Production and maintenance of measurement models are crucial in the context of an advanced software development organization. The paper suggests a goal-oriented measurement model life cycle that, starting out from the high-level organizational goals, drives software organizations towards a structured process to deal with measurement models. The life cycle results into an integrated component of the management activities pointed to generate, refine, and fulfill the organizational goals, whereas the final measurement models become items of a purpose fitting measurement plan. For each phase of the life cycle, the main activities, with their inputs and outputs, are identified and, moreover, some driving templates are defined. The paper analyzes their interactions with the other software production and management-related tasks and proposes a possible allocation within an Experience Factory-based software organization.