IS “maintainability”: should it reduce the maintenance effort?

This paper reexamines information system (IS) maintainability and takes a new and inclusive view of it and its effects. It proposes that an IS is maintainable to the extent that its maintenance, operation, and use is economical in its use of resources. A model is offered which puts IS maintainability in the larger developmental context and suggests a number of related propositions. To the question of whether increased maintainability should reduce an organization's maintenance effort, a straightforward analysis leads to what, for some, may be a surprising answer. Where IS maintainability is enhanced, organizations can sometimes be better off by sustaining, not decreasing, their overall maintenance efforts.