Maps developed for ongoing use may require maintenance.
When developing or evaluating a change management process, it is important to consider various factors. Some of these factors are introduced in the table below.
Request for change
Where will the need for change come from?
This could be any stakeholder involved in the development or use of the map.
How will change requests be expressed and submitted?
These may be submitted directly by users or may be collated and edited by suppliers. The maintainers of the subset may be proactive in seeking improvements or may wait for change requests to be submitted.
What lead time is acceptable for the processing of a change request?
What should users of the map do in the period between recognizing the need for a change and that need being met by a new release of the map? Options may include manual workarounds.
Revision cycle
Will there be a predictable revision cycle with regular releases, or will changes be made on an as-needed basis?
Maintenance may be required when there are changes to
source code system
Resources
What editorial and technical resources are needed?
Documentation
Which associated documentation also requires updates with the map itself?
use case/user and system requirements
Some use cases may also require maintaining retired/deprecated content alongside new content. Impact of changes need to be considered, as well as impact on delaying updates.