Abstract
With regard to the maintenance and operation of information systems, it is extremely hard to completely prevent errors. Program developers or maintenance/operation personnel fix the cause of errors and implement necessary activities by delivering feedback of failures to be improved; however, they cannot eliminate mistakes or errors that may significantly increase their workload by requiring them to perform post-processing and have accountability to their customers. On the other hand, in the electricity industry, construction sites, transportation facilities and medical care facilities, a single error may lead to a serious accident threatening human lives; therefore, they have developed their activities in which preventive measures, for example, preparing high-accuracy procedures, are taken, and even in the event of an error, all necessary steps are appropriately taken after such error to prevent similar errors. One of the methods used for the latter is to pursue the cause of an error by analyzing working procedures in time-series order (known as "time-series thinking framework"). Accordingly, the Operation Division to which the author belongs decided to apply proven methods used in the above mentioned industries to maintenance and operation processes for the information systems it manages. This paper shows a case study in which a time-series thinking framework is used to study preventive measures against errors that may occur during maintenance or operation of information systems.
