Maintainability

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In software testing, based on the definition given in ISO 9126, the ease with which a software product can be modified in order to:

  • correct defects
  • meet new requirements
  • make future maintenance easier, or
  • cope with a changed environment


In telecommunication and several other engineering fields, the term maintainability has the following meanings:

  1. A characteristic of design and installation, expressed as the probability that an item will be retained in or restored to a specified condition within a given period of time, when the maintenance is performed in accordance with prescribed procedures and resources.
  2. The ease with which maintenance of a functional unit can be performed in accordance with prescribed requirements.

This article contains material from the Federal Standard 1037C (in support of MIL-STD-188), which, as a work of the United States Government, is in the public domain.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Blanchard S. B., Maintainability: A Key to Effective Serviceability and Maintenance Management, John Wiley & Sons Inc., NewYork 1995
  • Ebeling C. E., An Introduction to Reliability and Maintainability Engineering, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., Boston 1997.
  • Patton J. D., Maintanability and Maintenance Management, Instrument Society of America, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 1988.