3.2.4: Maintenance and
Support
The objective of the maintenance stage is to keep the system
running at an acceptable level. Maintenance begins when the system is released
and continues for the life of the system. It is not unusual for the cost of
maintaining a system to significantly exceed the cost of developing it, so a
primary objective of a good maintenance and support strategy is controlling
maintenance costs, hence TCO while at the same time maintaining system
performance and reliability. When the cost of maintaining and operating an
obsolete or inefficient system exceeds the cost of replacing it, the system
life cycle ends and a new life cycle begins.
3.2.4.1: Maintenance and Spare Part Replacement Strategy
This involves the development of a good hardware and software
preventive maintenance (Regularly scheduled maintenance activities; the intent
is to anticipate problems and correct them before they occur), corrective
maintenance (Maintenance activities intended to remove errors or bugs from the
software, the procedures, the hardware, the network, the data structures, and
the documentation), adaptative maintenance (Maintenance activities intended to
enhance the system by adding features, capabilities, and functions in response
to new technology, upgrades, new requirements, or new problems), and perfective
maintenance (Maintenance activities intended to enhance the system by improving
efficiency, reliability, functionality, or maintainability, often in response
to user or system personnel requests) strategies and procedures for all the
information system assets of the southern transmission network system which
takes into consideration
· Cost
· System and equipment (hard and soft) performance
· Equipment life expectancy
· Critically of equipments and the impact of their
absence in the system
This should be followed by the design of a good system
follow-up procedure which includes
· Key events
· List of events and interventions performed
· Key indicators
· List of hardware failures
· Cumulative availability of the whole center and for the
whole systems for the year
· Tracking of hours used and that still left in warranty,
maintenance and support contract
o as well as a good system reporting procedure which
includes
· Description of incidents
· Description of solution provided
· Possible recommendations for the future to prevent
similar problems
· Time used for solving problem
Another main issue, is the establishment of a procedure and
strategy for spare part replacement, this would depend on
· Cost
· Criticality of hardware equipment and hardware
equipment function the Quality of Service (QoS)
· Spare part availability
It also entails a clear definition of the responsibilities of
AESS and of Siemens with respect to system maintenance, the type of maintenance
services to be provided by Siemens and other important elements for the
maintenance contract including
· Maintenance services to be provided
· Intervention period, criticality of maintenance
services and fault class
· Procedure of execution of the contractual maintenance
services
· Scope of maintenance services provided
· Commercial aspects such as price, payment conditions,
replacement materials e.t.c
· Duration of contract, possibility of extension or
not
Software maintenance is mostly needed in situation of system
upgrade, expansion and modification. This requires the establishment of
upgrade strategies and procedures to ensure system continuity and availability.
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