WEEK 8 DISCUSSION

Maintenance Tasks – Operational and Maintenance (O&M) costs make up a large portion of the total cost of ownership (TCO), regardless of system “size”. It is said that O&M costs make up the lion’s share of cost throughout the system’s life cycle, and ongoing expenses can determine the economic lifespan of a system. Maintenance tasks can be broken down into four (4) categories:  

1. Corrective Maintenance

2. Adaptive Maintenance

3. Perfective Maintenance

4. Preventive Maintenance 

The process of “racking & stacking” these maintenance tasks is no small feat; especially for a large system. This is why most firms implement a Change Control Board (CCB; or, you may have heard it referred to as a Configuration Control Board—they are synonymous in nature). Even though the lead systems analyst is typically on this board, they do not decide the priority of these maintenance tasks—however, it is imperative that they understand the nature of each maintenance category. 

· For this discussion…..

1. Properly describe each of the maintenance categories

2. Give a specific example of each maintenance category, either using the class case study or a system that you are familiar with, and

3. Assign each example a specific priority (level 3 being the lowest; level 1 being the highest), based on your knowledge of the system—explain in detail “why” you would give it that specific priority.