An Approach to Software Maintenance: A Case Study in Small and Medium-Sized Businesses IT Organizations

Software maintenance is the task of modifying a running product previously delivered to the client, in order to correct defects, improve performance or adapt it to the environment. This task is a crucial activity for enterprises. Without it, existing systems would become rapidly out-of-date and inefficient. The purpose of this paper is to present a software maintenance approach used in small and medium-sized business (SMB) organizations in Brazil. Currently, these organizations represent 95.5% of the software companies in the country. The approach presented here indicates how SMB IT companies have improved their software maintenance processes. Multiple case studies were performed to validate this approach. The outcomes showed that strategies associated with managing users' knowledge and development/maintenance teams are relevant to increase the maintenance process effectiveness. This approach involves three aspects: users' knowledge management, maintenance team knowledge and the management and maintenance process. This improvement includes reducing time and also minimizing the number of tickets. The response time for tickets resolution to the end user has been reduced. In addition, IT organizations have minimized the effects associated with both staff and client turnovers.