Systems Development Life Cycle Activities in the Customer Service and System Maintenance Phase

The SDLC activities in this phase are focused on one thing only—maintaining the system.

Too many organizations do not differentiate this activity from the project. This is particularly true in IT efforts for internal customers. That is, the thinking is that the project continues as long as the system is in place. The problem with this approach is that there is never any closure from one activity to another. It is important to the project manager and the team members to have a sense of accomplishment. I have already stated that the maintenance and customer service activities are not truly projects in the traditional sense, and they are not. But these activities should be appended to the project and systems development life cycle so that the relationship between the project and the follow-on responsibilities is clear. And there should be a definite and distinct demarcation between the project and follow-on efforts.