The maintenance phase involves performing changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet the business goals. This phase continues for the life of the system because the system must change as the business evolves and its needs change, demanding constant monitoring, supporting the new system with frequent minor changes (for example, new reports or information capturing), and reviewing the system to be sure it is moving the organization toward its strategic goals. Once a system is in place, it must change as the organization changes. The three primary activities involved in the maintenance phase are:
1. Build a help desk to support the system users.
2. Perform system maintenance.
3. Provide an environment to support system changes.
1. Build a Help Desk to Support the System Users
The most common method for supporting systems users is to establish a help desk. A help desk is a group of people who respond to internal system user questions. Typically, internal system users have a help desk extension or phone number they call when they have issues or questions about the system. Staffing a help desk that answers internal user questions is an excellent way to provide comprehensive support for new systems. It also can serve as a feedback mechanism to the development team to relay common problems that need to be addressed; to report obvious oversights in training; and to identify and report widespread systems errors called ‘bugs’. New hire and regularly recurring refresher training also serve to support system users.
2. Perform System Maintenance
Maintenance is fixing or enhancing an information system. Many different types of maintenance must be performed on the system to ensure it continues to operate as expected. These include:
Adaptive maintenance - making changes to increase system functionality to meet new business requirements.
Corrective maintenance - making changes to repair system defects.
Perfective maintenance - making changes to enhance the system and improve such things as processing performance and usability.
Preventive maintenance - making changes to reduce the chance of future system failures.
3. Provide an Environment to Support System Changes
As changes arise in the business environment, an organization must react to those changes by assessing the impact on the system. It might well be that the system needs to adjust to meet the ever-changing needs of the business environment. If so, an organization must modify its systems to support the business environment.
A change management system includes a collection of procedures to document a change request and defi ne the steps necessary to consider the change based on the expected impact of the change. Most change management systems require that a change request form be initiated by one or more project stakeholders (users, customers, analysts, developers). Ideally, these change requests are reviewed by a change control board (CCB) responsible for approving or rejecting all change requests. The CCB’s composition typically includes a representative for each business area that has a stake in the project. The CCB’s decision to accept or reject each change is based on an impact analysis of the change. For example, if one department wants to implement a change to the software that will increase both deployment time and cost, then the other business owners need to agree that the change is valid and that it warrants the extended time frame and increased budget.
