Managing Software Maintenance Research Articles

A conceptual framework of challenges and solutions for managing global software maintenance

AbstractContextSoftware maintenance process in globally distributed settings brings significant management challenges to software organizations.ObjectivesInvestigate the factors specific to managing software maintenance process in globally distributed settings and best practices in software organizations.MethodA systematic literature review and interviews with industry practitioners were conducted. For analysis and synthesis, the grounded theory method was used.ResultsWe identified a number of management challenges and mitigation strategies and then classified them under people, process, product, and technology factors. Overall, a structure of challenges and solutions, the conceptual framework, has been developed that may be used to understand and classify global maintenance challenges.ConclusionsDistributed software maintenance process has specific management challenges in relation to process, people, product, and technology. Therefore, companies performing maintenance in distributed settings should consider these factors, which are not present in the general global software development literature, although many lessons apply to both. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Software maintenance project delays prediction using Bayesian Networks

Managing software maintenance is rarely a precise task due to uncertainties concerned with resources and services descriptions. Even when a well-established maintenance process is followed, the risk of delaying tasks remains if the new services are not precisely described or when resources change during process execution. Also, the delay of a task at an early process stage may represent a different delay at the end of the process, depending on complexity or services reliability requirements. This paper presents a knowledge-based representation (Bayesian Networks) for maintenance project delays based on specialists experience and a corresponding tool to help in managing software maintenance projects.

IMPROVED SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

A formal procedure for managing software maintenance—from the submission of a work order through the postimplementation review—opens a window of opportunity for the IS manager who sees systems as candidates for reverse engineering, reengineering, and restructuring. This article describes a set of procedures for improving maintenance management.

Measuring and Managing Software Maintenance

An effective way to improve software quality is to set measurable goals and then manage your projects to achieve those goals. Hewlett-Packard has developed some methods to do just that.