Hidden Costs of Unsupported Software, Obsolescence and Non-Standards; The Importance and Value of a Multi-Mission Software Program

摘要

It is well understood that when building a mission system there is a cost for engineering, software. Software reuse has long been a cornerstone of achieving cost savings. This paper proposes careful consideration of three additional concepts that also provide cost reductions: software maintenance, planning to accommodate software and hardware obsolescence, and the use of industry standards. Unsupported software, or lack of persistent maintenance for software, can be a formidable cost driver for a mission system. For software to meet a mission's needs it requires regular updates, improvements, and repair. Without a steady funding stream software stagnates due to the inability to implement enhancements identified once the software is used in the field and to address anomalies that escaped the Ⅴ&Ⅴ phase, resulting in degraded performance to the current operational mission and limiting the possibility of reuse by future missions. Fixes, upgrades, and improvements maintain customer interest and ensure better adoption and reuse by multiple mission but most importantly can reduce cost for the agency as a whole. Technical and functional obsolescence play a big role in unplanned cost. Functional obsolescence can occur when required hardware can no longer be acquired to meet system needs. Technical obsolescence often occurs as newer versions of software supersede the old versions. Common strategies to combat these types of obsolescence include building a surplus of backup hardware to address functional obsolescence and retaining older versions of software are typical solutions for technical obsolescence. Mission systems cannot remain stagnant with respect to software versions as it has proven to increase the likelihood of succumbing to cyber threats which can be costly to recover from. In addition, mitigating hardware failures with surplus is not a guaranteed solution. Hardware can simple expire on the shelf and software environments need to be updated. When forming plans to develop and operate mission system strategies for periodic upgrades must be considered in order to avoid the costs associated with obsolescence. Using industry standards, which often include common schemas, data formats and interfaces can reduce time in development and improve interoperability. Which standards need to be adopted and how they should be applied to core functionality takes planning and need to be a part of the maintenance strategy. To achieve the full benefits of software reuse, organizations must plan and fund the maintenance of software and adhere to standards that yield long-term cost savings over multiple missions. In summary software maintenance must be planned to fully benefit from the already accepted idea that software reuse lowers cost. Adhering to standards brings long term cost savings, though those cost savings are usually realized by multiple missions and fall outside of the lifecycle of any particular mission's time. This paper will discuss approaches to address the need for software maintenance, avoiding the pitfalls of obsolescence, and the use of industry standards by applying institutional maintenance to mission systems.