The major purposes of Guidelines on System Maintenance Cycle are:-

• to define the organisation set-up required for effective maintenance of an application system;
• to describe the various activities to be conducted in the System Maintenance Cycle;
• to lay down the procedures and products to be followed and produced in the System Maintenance Cycle.

This guide defines the System Maintenance Cycle (SMC) in terms of organisation structure, procedures and products. The system maintenance or minor enhancement should be under a limited size, risk and cost that can be catered for under the budget for annual maintenance, with an evaluation of the existing system showing that no major change of the basic design is required.

This guide consists of the following sections:-

1. SMC Organisation & Roles;
2. System Maintenance Cycle;
3. SMC Deliverables; and
4. Contracting out of Maintenance Activities.

The "SMC Organisation & Roles" section defines the organisation structure and responsibilities of SMC roles in system maintenance activities.

The "System Maintenance Cycle" section describes the SMC process in details.

The "SMC Deliverables" section defines the products produced in SMC.

The "Contracting out of Maintenance Activities" section describes the approaches in contracting out the maintenance activities in SMC.