Legacy systems: Must history repeat itself?

Kulonda, D; Arif, M; Luce, J

Abstract

Legacy software systems are notorious for repeating the mistakes of the past. However, it is entirely possible that the solutions to problems might be available in their past. Maintaining a Lessons Learned (LL) database and consulting it regularly might result in avoiding potential problems. This research uses surveys as a means to obtain LL and corrective actions taken in legacy systems. It also presents three case studies to demonstrate the utility of LL in legacy systems. This research found that LL are used in legacy systems, however their use is not widespread. When employed, the LL process improves a legacy system’s situation and validates the lessons learned tool utilized by hardware engineering projects. In addition, the research shows that problems facing legacy systems are not isolated, but are replicated throughout industry. Preventive Measures as identified in LL, and applied to new efforts can dramatically affect system life cycle costs but this remains to be verified in subsequent research.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2003-12
• Deposit Date: Aug 15, 2015
• Journal: Journal of Knowledge Management Practice
• Electronic ISSN: 1705-9232
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Publisher URL: http://www.tlainc.com/jkmp.htm
• Related Public URLs: http://www.tlainc.com/articl59.htm