19 maintenance and release management - 3

Setting up and Managing Global Software Maintenance Teams:

Session 3: Maintenance Processes &Estimation

[email protected]

To understand the processes that constitute support and maintenance activities

To look at a methodology of estimating key resources for maintenance

Maintenance and Release Management - Session 3 2

Session Objectives

Roles in Support and Maintenance


Customer Side End Users (who

actually use the product and encounter problems)

“Product-in-charge” (point of contact from customer organization to vendor)

Vendor Side Support Analyst Maintenance Engineer Developer


Customer Call Center

Expert LevelSupport

Defect Fixers

DefectTracking/CustomerRepository

SourceCode

Problem

Transfers to

Defect Report Resolution

Technical Articles

Problem Log

KnowledgeRepository

Resolution

Resolution

A High Level Workflow for Corrective Maintenance

© “Software Maintenance” Gopalaswamy Ramesh and Ramesh Bhattiprolu, Tata McGraw Hill, 2005 (exp)

End UsersProduct In-chargein the customer organization

Encounters a “problem”Is there sufficientInfo about the problem?

Reports Problem Details

NO Requests Required Information

YES

Ascertain the businessImpact of the problem

Any obvious usage errors?

Provide solution to the end usersYES

NO

Understand business impact

Sources of Information About Known Problems

Any workarounds?

Close the loop with end usersYES

NO

Get the required Information to report toProduct organization


Customer Side Activities For Problem Reporting



Product In-chargein the customer organization

Support Analystsin the product organization

Get the required Information to report toProduct organization

Customer Database

Customer SupportRepository

Logging the Problem(Or any updates)

Is the customerEligible for support?

Choose the right analyst

All the required infoavailable?

Problem Knowledgebase

Solution or workaroundFound?

DefectRepository

Req

uest

Fur

ther

Info

usi

ngD

iagn

ostic

Info

rmat

ion

Cap

ture

Too

ls

Reports Problem

Clo

se th

e lo

op w

ith th

e cu

stom

er

YES

YES

YES

NO

NO

(To next levels of support / development)

First Contacts With Vendor…


Categorization of problem Prioritizing the problem Identifying the right resource Reproducing the problem Making and testing the fix


Problem Resolution Activities

Maintaining Accountability at all times for any problem

Check in code changes to the appropriate branch as per organization policies

- latest version first - reported version first Ensure code changes propagate to all

relevant branches Non code change issues should be

documented,archived and easily searchable


Problem Resolution (cont’d)

Choosing the method of distribution Distributing individual fixes Vs Patch Bundle

Minimize distribution of individual fixes Patch Bundle questions

What fixes to send? What frequency for the patch bundles?

Preparing the patch bundle Composing the fixes Ensuring documentation is updates

Testing the Shipment Unit All the fixes work together, without impacting each other No side effects

Making available the patch bundles Web hosting Notification

- Schedule of patches


Fix Distribution Activities & Scheduling

Componentization and difficulty in assigning accountability

Hot Potato Syndrome! Need to follow processes in crunch mode Ensure relevant and correct metrics are

captured at every stage and evaluate them Achieving Continuous Improvement (covered

in the next two slides)


Process Challenges


Achieving Continuous Improvement: #1: Better Design

Design for Diagnosability

• Self Checking Structures• User Activatable Conditions• M/c Readable Configurations

•Design for Maintainability

• Standardization • Documentation• Modularization

Design for Testability

• Expected Behavior Specifications • Exception Conditions • Scenario Specifications

Introducing customer encountered test cases into regression suites

Using Customer Support Feedback in maintaining Regression Tests

Using Product Management Feedback in Regression Tests


Achieving Continuous Improvement: #2: Better Integration With Regression

Testing

Self healing Self service E-Support Standard Configurations Hosted Models Process Automation - change propagation to other branches - patch build , testing and delivery


Futures of Maintenance

Adaptive maintenance Certification Enhancement Requests Preventive Maintenance Activities


Other Types Of Maintenance Activities




Session Objectives


So How To Estimate Maintenance Resources…

•Base of historical data•Complexity of product•Geographical distribution of Customers•Future product plans•Target maintenance group composition - depending on level of the team•Infrastructure available

Maintenance workload Incoming Defects (by Priority / Severity) Turnaround times needed

Where to do maintenance Skill sets needed Socio-economic factors

Choice of work packages and handover Training times Sustenance times for releases


Step 0:Identify the key parameters to be

estimated


Step 1: Identify the Key High Level Factors Affecting

The Parameters

Product SpecificFactors

Infrastructure SpecificFactors

Customer SpecificFactors

People RelatedFactors

© “Software Maintenance” Gopalaswamy Ramesh and Ramesh Bhattiprolu,


Step 2: Identify the Key Questions in each of the

factors

Product SpecificFactors

Infrastructure SpecificFactors

Customer SpecificFactors

People RelatedFactors

• Is this a major release or a maintenance version?• For a new version, what is the levelof preparedness of Support staff?• What were the residual unfixed problems and their severities?• How many files have been modified in this release?• Is there a “Migration” phase that needs to be accounted for?• Are there seasonal variations in theproduct usage?• Have you classified the modules interms of usage or complexity?

© “Software Maintenance” Gopalaswamy Ramesh and Ramesh Bhattiprolu,


Key Questions That Apply To Any Factor…

•Base of historical data•Complexity of product•Geographical distribution of Customers•Future product plans•Target maintenance group composition - depending on level of the team•Infrastructure available

Use the Defect Repository , analyze it on all aspects

Use past data Listen to your customers Take the view points of the employees Use your intuition!


Step 3: Baseline the data for the key questions

Outdated Information worse than no information!


Step 4: Keep the data updated

Classification of past defects on - Product Components - Nature of defect and impact - Root cause and solution - Volumes – Time/Release related - Resolution point within

maintenance organization (first level , second level etc)


Estimation data points – quantifiable inputs

Appropriate staffing at each level in maintenance organization

Estimation of CM resources required for maintenance versions

Hardware , Software resource requirements Pointers on skill levels within the

maintenance organization to identify training , reskilling exercises.


Outputs from estimation




Session Objectives - Recap

19 maintenance and release management - 3

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