Evolution

Question 1

True or False, Software maintenance costs more than software dev

Answer 1

True, most businesses software budget is spent on Maintenance

Question 2

What are the processes involved in Software Evolution?

Answer 2

Change Impact Analysis, Release Planning and Change Implementation

Question 3

What are Legacy Systems?

Answer 3

Older software systems that were designed on now obsolete software and hardware but are still useful to the businesses who use them

Question 4

Why are legacy systems rarely replaced by a new system using modern tech?

Answer 4

It is risky and expensive to replace a legacy system

Question 5

What is Software Re-engineering?

Answer 5

Re-structing and re-documenting software to make to easier to maintain

Question 6

What is Refactoring?

Answer 6

Making changes to a program to preserve its functionality

Question 7

What is the importance of software evolution?

Answer 7

Software evolution ensures that critical systems remain valuable to businesses by adapting to new requirements, fixing errors, and maintaining reliability

Question 8

What are urgent change requests and when are they necassary?

Answer 8

Urgent changes bypass the full software engineering process and are necessary to fix critical faults, adapt to environment changes, or respond quickly to business needs.

Question 9

List the phases of software change

Answer 9

Evolution, Servicing and Phase-out

Question 10

List strategies for managing Legacy systems

Answer 10

Scrap the system, continue maintaining the system, re-engineering or Replace the system

Question 11

List issues with agile methods during system evolution

Answer 11

Lack of documentation for evolution teams, need for automated test creation and lack of refactored and simplified code

Question 12

What 3 factors influence maintainability and maintenance costs?

Answer 12

Number and complexity of system interfaces, Volatility of requirements, and Business processes where the system is used

Question 13

What are the 6 components of a Legacy System?

Answer 13

System Hardware, Support Software, Application Software, Application Data, Business Processes and Business Policies and Rules

Question 14

List 3 types of software Maintenance

Answer 14

Fault Repairs, Environmental Adaptation and Functionality Addition and modification

Question 15

List the 4 categories of Legacy Systems and state what should be done with each

Answer 15

A: Low quality, Low Business Value - Scrap
B: Low Quality, High Business Value - should be replaced or re-engineered
C: High Quality, Low Business Value - Replace with COTS, Scrap or Maintain
D: High Quality, High Business Value - Continue in Operation