needs to be quantitative. This can be easily demonstrated by taking a goal, such as improve the time to market of new products . To achieve the goal you must show a change in time to market which means there must be baseline data indicating current or prior time to market for products that new values can be compared. Preliminary results are available from the project web site . This group developed a complete process model for applying GQM in an organization.
Material documenting the model is also available from the web site.
El Emam, et. Their findings indicate that the metrics resulting from the application of this approach do not meet the necessary criteria. It is, however, important to realize that the simplicity of the process may be it greatest asset for those just beginning with process improvement. The purpose was to develop a practical approach supported by practice through use on actual software projects. The ami consortium was comprised of experts in software measurement and users applying quantitative methods to the management of their projects.