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AKC19: Development Utilities

Description:

Documents the location and use of any purchased software utilities used in the development and support of the application such as compilers, search tools, debuggers, traces and data inquiries. Identifies the development Tools and Utilities used by developers and support analysts in program development and testing. It may also identify the location of “how to use” manuals. This is also needed to identify training requirements for new individuals coming into the organization. Key people who know best how to use this tool or utility are identified in this section. This saves a great deal of trial and error time on the part of people who do not know how to use the utility well.

Provides understanding of tools which can aid in developing changes and/or correcting errors.

Provides information such as:

  • The name of the Development Utility
  • A Description of the environment where the utility is found on the system
  • The name of the platform on which the utility is used
  • A Description of where the instructions, tutorial, or technical reference documents are found
  • The name of the Development Utility Vendor
  • The name of a local analyst who is the most knowledgeable on the use of the utility

How is it used?

This document identifies all the development tools and Tools and Utilities used by developers and support analysts in program development and testing. It may also identify the location of “how to use” manuals. This is also needed to identify training requirements for new individuals coming into the organization. Within this area can also be identified who are the key people who know this tool or utility best. This can save a great amount of trial and error time on the part of people who do not know the utility well.

Why is it important?

(1) Identifies all development tools and utilities and their location and documentation used by the team to support and change the applicaiton

(2) Provides understanding of tools which aid the support team in developing applicaiton changes and/or correcting errors
(3) Information about development tools and any in-house developed utilites must be readily available to all applicaiton support team members along with instructions / documentation in the proper use of these tools
(4) Provides information such as:

  • The name of the Development Utility
  • A Description of the environment where the utility is found on the system
  • The name of the platform on which the utility is used
  • A Description of where the instructions, tutorial, or technical reference documents are found
  • The name of the Development Utility Vendor
  • The name of a local analyst who is the most knowledgeable about the utility

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IT Support Services Comments

  • Bob Anderson: Daniel, from a certain point of view you are correct. CMMI- DEV deals primarily with software development best practices, the old CMM Level-5 dealt a great deal with defects. However, as you know the ...
  • Bob Anderson: Gunter, there are many possible SLA components and metrics that can be defined for any application software support. First I would recommend that you read this article which I had published in Compute...
  • Bob Anderson: Amiet, I would put it under the "Incident" process and track dates, number of occurrences, how much lost time, cause (who did it). You will need data for management if the practice has to stop. If you...
  • Bob Anderson: Amit, first of all why is the customer powering down the equipment? This should be brought to the attention of management and a very strong note sent to whoever is doing this.  If they are doing it on...
  • Bob Anderson: Mark, it is doubtful that you can fix the problem, it is mainly a management issue. The best you can do is to gather statistics on the backlog of enhancements, the number and severity of incidents, an...

ITIL V3 Application Support Q & A

If you have any question on the blog content or have some specific question on how ITSM & ITIL can dramatically improve performance and reduce the cost of your Application Support service "Ask Bob"
Question :
Hi Bob, Since I have make a control of doubts from our dealers questions, that uses our SW, is possible to see evaluation of our intern SLA. Me question is: I find only three metrics using to compare months to months our evolaution: error programs, legislation, improvem...
Answer :
Gunter, there are many possible SLA components and metrics that can be defined for any application software support. First I would recommend that you read this article which I had published in Computer World on "How to create Meaningful IT Support SLA's"  use this link...
Question :
In your answer to "Question : bugs, known errors and kb articles". You refer to CMMI-DEV and talk about defects and say that CMMI-DEV is for software development and does not deal with operations. So, is that another way of saying that CMMI-DEV ignores operations? Isn't...
Answer :
Daniel, from a certain point of view you are correct. CMMI- DEV deals primarily with software development best practices, the old CMM Level-5 dealt a great deal with defects. However, as you know the folks who developed the original CMM  were not really initially inter...
Question :
Hi Bob, Continuing on the question i posted yesterday. I understand your comment and we have actually done that. It is a reactive approach and we now want to move to a praoctive approach and want to understand if these activities should be managed under the change proce...
Answer :
Amiet, I would put it under the "Incident" process and track dates, number of occurrences, how much lost time, cause (who did it). You will need data for management if the practice has to stop. If you want to be "proactive" in stopping this practice" you must capture bu...
Question :
The chaos in applicaiton support in my company is in part due to the limited resources assigned to aging applications and very little documentation. How do I suggest that we need help?
Answer :
Mark, it is doubtful that you can fix the problem, it is mainly a management issue. The best you can do is to gather statistics on the backlog of enhancements, the number and severity of incidents, and how many technical support calls from users you get and the average...
Question :
If a customer is powering down equipment at his site and it will bring down the services during that time, should this be recorded as a change. You will not have any control over this activity and this activity is managed by the customer himself. These activities may ha...
Answer :
Amit, first of all why is the customer powering down the equipment? This should be brought to the attention of management and a very strong note sent to whoever is doing this.  If they are doing it on their own without any instruction to do so and it affects other user...

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