UPDATED ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS
What are the three different types of software maintenance? - CORRECT ANSWER Fault
Repairs, Environmental adaptation, Functionality Addition
It is usually more expensive to add functionality after a system is in operation than it is to implement
the same functionality during development, what are the four reasons for this? - CORRECT
ANSWER Team Stability, Poor Development practice, Staff Skills, Program age and structure
To evaluate the relationships between a system and its environment you should assess what three
things? - CORRECT ANSWER The number and complexity of system interfaces, The number
of inherently volatile system requirements, The business processes in which the system is used
Please explain the two important benefits from reengineering rather than replacement. - CORRECT
ANSWER Reduced Risk-There is a high risk in redeveloping business-critical software. Errors
may be made in the system specification or there may be development problems. Delays in
introducing the new software may mean that business is lost and extra costs are incurred.
Reduced Cost-The cost of reengineering may be significantly less than the cost of developing new
software.
How can you re-factor duplicate code? - CORRECT ANSWER This can be removed and
implemented as a single method or function that is called as required
How can you re-factor long methods? - CORRECT ANSWER It should be redesigned as a
number of shorter methods
7. In object oriented languages how can you re-factor the switch or case statements? - CORRECT
ANSWER Use polymorphism
8. How can you re-factor data clumping? - CORRECT ANSWER replace with an object
encapsulating all of the data
, 9. How can you re-factor speculative generality? - CORRECT ANSWER Remove it
10. What are four strategic options for legacy system maintenance? - CORRECT ANSWER
Scrap the system completely, Leave the system unchanged and continue with regular
maintenance, Reengineer the system to improve its maintainability, Replace all or part of the system
with the new system
11. To assess the business value of the system, one has to identify system stakeholders, such as end
users of the system and new managers, and ask what four series of questions about the system? -
CORRECT ANSWER The use of the system, The business processes that are supported, The
system dependability, The system outputs
12. What are the three pieces of data that may be useful in quality assessment? - CORRECT
ANSWER The number of system change requests, The number of user interfaces, The volume
of data used by the system
13. Systems that include software fall into what two categories? - CORRECT ANSWER
Technical computer based systems, Sociotechnical systems
14. Please explain the three organizational factors from the systems environment that may affect the
requirements, design, and operation of a sociotechnical system. - CORRECT ANSWER
Process Changes-The system may require changes to the work of processes in the environment
Result in loss of jobs or additional training
Job Changes-New systems may de skill the users in an environment or cause them to change the way
they work. Users may resist change or it will be resented by management because their status is
reduced by system
Organizational changes-the system may change the political power structure in an organization.
People who have control access have high political power
15. Please explain the two types of emergent properties? - CORRECT ANSWER Functional
emergent properties when the purpose of the system only emerges after its components are
intergraded.
Non-Functional emergent properties, which relate to the behavior of the system in its operational
environment