Audit of Software Maintenance Process

Abstract

Whereas hardware technology has been developed with considerable speed, software technology has suffered from a historical delay in the elaboration and availability of a technological (methodologies and tools) and scientific (useful models and theories for the technological development) background. As early as 1970 the term "Crisis of Software" had become widely popular referring to this situation. The symptoms of this crisis have been rebounding from then on in the software development industry and their effects can still be felt. In order to solve this problem, a new area of computer science was created, known as software engineering (Sommerville, 1992). One of the main reasons for this situation has been the little importance given to the maintenance process from all the affected communities (company managers, information systems managers, computer engineers, users and auditors). In spite of this, maintenance costs have a very important weight in the total costs of the complete life-cycle of a software product. That is why it is essential that the audit of information systems (AIS) field gives the necessary attention to this phase of the software life-cycle.