Investigating challenges to software maintenance in small organizations: a grounded theoretical approach

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2012-12-12

Department

Towson University. Department of Computer and Information Sciences

Program

Citation of Original Publication

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There are no restrictions on access to this document. An internet release form signed by the author to display this document online is on file with Towson University Special Collections and Archives.

Subjects

Abstract

Software Maintenance constitutes a critical function that enables organizations to continually leverage their information technology (IT) capabilities. Despite the growing importance of small organizations, a majority of the existing software maintenance guidelines are geared toward large organizations. To investigate the challenges and critical success factors in small organizations' software maintenance projects, Grounded Theory Method and case study method are used to conduct an empirical investigation. Results from this investigation indicate a shortage of resources at the disposal of small organizations. Such shortage leads to a misalignment of existing software maintenance processes to the needs of a small organization. It is learned that software maintenance in small organizations gets achieved through heuristics undertaken by key actors of the organization. A taxonomy of key actors is provided and explicit details of heuristic development from individual's usage to organizational adoption are provided. Also presented are political processes that are utilized in small organizations to achieve software maintenance success which relies on the important functions of communication, collaboration and coordination. The two main contributions of this dissertation are: (i) it provides unique insights in the inner workings of small organizations' software maintenance projects; and, (ii) it presents key elements of software maintenance projects found in small organizations.