Importance and Benefits of Software Maintenance in Development

In this article, we would like to unravel the unknowns of maintenance in software development and explain the benefits of a well-established process. 

S-PRO experts will explain what happens during this phase and why you would benefit from investing in maintenance. 

What is Software Maintenance?

Maintenance is the terminal phase of the software development life cycle. It happens after the software gets released to the production environment. This phase typically includes improvements, fixing bugs, adapting to requirements changes, and troubleshooting.  

Maintenance can be proactive, such as implementing preventive measures to avoid possible issues, or reactive, such as adapting to changes or fixing problems that have already occurred.

Companies should apply the ISO/IEC 14764 standard to make the process more intuitive and curated. Its latest revision, from 2022, dictates guidance on maintaining software, including ecosystems where multiple solutions share the same resources. As a result, companies can apply this rulebook to themselves and establish a good maintenance pipeline.

Some may wonder when to plan software maintenance. The answer for the two types of maintenance is actually quite straightforward. Proactive maintenance is pretty much a constant background process. For example, during software development, your team should implement things that make it more resilient and durable.

For reactive maintenance, you should create a system of maintenance warnings that your development team can then react to. These warnings may include disruptions in the software’s service, manual or automatic crash/error reports, or negative feedback.

What Are The Types Of Software Maintenance?

Let's take a deeper look at what happens in the maintenance phase of software development. This activity can be classified into several types: 

Reparative 

Reparative maintenance mainly refers to bug fixes. It includes defects triage and elimination and resolving integration, data, and compliance issues. 

Adaptive

When the business requests new features or a change of functionality that has already been there, adaptive maintenance steps in. It includes any development work needed to make requested changes happen. 

Enhancement

This type allows you to polish the quality of your software without adding new functionality, for example, enhancing the app's performance or security.

Safeguarding

The goal is to establish a system that will minimize possible issues by detecting them early. The team designs daily automation tests and conducts other checks, like pen testing.

Software Maintenance vs. Software Support: Key Differences

These two essential parts of the software lifecycle can sometimes be mixed up but are decidedly not the same and may even be done by different teams. We’ve established that software maintenance is the act of basically fine-tuning software. On the other hand, software support can include updates to the solution, but it typically focuses on a different goal.

Support centers around upgrading the product, adding features, and making the entire thing compatible with new systems and APIs. It also includes work done for the users, such as resolving any minor issues and guiding new users.

When establishing your internal system of maintenance, it’s important to differentiate the team’s roles between those who handle day-to-day support and those who focus on major maintenance. This way, you can keep up with incoming minor problems while part of the team polishes the software, which in turn minimizes the number of potential support tickets.

Why Is Software Maintenance Important?

A well-established maintenance strategy is critical for your business and your customers. It is a vital safeguarding and cost-saving factor for your company, ensuring your customers receive software products that meet their needs.

Key Benefits of Maintenance Software

Proper maintenance gives the green light to such benefits as:

• Enhanced Performance. Downtime will be minimal, or there will be no downtime at all.
• Increased User Satisfaction. Users will admire patch releases with quick resolution of their issues.
• Reduced Costs. Identify and fix minor issues before they become problems, saving you a lot of money in the long term perspective.
• Expanded Growth Opportunities. By measures of adaptive maintenance, you can scale your product seamlessly. 
• Improved Security. With regular checks, you can catch vulnerabilities early and prevent data breaches.

How to Choose the Right Maintenance Model for Your Software

There are four core models of software maintenance that a company can use for its solutions. These are:

• Quick-fix;
• Iterative;
• Reuse;
• Closed-loop.

The first option is decidedly not one that you should apply long-term. It’s exactly what the name implies - a fast, imperfect solution usually used when time is of the essence. However, this solution could lead to more problems after a while due to not being fully integrated into the ecosystem.

The next option is iterative, which focuses on trying different approaches methodically until the team finds one that works and fits the best software development practices. The problem here is that this is easier to do with minor issues and could take a while.

Reuse solves the time issue by having the team make software components that essentially serve as reusable templates. These can be applied to new solutions and updates to quickly address known problems and guarantee that the code is already tested and reliable.

Lastly, the closed-loop system of maintenance is best used for scheduled maintenance. That’s because this model is quite time-consuming, as it consists of multiple stages. First, the developers create the maintenance plan, then it must be approved by the higher-ups. Once these two points are done, the work begins, and the devs approve the maintenance changes.

Out of these, iterative and reuse models are perhaps the most flexible, offering timely, practical solutions.

How To Reduce Software Maintenance Cost?

Reducing software maintenance costs is one of the key concerns for businesses. Here is what you can do:

Don’t Put It Off For Too Long

Pay attention to maintenance in software development before bugs and necessary updates pile up. Addressing these tasks at the right time will go a long way in saving your budget.

Outsource

Outsourcing software maintenance is a cost-effective alternative to supporting it in-house. 

Nearshoring allows collaboration with skilled engineers at lower pay rates and still getting on-par service quality. There are also other benefits, such as good cultural fit and synchronous communication. 

At S-PRO, we have over nine years of experience in offshore and nearshore development and can provide full-cycle software development services, including product maintenance.

The Role of AI and Automation in Software Maintenance

AI has been taking the tech world by storm, and software maintenance is no exception, as automation can make the entire process much easier. The goals of using AI for these tasks are simple:

• Speed up maintenance;
• Automate small issue resolution;
• Predict potential maintenance needs.

In a well-designed system of maintenance, AI use should expand logically, as the algorithm is first trained on basic issues and data. Once it can reliably automate simple processes and provide quality analytics on the state of your software, it can tackle higher levels.

A well-trained algorithm can scan your system, analyze the typical issues that plague it, and, ideally, predict future cases where these problems may pop up. This allows your development team to be forewarned and to implement fixes before they become crucial. In other words, predictive maintenance allows their actions to be proactive instead of reactive.

AI can also use real data from maintenance tests to generate unique samples that allow developers to test in realistic environments and conditions. Thus, it’s easier to test major applications without sourcing data directly from them, which takes a lot of time. Plus, importing data from different sources requires standardization and vetting it for errors. AI has no such issues.

There’s also the matter of creating a continuous integration/continuous delivery pipeline, which AI can aid with by automating various aspects, including maintenance. Handy tools like Tricentis Tosca are already fully delegating testing work to AI. As a result, CI/CD is more straightforward to establish and maintain.

Optimizing Development and Maintenance for Maximum Value

S-PRO experts are happy to share tips on adopting practices that will help you get maximum value. Here are some hints:

Conduct Code Reviews

Do not underestimate quality code reviews, as they help to identify potential issues and improve the overall quality of the software product. 

Encourage your engineers to do it frequently and treat it seriously, even if the new feature seems to work all right. Include code review into the Definition of Done for all of your tickets.  

Invest in Automation Tests

Thorough testing and debugging help software remains stable and easy to maintain. 

Automated testing helps support the quality of software applications and saves human resources and costs. Once you adopt this approach, QA engineers will only have to run automation jobs and adjust autotests as new test cases appear.  

Create Software Product Documentation 

Always document the code to establish a comprehensive knowledge base for your project. Proper documentation is a single source of truth for your software product and can be particularly helpful if you need to transfer maintenance to another team or outsourcing company.

Helpful documentation includes:

• Software Requirements Specification (SRS)
• Test scenarios and test cases
• Release notes
• Class, sequence, data flow, and activity diagrams

You can involve software and quality assurance engineers and business analysts in document creation.

Conclusion: Setting Up Software Maintenance Process

Now that you understand the benefits of maintenance in software development, be mindful of such activities and start thinking of them throughout the development process, not only by its end. You will reap the benefits of increased performance, reduced costs, and improved security. 

To avoid diving deep into software management peculiarities, consider partnering with S-PRO. Reach out to us, and you will get top-class maintenance service.  

FAQ

What does software maintenance include?

It includes such activities as fixing bugs, updating security protocols, making improvements, and adapting the software to changes in the business logic, technologies, or user needs. 

Is software maintenance Taxable?

The taxability of maintenance services varies depending on the state and country your business operates and hires. 

To review the tax implications of maintenance in your specific case, reach out to S-PRO. Our tax experts will research this issue and get back to you.