Permanent innovation is one of the keys to maintaining competitive difference. In this light, application support does not consist only of “keeping the lights on” (i.e. the system continues to work). It must also bring in needs emerging from the business dynamic in a reliable scenario capable of ensuring the continuity of operations.

Because of this, live software support becomes an essential part of the business once an application has entered production. As well as ensuring efficient maintenance of the application and a swift response to any problems that may emerge, live support must play a role in the evolution of the software and its adaptation to the business dynamics.

At Kynetia we see applications support as a strategic issue and, therefore, something to be addressed over the whole life cycle of the development and not just in the last phase. In our view, then, the maintenance of the application commences as soon as the architecture design begins. The phrase “application support” is often associated with “it’s working problem-free in the production environment”. This is quite right, of course, but we believe this is only one part, if an important one, of the support service. It is necessary to:

• Include innovations » Enhanced competitiveness
• Monitor the architecture » Does it still meet current and future needs?
• Monitor the service » Does it fulfill business functions?
• Monitor the evolution of the source code » Does it follows Governance guidelines?
• Monitor performance » Anticipate failures
• Manage releases effectively
• Etc.

For all of these reasons, it is essential in our view to consider the different artifacts required to permit monitoring and maintenance of the application in the production environment during the architecture phase. This includes architecture, the source code, security, performance and so on. This is what we mean by Live Software Support.

The decision to release a new version of the production is strategic, and it is costly to reverse it. For this reason, the existence of a support methodology is not enough: there must also be a decision making methodology based on criteria aligned with the client’s strategy.

hus, the decision to release a new version should be viewed from different angles:

Life Software Support Levels

• Maximization of operations. If a new version is released prematurely, it will involve extra costs to resolve problems that could not be identified earlier, due to the overhasty decision made. If the release comes to late, however, additional costs will be incurred in development and market opportunities. Alternatives must be carefully examined to maximize value.
• Optimization of operations. The release decision is affected by the difficulty of verifying the correct implementation of functional and non-functional requirements.
• Satisfaction of operational needs. The decision to release a new version very often involves various different parties, who may be subject to a range of political, business and other pressures, although they are aware that the product still contains defects.
• Implementation of the decision. The decision will be correct if the actual result is consistent with the expected result. This is the definition that fixes the requirements for the implementation of the decision.

For this reason Kynetia’s methodology in relation to release decisions ensures a thorough analysis of all the issues, seeking to reach the right decision in all cases.

Our Live Software Support (LSS) is provided on three different levels: LSS Standard, LSS Continuum and LSS Strategic

Characteristic	Standard	Continuum	Strategic
Appointment of Account Manager
Application maintenance
Architecture maintenance
Infrastructure maintenance	Optional	Optional	Optional
Release methodology
Corrective Maintenance
Incident management system
Data verification
Know-how documentation
Post-correction analysis
Environment consistency mechanisms
Preventive Maintenance
Continuous monitoring
Periodic testing
Test analysis
Preparation of contingency plans
Know-how distribution
Software perfection
Optimum performance testing
Analysis of possible changes in needs
Proactive analysis of data base design and use
Infrastructure evolution
Examination of new versions of infrastructure software
Evolution of infrastructure depending on business and technological needs

Corrective Maintenance

The full Live Software Support service includes Corrective Maintenance, providing solutions to incidents arising in systems.

ncidents are analyzed and resolved based on the following key issues:

• Data base analysis: Problems arising from errors in the data base, data consistency, etc.
• Application analysis: problems identified, such as errors in the application code.
• Functional analysis: problems detected in connection with incorrect or poorly implemented functionalities, as well as the implications that failures might have for other applications included in the service.
  The main objective of Corrective Maintenance is to correct any errors detected in the system and ensure that these do not produce inconsistencies affecting data integrity.

The following mechanisms and processes are established to provide the service:

• Incident management system to control status, persons involved in resolution, measures taken for analysis and correction, etc. at all times.
• Verification and, where necessary, correction and restoration of data stored incorrectly in the data base due to connection failures, incorrect use of the applications or lateral effects of some other defect.
• Documentation of know-how acquired as a result of the problem in order to prevent its arising again in the future and take the necessary corrective measures.
• Post-correction analysis to check whether the error detected exists in other systems. Where this is the case, the error is corrected wherever it may arise.
• Mechanisms to maintain the consistency of the environments, so that a defect detected in a production environment will be resolved in all versions and service environments (pre-production, testing, development), for example using Set-up Management tools to ensure the synchronization of the different environments.
  

Software perfection

This maintenance service focuses not only on the technical enhancement of the solution, but also includes a continuous optimization process at the functional and process levels. The maintenance work focuses on:

• Constant optimization of the performance of applications through technical analysis.
• Adaptation of applications to new client needs based on functional analyses.
• Identification of possible areas for improvement in the design and use of data bases through data base analysis.
  The main objective of the software perfection service is to perform the tasks and processes necessary to identify areas for improvement, providing optimum solutions and making effective changes to applications.

The necessary processes to achieve these objectives include:

• Assurance of optimum client services performance.
• Analysis of possible changes in client needs in order to add functional services to the existing systems or new services.
• Proactive analysis of areas for improvement or perfection.

Evolutionary infrastructure maintenance

In this case, the objective is to ensure the evolution of the software infrastructure supporting the applications by providing ideas for improvement in different environments. This maintenance specializes in providing solutions to adapt systems to changes in the operational environment, as well as new platforms or versions of existing platforms.

The objective of the service is to keep the software infrastructure up to date, incorporating the latest standards and improvements to appear in the market.

This objective is attained through the following processes:

• Examination of new versions of the software platforms and technological solutions employed to implement client services.
• Evolution of software infrastructure based on analysis of business needs and technological strategy under the umbrella of the Enterprise Architecture defined.