Software Maintenance and Change Control
Software Maintenance and Change Control
Computer Concepts
December 13, 2004 Software Maintenance and Change Control
In today 's world there is very unusual to have a program developed that will not have further development after release. The requirements of the time that we live are very dynamic and there is a need for constant adaptation. A basic requirement for any new software product is to be adaptable, easy to maintain and modify. Time factor and cost factor are ruling in the agitated competition and only those who are well organized and prepared are able to survive. The question for software maintenance and change control is taking key position in both perspectives: the perspective of the manufacturer of the software, and the perspective of the consumer. In the negotiation and management of these two major players is the complexity of the software maintenance and change control. In this paper we will focus on some important specifics of these processes.
Thomas Pigoski in his "template for a software maintenance plan" defines software maintenance in the following way: "Software maintenance is the totality of activities required to provide cost-effective support to a software system. Activities are performed during the pre-delivery stage as well as the post-delivery stage. Pre-delivery activities include planning for post-delivery operations, supportability, and logistics determination. Post-delivery activities include software modification, training, and operating a help desk." Later on in the same material he describes some organizational requirements in the same context: "Maintenance is performed by the developer, a separate maintainer, or by a third-party organization. It is important that the organization responsible for maintenance be identified in writing with full responsibilities. The Maintenance Plan accomplishes this. The maintainer should develop the Maintenance Plan as well as the supporting procedures. Since software maintenance
Computer Concepts
December 13, 2004 Software Maintenance and Change Control
In today 's world there is very unusual to have a program developed that will not have further development after release. The requirements of the time that we live are very dynamic and there is a need for constant adaptation. A basic requirement for any new software product is to be adaptable, easy to maintain and modify. Time factor and cost factor are ruling in the agitated competition and only those who are well organized and prepared are able to survive. The question for software maintenance and change control is taking key position in both perspectives: the perspective of the manufacturer of the software, and the perspective of the consumer. In the negotiation and management of these two major players is the complexity of the software maintenance and change control. In this paper we will focus on some important specifics of these processes.
Thomas Pigoski in his "template for a software maintenance plan" defines software maintenance in the following way: "Software maintenance is the totality of activities required to provide cost-effective support to a software system. Activities are performed during the pre-delivery stage as well as the post-delivery stage. Pre-delivery activities include planning for post-delivery operations, supportability, and logistics determination. Post-delivery activities include software modification, training, and operating a help desk." Later on in the same material he describes some organizational requirements in the same context: "Maintenance is performed by the developer, a separate maintainer, or by a third-party organization. It is important that the organization responsible for maintenance be identified in writing with full responsibilities. The Maintenance Plan accomplishes this. The maintainer should develop the Maintenance Plan as well as the supporting procedures. Since software maintenance
References: Pigoski, T. (2001). Sample pages of the TEMPLATE FOR A SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE PLAN. Software Engineering Process Technology. Vienneau, R. (1995). The Present Value of Software Maintenance. Retrieved December 13, 2004 from http://www.dacs.dtic.mil/techs/value/intro.shtml US Department of Energy. (2004). Software Change Control Log. Retrieved December 13, 2004 from http://cio.doe.gov/ITReform/sqse/download/scr-log.doc SAP Developer Network. (1995). Software Change Management EP6.0 SP2. Retrieved December 13, 2004 from http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.km.cm.docs/documents/a1-8-4/Software%20Change%20Management%20EP6.0%20SP2.pdf