VALUE-DRIVEN SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE

摘要

This paper extends the concept of value-based software engineering as proposed by Boehm to the field of software maintenance. The various approaches to assessing the value of software products and to calculating the return on investment (ROI) on software projects are reviewed. The authors propose a methodology of value-driven software maintenance for assessing the value of software maintenance based on Hayek's theory of maintaining the value of capital goods in an evolving capital structure. A method for predicting costs of maintenance tasks based on impact analysis is combined with a method for assessing the added value produced by the maintenance tasks to compute the ROI on software projects. The validity of the approach is illustrated through a case study of the German social services payment system.