Systems Failures

Software Systems permeate just about every aspect of life throughout developed and industrialised nations today. When failures arise, the aftermath is highly complicated because there are so many ways that they may occur. The complexity of the situation becomes evident even before the apparent or actual causes are considered, especially when the rate of change of the technology is taken into account. Systems failures cause havoc everywhere. They may be total, partial or temporary; and examination of the subject has to consider: implemented systems, systems being enhanced and totally new projects. This paper considers some of the common causes of Systems Failures that are being investigated following the end of Esprit projects (Multispace and Space-UFO). The work takes a more specific look at the quality implications on software systems failures and then goes on to look at current research into what steps may be taken to systematically understand what has actually gone wrong. From that point, possible options open to provide credible and robust solutions to these types of problem, are discussed.