Software Maintenance and Change Control Process Introduction to Software Maintenance and Change Control Process Software maintenance process is a topic that probably comes up in most organizations and is an important one to address. Once software is created there are usually changes or bugs that are found causes there to be a need for maintenance. It is important to have a process in place that helps to define how these items are handled and the path they take to completion. Using different tools to log these changes, requests, or bugs will is important to keep things organized and allows for proper tracking of these items. As part of Software maintenance there is another aspect called change control, which basically is keeping track of the different versions of code. As code changes to accommodate new requests or bugs there are different versions of code for the same part of the software. If this is not properly handled it can cause a lot of confusion and could also keep the right changes from being moved into a production environment. Software tools that can help with that are Microsoft Visual Source Safe or Collaborative SourceSafe. Both of these tools allows a user to put a document in a certain location or "safe" and than when changes occur they check out the document, which keeps another developer from getting the code and making changes at the same time. Once the changes are completed the document or file can be checked back in allowing others to view this new version. Like any project it is always the things that may seem to some as the most trivial that cause a project to be successful or to have difficulty. Understanding Real World Software Maintenance Processes The software maintenance process is a long-term support tier for any and all computer-based business systems. In the age of computer automation and electronic commerce, many businesses have become dependent upon scalable and error proof software platforms. The ongoing support of these systems by the software manufacturer is crucial for the business owner, and the software's longevity. Software Maintenance is a detailed process for weighing suggested program additions, making program updates, supporting user-related questions, and fixing latent errors. This process is both heavily time and resource consuming for software firms. This is why it is important for all software firms to have a strong and well-organized software maintenance plan, in which any changes to a given product are, to be followed.
Some software systems have a relatively short lifetime (many web-based systems), others have a lifetime of tens of years (large command and control systems). Some systems have to be delivered quickly if they are to be useful. The techniques used to develop short-lifetime, rapid delivery systems (e.g. use of scripting languages, prototyping, etc.) are inappropriate for long-lifetime systems which require techniques that allow for long-term support such as design modelling.
The Software Development Life Cycle is seldom used at my place of work. Unfortunately, recent developments in its use are deemed confidential. Due to this fact, this paper will examine in general terms one of the projects we are undertaking right now while at the same time attempting to maintain our confidentiality.
Answer: Software changes is inevitable. Change is inevitable in complex systems because of various causes like the requirements gathering, their design, specifications, user requirements etc. All software systems must evolve to meet the ever - expanding needs of its users. Gathering entire requirementsat a single stretch may sometimes be not possible for complex systems. In such cases, the changes are made to the systems after the development. Also, user requirements change from time to time. So to accomplish their requirements, changes are made. Designing complex systems and accomplishing all the needs and requirements is difficult in complex systems. So these are designed and developed with initial requirements and then changes are made to the existing
Software maintenance stands for modifications and updates done to the software after the delivery of software product. There are several different reasons, why software maintenance is required. Software needs to be updated regularly to keep it functional with the new and latest technology. Once software is developed, it does not mean it is the final product or perfect. Software may need to be modified or updated because of errors or new customer wants new features to be added to the software. There are also several other reasons such as market conditions, host modifications and organization changes. (Tutorialspoint 2015)
Saving the things again and again is the main goal of the version control providing the information like when you did it? Why you did it? What were the contents which has been changed? It will open the view for any time in the future. In other words u can have a complete log of all the tasks been performed. It will not only show you the modified result of the changes been made but will also provide you the results of before and after so that you can choose between them, the best one. As long as a single person is working with all these changes it will be easy for him to manage. But the level of difficulty arises when there is a team work. As one member of the team make changes the other might not be aware of the changes been made. So he has to face some level of difficulty. For coming over this difficulty we need some more advancement of the version control system which can answer the questions like: Who changed it? Why changed it? When changed it? The full coordination should be provided to the wh...
The term leadership and change management are interrelated between each other. Leadership direct the company to reach in the destination. Eventually, it is concentrate to formulating the business strategies require to transfer in new state to achieve the corporate goal (Hayes, 2010, p.159). Kotter (2011) explains that leadership is act as an engine on entire change process, that drives, controls and manages to move quickly in efficient way. According to Northouse (2013), “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.”
Prosci’s tools and methodology—based on best practices research with over 3400 international organizations—are used by more than three quarters of Fortune 100 companies. The Prosci methodology has become one of the most widely used approaches to managing the people side of change in business and government. The origin of Prosci’s name is derived from the combination of the terms professional and sciences, reflecting Prosci’s commitment to a research-driven and results-oriented approach to change management. Prosci has been directly engaged with a diverse group of customers, including 80% of Fortune 100 companies and entities across six continents. Our customer list includes organizations in nearly every sector, including international enterprises, government institutions, and global consulting firms. Prosci’s research and intellectual property have been deployed in 3,500 client organizations across 65
Many manufacturers have built products with software instructions embedded onto chips; equipment ranging from fax machines to auto assembly lines could all be affected by the bug. What's the Problem? For many organizations, the Year 2000 Problem has become the most complex project management exercise ever undertaken.
Ability. Ability is the stage in ADKAR Change Management Model where an individual’s change process where the change actually occurs. Ability is defined by an individual demonstrating the required changes such that overall expected performance results are achieved. The skills used to implement change on a day to day basis.
Change is inevitable and bound to happen in all aspects of life including business. Although change is important in an organization, it can also be seen as a strength and weakness. Effective leadership is about mastering change. One must be willing to change in order to grow and be successful. This paper will compare and contrast Kotter and Kurt Lewin step in their change management models. Furthermore, it will elaborate on the concepts and explain whether these methods can be used at the same time. In addition, this paper will include a Christian worldview of the information discussed and how it relates to the change management models.
Hardware, software, support and maintenance costs grow each year with multiple systems in each local region running different types of software and hardware. The application and hardware support teams are larger than could be possible with one integrated solution.
1.0 IntroductionIn this report I will be concentrating on the failure of software systems. To understand why software systems fail we need to understand what are software systems. Software systems are a type of information system. This is because a software system is basically a means for hardware to process information. Flynn’s definition of an information system is:"An information system provides procedures to record and make available information, concerning part of an organization, to assist organization-related activities."Humans have been processing information manually for thousands of years, but with the vast increase of demand for knowledge this century has meant that a new method of information processing has been needed. Software systems have provided a new means that is much faster and efficient.
Early fixing of errors not only helps save cost but also helps in mitigating the various risks associated with software development and it also helps in improving and monitoring quality of the system etc. It has been proven that the cost to identify and mitigate the errors in the early stages of development of a software will be hundred times less than the cost of removing an error in the software system that has been distributed among hundreds of
Recommendations mainly focus on the delay of software update, avoid ethical problems and regularly record and review the accounting documents in order to better monitoring the performance.
Given the time, it takes to develop large sophisticated software systems it not possible to define the problem and build the solution in a single step. Requirements will often change throughout a projects development, due to architectural constraints, customer’s needs or a greater understanding of the original problem. Iteration allows greater understanding of a project through successive refinements and addresses a projects highest risk items at every stage of its lifecycle. Ideally each iteration ends up with an executable release – this helps reduce a projects risk profile, allows greater customer feedback and help developers stay focused.