Software configuration management issues in maintenance of existing systems

The application of the Software Configuration Management (SCM) discipline during the maintenance process of an existing poorly documented software system is vital to bring it under control. Incremental documentation, the activity of building up the software documentation whilst it is examined during the maintenance process, has a key role in such a process. The COMFORM (COnfiguration Management FORmalization for Maintenance) system provides a framework for aiding the maintenance process through the application of the SCM discipline. In this way reliable documentation of an existing software system is obtained incrementally whilst maintaining it. Our goal in the design of the COMFORM system is to define a method for the maintenance process through the use of forms representing each phase of a software maintenance model. This approach allows traceability among the software representations throughout the software maintenance process. In this paper we describe the foregoing steps of the COMFORM system's method towards its formalization.