Organizational foundations for maintenance
E. Burton Swanson, Cynthia Mathis Beath · Journal of Software Maintenance Research and Practice · 1989
Abstract Maintaining application software for information systems in organizations poses managerial problems. Among these are: How should maintenance be planned? How should the maintenance staff be organized? What information is needed to manage maintenance? In a recent field study, in which we developed twelve cases, we explored the answers to these and other related questions. We found that organizational issues in maintenance may be comprehended in terms of a Relational Foundations Model involving the application systems, the IS staff and the system users. Vignettes from the cases illustrate. A new, organizational view of maintenance is suggested, one which departs from the traditional view of maintenance as a technical, individual programming task.