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Finally, at the highest level, the maintenance organization will have to conduct business planning activities (budgetary, financial, and human resources) just like all the other divisions of the organization.

Software configuration management

The IEEE Standard for Software Maintenance, IEEE 1219, describes software configuration management as a critical element of the maintenance process. Software configuration management procedures should provide for the verification, validation, and audit of each step required to identify, authorize, implement, and release the software product.

It is not sufficient to simply track Modification Requests or Problem Reports. The software product and any changes made to it must be controlled. This control is established by implementing and enforcing an approved software configuration management (SCM) process. SCM for software maintenance is different from SCM for software development in the number of small changes that must be controlled on operational software. The SCM process is implemented by developing and following a configuration management plan and operating procedures. Maintainers participate in Configuration Control Boards to determine the content of the next release/version.

Software quality

It is not sufficient, either, to simply hope that increased quality will result from the maintenance of software. It must be planned and processes implemented to support the maintenance process. The activities and techniques for Software Quality Assurance (SQA), V&V, reviews, and audits must be selected in concert with all the other processes to achieve the desired level of quality. It is also recommended that the maintainer adapt the software development processes, techniques and deliverables, for instance testing documentation, and test results.

Techniques for maintenance

This subarea introduces some of the generally accepted techniques used in software maintenance.

Program comprehension

Programmers spend considerable time in reading and understanding programs in order to implement changes. Code browsers are key tools for program comprehension. Clear and concise documentation can aid in program comprehension.

Reengineering

Reengineering is defined as the examination and alteration of software to reconstitute it in a new form, and includes the subsequent implementation of the new form. Dorfman and Thayer state that reengineering is the most radical (and expensive) form of alteration. Others believe that reengineering can be used for minor changes. It is often not undertaken to improve maintainability, but to replace aging legacy software. Arnold provides a comprehensive compendium of topics, for example: concepts, tools and techniques, case studies, and risks and benefits associated with reengineering.

Reverse engineering

Reverse engineering is the process of analyzing software to identify the software’s components and their interrelationships and to create representations of the software in another form or at higher levels of abstraction. Reverse engineering is passive; it does not change the software, or result in new software. Reverse engineering efforts produce call graphs and control flow graphs from source code. One type of reverse engineering is redocumentation. Another type is design recovery. Refactoring is program transformation which reorganizes a program without changing its behavior, and is a form of reverse engineering that seeks to improve program structure.

Questions & Answers

A golfer on a fairway is 70 m away from the green, which sits below the level of the fairway by 20 m. If the golfer hits the ball at an angle of 40° with an initial speed of 20 m/s, how close to the green does she come?
Aislinn Reply
cm
tijani
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John Reply
what is physics
Siyaka Reply
A mouse of mass 200 g falls 100 m down a vertical mine shaft and lands at the bottom with a speed of 8.0 m/s. During its fall, how much work is done on the mouse by air resistance
Jude Reply
Can you compute that for me. Ty
Jude
what is the dimension formula of energy?
David Reply
what is viscosity?
David
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emma Reply
what is chemistry
Youesf Reply
what is inorganic
emma
Chemistry is a branch of science that deals with the study of matter,it composition,it structure and the changes it undergoes
Adjei
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Adjanou
chemistry could also be understood like the sexual attraction/repulsion of the male and female elements. the reaction varies depending on the energy differences of each given gender. + masculine -female.
Pedro
A ball is thrown straight up.it passes a 2.0m high window 7.50 m off the ground on it path up and takes 1.30 s to go past the window.what was the ball initial velocity
Krampah Reply
2. A sled plus passenger with total mass 50 kg is pulled 20 m across the snow (0.20) at constant velocity by a force directed 25° above the horizontal. Calculate (a) the work of the applied force, (b) the work of friction, and (c) the total work.
Sahid Reply
you have been hired as an espert witness in a court case involving an automobile accident. the accident involved car A of mass 1500kg which crashed into stationary car B of mass 1100kg. the driver of car A applied his brakes 15 m before he skidded and crashed into car B. after the collision, car A s
Samuel Reply
can someone explain to me, an ignorant high school student, why the trend of the graph doesn't follow the fact that the higher frequency a sound wave is, the more power it is, hence, making me think the phons output would follow this general trend?
Joseph Reply
Nevermind i just realied that the graph is the phons output for a person with normal hearing and not just the phons output of the sound waves power, I should read the entire thing next time
Joseph
Follow up question, does anyone know where I can find a graph that accuretly depicts the actual relative "power" output of sound over its frequency instead of just humans hearing
Joseph
"Generation of electrical energy from sound energy | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore" ***ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7150687?reload=true
Ryan
what's motion
Maurice Reply
what are the types of wave
Maurice
answer
Magreth
progressive wave
Magreth
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Muhammad Reply
fine, how about you?
Mohammed
hi
Mujahid
A string is 3.00 m long with a mass of 5.00 g. The string is held taut with a tension of 500.00 N applied to the string. A pulse is sent down the string. How long does it take the pulse to travel the 3.00 m of the string?
yasuo Reply
Who can show me the full solution in this problem?
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Source:  OpenStax, Software engineering. OpenStax CNX. Jul 29, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10790/1.1
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