7.3 Maintaining a Project Once It Is Released

Most software and hardware has a scheduled maintenance period and a need for sustaining activities. For servers, this includes daily system administration, applying bug fixes, and managing operations. For PCs, a field person is needed for every twenty-five to forty PCs to ensure that the network and the computers are working effectively.

Fixing Bugs . Smaller companies or smaller projects tend to have the same people creating and developing projects and fixing problems found in the project after it has been released. Fixing a released project is referred to as sustaining IT. There are pros and cons to using the same people for new development and sustaining IT. On the pro side, programmers will fix what they designed or developed. This may be beneficial since the programmers are familiar with the applications they developed. Having programmers responsible for fixing applications they wrote may drive programmers to design applications that will be easier to fix, since they know they will be responsible later. On the con side, having programmers working on a new project while being responsible for fixing sustaining problems can cause new project schedules to slip. A hot problem gets a lot more attention than a release date that is a year away. No matter what the size of the company, it is important to define the scope of sustaining tasks and who is responsible for handling any problems.

There is a constant battle in most companies between bringing down the project bug count and developing new technology. Typically, sustaining engineers report in through the IT department. Released projects are managed through the Help Desk organization. IT is responsible for getting quality projects out on time. Help Desk is measured on the speed of turning around user questions. Help Desk organizations want zero open bugs. It is very important for Help Desk to clearly identify how quickly bugs need to be fixed. Help Desk and IT need to set clear guidelines for identifying what the bug classifications are and for identifying what is a bug and what is an enhancement. While developing the project, IT presented their sustaining IT estimates to executive staff. It is important for IT to keep track of the actual time programmers spend supporting sustaining efforts. This information is very useful in identifying the true cost of the project and providing justification for the addition of sustaining engineers . The people responsible for managing a released project need to clearly identify which problems are bugs and which are enhancements. Business Development s responsibility is to clearly identify the features of a project. If there are reports of bugs that are really feature requests , Business Development needs to evaluate how this project is being used and what level of expectation end users have for the project. A decision will need to be made if the bugs are considered fixes or if a new project needs to be started.

New OS Releases. Another problem to account for is the release of new operating systems. Many companies upgrade employee operating systems on a fixed calendar, for example, every two years regardless of how often the vendor upgrades their operating system. Generally available projects need to be tested with each new operating system to ensure changes in the operating system do not negatively affect this project. If there is an effect on the project, it should be decided whether this is a simple fix and still considered part of sustaining a project through General Availability or whether a new project needs to be created. Most companies have an idea of what size fix equals a new project. For example, a new project will be started if the company plans on upgrading the operating system and user application for all PC users. The new project will also be responsible for testing all other applications found on users desks to make sure they work with the new operating system. Typically, testing of the other applications will fall under the project responsibility of the PC upgrade team. Management will decide if a new project is created or the original team is responsible if another application does not work with the proposed changes.

Organizations also need to ensure that training courses are available. These might be online E-Learning courses or classroom courses given by an internal training organization or by an outside training organization. Help Desk people need to be available and trained on the applications being supported.

7.3 in a Nutshell

• Daily maintenance needs to take place.

• Bugs need to be tracked and fixed.

• New software added to users computers should be tested with this project to ensure that nothing is incompatible.

• Training and support need to be available.

It s true: The company needs to decide if a bug is a fix for something broken or a new feature.