Title: Problem management of business-critical systems in literature: a review and viable systems analysis

Authors: Joakim Snygg; Åsa Smedberg; Gustaf Juell-Skielse

Addresses: Dept of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Kista, Sweden ' Dept of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Kista, Sweden ' Dept of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Kista, Sweden

Abstract: Problem management of business-critical systems has over the last few decades grown into a topic of great importance for business continuity. This is due to the increased use of critical systems both in private and public sectors: assets of great value, organisational viability and even people's lives can be put in jeopardy due to poor management of malfunctioning software. Hence, understanding what influences critical software problem management is important. Even so, studies of the human side of this topic are sparse. In this article, a literature review to identify main socio-technical issues in managing critical software problems is presented. We can see from the results that factors influencing software problem management of business critical systems can be grouped into four themes: reliability in operations, fault detection, system recovery and change requests. By taking a socio-technical viewpoint, we outline some complex challenges and deepen our understanding of the factors involved.

Keywords: sociotechnological systems; emergency maintenance; problem management; critical software; business-critical systems; viable system model; fault detection; change requests; system recovery; reliability; literature review; business continuity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBCRM.2016.079011

International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management, 2016 Vol.6 No.3, pp.238 - 256

Received: 04 Mar 2016
Accepted: 11 Jun 2016
Published online: 08 Sep 2016 *

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