MODELLING SOFTWARE SUPPORT.

Abstract

The paper describes a mathematical model for use in forecasting the cost of providing support for software products, which takes into account (i) software reliability (ii) support techniques (iii) commercial policy and (iv) engineers' time consumed in responding to incidents. Three different support techniques are modelled: fix-on-fail, systems maintenance file release and use of known error log (the terms are explained in the paper). The effects of commercial policies such as the application of a warranty period can be studied, and customer queries are included as well as product failures.