Software maintenance—an industrial experience

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the software maintenance process of Hitachi Software Engineering (HSK) Co., Ltd in Japan‐including its success and failure cases. It discusses HSK's software processes, issues, use of specific tools and techniques such as IMOZU diagrams, and approaches in solving problems. These include the requirement capturing process, reverse‐engineering techniques, environmental changes, change management, and project management. By discussing actual project experiences, we point to certain lessons and their implications for research in software maintenance. We also present the latest re‐engineering CASE tools, such as RE‐ENGINEERING and SEWB3, used at HSK.

Software maintenance from a service perspective

“…Published evaluations of software maintenance practices tend to concentrate on the narrow issue of efficiently handling change requests and bug fixes [11][12][13][14]. For example, a common denominator in these papers is the emphasis that is placed on the presence of what is termed a bug tracking system, historical database of changes, or change management.…”

“…In practice, the role of the IS department is much broader during the deployment stage, as illustrated by the ubiquitous help desk. Published evaluations of software maintenance practices tend to concentrate on the narrow issue of efficiently handling change requests and bug fixes (Briand, et al, 1998;Onoma, et al, 1995;Singer, 1998;West, 1996). For example, a common denominator in these papers is the emphasis that is placed on a presence of what is termed a bug tracking system, historical data base of changes, or change management.…”

Perspectives on improving software maintenance

“…Published evaluations of software maintenance practices tend to concentrate on the narrow issue of efficiently handling change requests and bug fixes (e.g. Briand, Kim, Melo, Seaman and Basili 1998, Onoma, Tsai, Tsunoda, Suganuma and Subramanian 1995, Singer 1998, West 1996. For example, a common denominator in these papers is the emphasis that is placed on a presence of what is termed a bug tracking system, historical data base of changes, or change management.…”