Federal Agencies' Maintenance of Computer Programs: Expensive and Undermanaged
AFMD-81-25
Published: Feb 26, 1981. Publicly Released: Feb 26, 1981.
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Highlights
Computer software maintenance consumes a large share of the federal government's automatic data processing (ADP) resources. A review was performed of computer software maintenance operations at 15 federal computer sites.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Heads of Federal Agencies | The heads of federal agencies should implement policies and procedures to increase the efficiency of the software maintenance operation and reduce the amount of software maintenance needed in the future. |
Closed
Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.
|
| Heads of Federal Agencies | The heads of federal agencies should identify and assign costs to resources expended for software maintenance. Accounting and reporting of costs by area of management responsibility are fundamental steps in making individuals conscious of and responsible for the costs incurred within their area of control. |
Closed
Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.
|
| National Bureau of Standards | The Secretary of Commerce, through the National Bureau of Standards, should develop and publish a standard definition of applications software maintenance for government-wide use. The publication should list and define maintenance components suitable for use in recording costs, from which individual installations can use the parts that are relevant to them. |
Closed
Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.
|
| National Bureau of Standards | The Secretary of Commerce, through the National Bureau of Standards, should develop and publish guidance specifically and explicitly directed at techniques for reducing federal software maintenance costs. Pending such publication, GAO feels that its provisional checklist will be useful to installation managers who want to reduce their maintenance costs. |
Closed
Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.
|
| Heads of Federal Agencies | The heads of federal agencies should begin to manage software maintenance as a discrete function; that is, to consider maintenance as a high-cost area needing comprehensive management policies that deal specifically with its issues. To accomplish this, data gathering mechanisms must be put into place to provide management with information on the maintenance work load. |
Closed
Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.
|
| Heads of Federal Agencies | The heads of federal agencies should develop maintenance standards and goals as a means of evaluating maintenance efficiency and for use as a management tool. After carefully analyzing the current maintenance work load, management should set goals reflecting the resource usage considered reasonable to maintain the current inventory of software. Levels of resources above these standards would be subject to management attention and subsequent action. Maintenance goals should reflect a lower level of resources expected to be attained by the use of techniques to reduce the need for future maintenance. |
Closed
Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.
|
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Topics
Electronic data processingSoftwareSoftware documentationCost analysisCost controlFederal agenciesMaintenance costsMaintenance standardsSystems managementComputer resources management