ITPEC FE Subject A April 2026 Question 38
Which of the following is an appropriate category of system maintenance performed for the purpose of modifying the system to cope with changes in the software environment (e.g. DBMS, Operating system)?
Explanation
Adaptive maintenance — modifying the system to keep it working in a changed environment.
A new DBMS version or an operating system upgrade forces changes that have nothing to do with defects or new user requirements. The maintenance categories (ISO/IEC 14764):
- •Corrective — fix faults that have been discovered
- •Adaptive — keep the software usable in a changed or changing environment
- •Perfective — improve performance, maintainability or other attributes
- •Preventive — detect and correct latent faults before they cause failures
Answer (a)
Why not others:
- •(b) Corrective maintenance — triggered by a fault in the software itself, not by a change around it
- •(c) Perfective maintenance — makes a working system better, for example faster or easier to maintain
- •(d) Preventive maintenance — removes faults that exist but have not yet caused a failure
Key rule: Classify maintenance by its trigger: environment changed = adaptive, fault found = corrective, improvement wanted = perfective, latent fault = preventive.
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