A model of factors affecting an information system's change in state

作     者：Black, Sue 

作者机构：Centre for Systems and Software Engineering South Bank University London SE1 0AA United Kingdom Centre for Systems and Software Engineering School of Computing Information Systems and Mathematics South Bank University 103 Borough Road London SE1 0AA United Kingdom 

出 版 物：《Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution》 (J. Software Maint. Evol.)

年 卷 期：2001年第13卷第4期

页      面：245-261页

核心收录：

主　　题：Computer software maintenance 

摘      要：This paper utilizes a theoretically-grounded model of information systems change together with data from 1891 maintenance projects to test the effects that four factors have on the volatility index of application software. The volatility index is a measure of the relative cost of doing maintenance on the deep structure of a system. Two factors were found to be associated with a higher volatility index, the age of the system and the size of the system. One factor was found to be associated with a lower volatility index, the use of higher-level languages of implementation. One factor was found to be unrelated to the volatility index, the time period when the change was made. Some factors may be under management control, e.g. the language of implementation, while others are usually system characteristics, e.g. system size. Knowledge of the effects of these factors could influence how researchers work with information systems and how information systems management does its work.