What is Software Maintenance
Software maintenance is a part of the software development life cycle. Its main motive is to modify and update software applications after the delivery process to correct faults and to better performance. Software is a model of the real world. When the real world changes, the software needs alteration wherever possible.
Software maintenance is a wide activity that includes optimization, mistakes correction, deletion of discarded features, and enhancement of features. Typically, maintenance takes up about 40 to 80% of the project cost, usually closer to the higher pole. While a focus on maintenance definitely helps keep costs low
Importance of Software Maintenance
The value of software maintenance is huge. Software maintenance has become an important component of the development of the software due to its execution. Maintenance clears out lots of issues that software carried out formerly might face due to changes of hardware. Software maintenance corrects the bugs or problems that software can be made from or assaulted with. To summarize, the stage of software maintenance is essential for the proper functioning of the software. For a period of time and no other aspects can compare the facilities offered by the importance maintenance of software.
Types of Maintenance Testing
There are two basic types of Maintenance Testing, Which explain below.
1) Confirmation Maintenance Testing
During this part of maintenance testing, the modifications and errors are test and retest until their execution becomes accurate. While retesting the original environment is maintain to exact data inputs to make sure. That no more errors can occur and is correct of the modification or migration is confirmed without any doubts.
2) Regression Maintenance Testing
Once it has been confirmed that no more errors can occur in the modification, Now it is time to test that unintended defects have not spread elsewhere in the software.
The test receive to know the spreading of accidental and incidental errors is known as Regression Testing.
Maintenance Testing Example
At times we need to correct or upgrade the software during its operating time.
Planned enhancements by the Software Development Firms Examples: such as corrective and emergency changes, changes of the operational environment, and patches for defects and vulnerabilities
Types of Software Maintenance
There are four basic types of software maintenance Corrective Software Maintenance, Adaptive Software Maintenance, Perfective Software Maintenance, and Preventive Software Maintenance
1) Corrective Software Maintenance
Corrective software maintenance is what one would typically associate with the maintenance of any kind. Correct software maintenance addresses the errors and faults within software applications that could affect some parts of software, including the design, logic, and code. These corrections come from bug reports, that is create by users or customers, but corrective software maintenance can help to spot them before your customers do, which can help the brand’s reputation
2) Adaptive Software Maintenance
Adaptive software maintenance becomes important when the environment of software changes. This can be make by changes to the operating system, hardware, software dependencies, Cloud storage, and changes within the operating system. Often, adaptive software maintenance reflects organizational policies or rules as well. Updating services, making modifications to vendors, and changing payment processors can all necessitate adaptive software maintenance.
3) Perfective Software Maintenance
Perfective software maintenance focuses on the evolution of requirements and features that exist in your system. As users interact with applications, they may notice things that you did not suggest new features that they would like as part of the software, which could become future projects or enhancements. Perfective software maintenance takes over some of the work, both adding features that can develop the user experience and removing features that are not effective and functional.
4) Preventive Software Maintenance
Preventive software maintenance importance helps to make changes and adaptations to the software so that it can work for a longer period of time. The focus of the type of maintenance is to prevent the deterioration of software as it continues to adapt and change. These services can include optimizing code and updating documentation as needed. Preventive software maintenance helps to reduce the risk associated with operating software for a long time, helping to make it more stable, understandable, and maintainable
Software Maintenance Techniques
To perform software maintenance properly, various techniques are used. These include software configuration management, impact analysis, and software rejuvenation, all of which help in maintaining a system and thus, improve the quality of the existing system.
We will be covering the following topics below:
1) Software Configuration Management
Software configuration management can be used efficiently while maintaining a system as it keeps track of changes and their effects on the system components.
2) Impact Analysis
Impact analysis is used to evaluate the overall effect of the required change. Identifying the components that will be affected by the change, the extent to which each of the components will be affected, and the results of change on the estimated effort and schedule.
3) Software Rejuvenation
Sometimes, organizations have to make difficult decisions about how to make their systems more maintainable. The choices may include enhancing or completely replacing a software system. Each choice has the same objective, that is, to preserve or increase the software quality and keep the costs low. Software rejuvenation is a maintenance technique that helps in taking appropriate decisions.
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