ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines various ways to minimize apathy among support staff, with tips for helping maintenance employees keep the job fresh. Information system (IS) managers can protect staff morale in their departments by conveying the business reasons for using legacy systems to the staff assigned the job of maintaining and supporting them. Many companies call their older systems legacy systems. Legacy systems are usually financial or human resources systems left over from the 1970s or 1980s. Most legacy systems are mainframe-based, but they need not be. The company’s legacy systems were often the first automated systems, so they usually contain sensitive corporate financial, personnel, and product data. The drawbacks to maintaining existing systems are fairly obvious. IS professional confronts them daily. There are some benefits to providing quality training, support, and maintenance on existing systems. Adding a graphical user interface to an existing system is a common first step in migrating to new platforms.
