Upfront Corrective Maintenance at the Front-End Support Level

This chapter presents the process of upfront corrective maintenance at the front-end support level. The chapter is logically divided into two parts. The first part introduces the domain of the upfront corrective maintenance process, and presents its current status practised in the industry. It first describes the process, places it within a global virtual IT enterprise and explains its role within the enterprise. It then puts the process in the context of a total front-end support process, the process performing a multitude of diverse types of support activities. Finally, it lists the problems encountered by the front-support organisations today. The second part provides a glimpse into Corrective Maintenance Maturity Model (CM): Upfront Maintenance, a process model specialised in upfront corrective maintenance. It describes its process phases, maturity levels, and collaboration with the CM: Problem Management model, a problem management process model at the back-end support level. The goal of this chapter is to provide a detailed insight of the process of upfront corrective maintenance. INTRODUCTION Recently, one has realised that the value of the IT (Information Technology) business does not only lie in the products it offers, but also in the needs it serves (Kalakota, 2001; Nelson, 2002). Service quality has become a critical survivability factor. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING This chapter appears in the book, Managing Corporate Information Systems Evolution and Maintenance, edited by Khaled Khan and Yan Zhang. Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.