Practical experiences of tool support in a GQM-based measurement programme

This paper describes an example of providing tool support to a GQM-based measurement programme in a real industrial organization. The practical implementation of the GQM method from goal definition to analysis of the metric results is presented with description of the tool support for the data collection. Previous experience has shown that it is important to have clear goals for measurements. It is also important to use the collected data for process improvement via data analysis with the members of the application project doing the measurements. The collection of the data and preparing the material for the analysis sessions can be laborious if it has to be done manually. Hence, we have built automated tool support for these activities. Our tool provides comprehensive support for GQM methodology rather than being a simple data collection. Furthermore, it provides means to automatically collect data from various sources including, for example, project management tools, Lotus Notes, and version control system. The data are visualized using various pie charts, bar charts, trends, etc. The tool is currently in use in ABB and is being installed in another industrial environment. Practical experiences of the measurement programme are presented including experiences of the tool support for the data collection and result presentation. The main experiences have been that the measurements have increased the visibility of the process and thus made improving the process more achievable. Also, tracking the implementation and effects of the improvement actions has become more feasible. The tool support for the data collection and result presentation has made it possible to analyse the results more often because less work is required to prepare the analysis material. Therefore, it is feasible to track the improvement actions more frequently and to implement needed corrective actions in time. The tool support may even be a critical factor in using the measurement data in a cost-efficient way.