The GRADE Working Group was established in 2000 as an informal collaboration of methodologists, guideline developers, biostatisticians, clinicians and public health experts. The Group was formed to discuss and combat the increasing confusion surrounding the wording, recommendations made and evidence behind clinical practice guidelines.

The GRADE Working Group has developed a software application to facilitate the process of guideline development while adhering to GRADE methodology. GRADEpro GDT supports the shared decision-making process, by promoting the dissemination of information with carefully designed and audience-specific presentations and interactive decision aids.

The GRADE Book describes the process of rating the quality of the best available evidence and developing health care recommendations following the GRADE approach. The target users of the GRADE Book are systematic review and health technology assessment (HTA) authors, guideline panelists and methodologists who provide support for guideline panels.

This checklist contains a comprehensive list of topics and items outlining the practical steps to consider for developing clinical practice guidelines. The checklist is intended to be used by guideline developers to plan and track the process of guideline development and to help ensure that no key steps are missed.