Evaluating software maintenance processes in small software company based on fuzzy screening

Abstract

Software maintenance is recognized as the most costly part of software life cycle. Evaluation of maintenance processes in order to improve planning activities is essential for increasing the efficiency of services provided to clients and the quality of software products. This paper presents a study on evaluating five typical maintenance processes in small software company. Evaluation is based on fuzzy screening procedure and includes four experts, three from the company and one from the university. Data for processes description are extracted from the internal repository of maintenance requests in the company and discretized by experts. Results of data analysis indicate that fuzzy screening is suitable technique for evaluating maintenance process, which is necessary for improving maintenance planning and management activities. © 2014 IEEE.