Continuous Improvement of Systems in Maintenance Using a Proactive Quality Management

The aim of this work is to propose a software evaluation method based on users' feedback, by means of the records stored in the help desk's databases system. The method consists of analyzing the help desk's requests of a specific time period, obtaining the origin of the problems and proposing improvements in the product and methodologies that might prevent similar requests in the future. The analysis is based on the quality model of ISO9126 and provides for the use of ISO 31010 tools to identify the root of the systems problems in the production environment. An exploratory research of the software maintenance literature was performed and professionals, users and developers were consulted about the applicability of the method, by means of a online quiz. The research showed that the proposed method could be applied in most software maintenance scenarios contributing to the improvement of quality product.