Questions and Answers
Software maintenance includes the deletion of obsolete capabilities.
True
The role of CASE tools is irrelevant to system maintenance.
False
Software maintenance takes place only after the delivery of the software product.
False
Optimizing software performance falls under the category of software maintenance.
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Organizational structure has no impact on maintenance management issues.
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Maintenance is considered the shortest phase in the SDLC.
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Perfective maintenance involves making changes to add new features or improve performance.
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Adaptive maintenance is focused on repairing flaws in design, coding, or implementation.
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Preventive maintenance aims to enhance a system's functionality to meet technological advancements.
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Most system maintenance tasks are considered non-urgent and value-adding.
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Study Notes
Software Maintenance Overview
- Encompasses activities like error correction, capability enhancements, deletion of obsolete features, and optimization.
- Defined as modifications post-delivery to correct faults, improve performance, or adapt to environmental changes (IEEE standard).
- Consists of all necessary activities for cost-effective support during both pre- and post-delivery stages (ISO/IEC 14764).
Process of Maintaining Information Systems
- Mirrors the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), including repetitive development steps until implementation.
- Focuses on four major activities: obtaining maintenance requests, transforming these into changes, designing the changes, and implementing the changes.
- Maintenance is the longest phase within the SDLC.
Types of System Maintenance
- Corrective Maintenance: Addresses flaws in design, coding, or implementation.
- Adaptive Maintenance: Evolves system functionality to meet changing business needs or technologies.
- Perfective Maintenance: Introduces new features or enhances system performance.
- Preventive Maintenance: Proactively implements changes to prevent future issues.
Maintenance Organization Structure
- Separate Maintenance: Improves system and documentation quality but may lead to ignorance of critical undocumented information.
- Combined Maintenance: Maintenance group has comprehensive system knowledge but may neglect good documentation.
- Functional Maintenance: Personnel invested in business units often experience limited job mobility and resource constraints.
Challenges in Maintenance Assignment
- Maintenance roles are often viewed negatively within Information Systems (IS) departments.
- Historically, new development roles are more rewarded, and organizations may rotate personnel to mitigate negative attitudes.
Effectiveness Measures in System Maintenance
- Important factors include:
- Frequency of failures.
- Time intervals between failures.
- Types of failures.
- Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) indicates a system's quality and error occurrences tracked over time.
Controlling and Prioritizing Maintenance Requests
- Maintenance requests can be frequent; prioritization should be based on request type and urgency.
Configuration Management
- Ensures only authorized changes are made.
- Involves baseline modules that are thoroughly tested and documented.
- System librarian controls checking modules in and out during maintenance.
- Establishes guidelines (build routines) for constructing executable systems from the baseline source code.
Configuration Management Tools
- Manage system configuration and control module access.
- Two main types:
- Revision Control: Marks modules as frozen or checked out for changes.
- Source Code Control: Extends revision control across interrelated modules, preserving historical changes.
Role of CASE Tools in Maintenance
- Shifts focus from coding to design in system development.
- Maintenance is documented before implementation, using code generators to keep documentation up-to-date.
- Improved efficiency in managing changes to existing systems.
Special Considerations for Website Maintenance
- Requires continuous availability (24/7/365), making it challenging.
- Involves locking pages during maintenance and validating HTML for publication readiness.
- Significant content changes require re-registration with search engines.
- Consistency is vital for user experience; future changes should be indicated clearly.
Summary of Learning Objectives
- Understand and compare four types of system maintenance.
- Identify factors influencing maintenance costs.
- Evaluate maintenance management issues, including structure, quality measurement, change management, and configuration management.
- Recognize the functionality of CASE tools in system maintenance.
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Description
Explore the essential aspects of software maintenance, including error correction, enhancements, and optimization. This quiz covers various maintenance types such as corrective and adaptive, and examines the maintenance process in relation to the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Test your knowledge on the standards and practices that ensure effective system support.
