SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE ASSESSMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF DETERMINATION FACTORS

Software maintenance is the longest and most expensive software development life cycle (SDLC) phase. It contributes a major part of a software system's total life cycle cost. An effective software maintenance assessment is crucial to ensure the software system's longevity and efficiency. The effective assessment will provide valuable insight into the decision-making guidance and foster continuous improvement. However, the factors that influence the assessment process are not ideally mapped with the existing software maintenance process. To provide effective planning and resource allocation, the software maintenance team needs to determine the factors that influence the process. This paper presents a review of existing literature to identify and categorise the determination factors that influence the software maintenance assessment. Literature studies show that the key factors can be identified and grouped into several categories. The analysis reveals factors that influence the software maintenance assessment, which is categorised into project characteristics, development teams' skills, client involvement, project constraint, organisational culture, and documentation. The determination factors will help the software maintenance team assess the priorities of their efforts and allocate the available resources efficiently. This paper contributes valuable knowledge on the assessment process and offers useful guidance for practitioners looking to improve their software maintenance efforts.