ITPEC IP October 2021 Question 46

Programs are corrected or revised to keep operations stable and to keep pace with technology and business changes — software maintenance is modifying software after it is in use.

Once a system is in operation its programs still change: faults found in use are corrected (corrective maintenance), programs are adapted to a new OS, hardware or law (adaptive maintenance), and functions are improved or added as the business changes (perfective maintenance). All of them keep the system useful for as long as it runs.

Answer (b)

Why not others:

• •(a) — verifying and correcting each program built from the detailed design happens during development, in programming and unit testing, before the software is released
• •(c) — recording user questions, passing them to the right department and recording the final answer is the work of a service desk
• •(d) — investigating the whole system from wide perspectives to judge whether it contributes to the business is system evaluation, as in a system audit; it changes no programs

Key rule: Maintenance starts after release and changes the software; testing checks it before release, and audits or service desks do not modify it at all.

System Development Technology · AI-written, may contain errors