F 社の経理部では，IT サービスを行っている G 社の会計システム（以下，新システムという）の導入を進めている。経理部では，新システムの稼働後は，G 社へ新システムの保守と運用を委託する予定にしており，新システムが引き渡された後のサポート内容について，G 社と詳細を詰めることにした。 保守，運用に関する G 社の基本サービスは，次のとおりである。 〔保守，運用に関する G 社の基本サービス〕 (a) 新システムについての問合せ対応は平日だけで，電子メールで受け付け，電子メールで回答を行う。 (b) 新システムで発生した障害の切分けと，発見されたバグの修正対応を行う。 (c) 新システム運用のサービス提供時間は，平日9:00～19:00とする。 (d) 新システムで障害が発生した場合は，発生時から9時間以内に復旧を行う。データのバックアップを日次で行い，1か月分のデータの保管を行う。ディスク障害が発生した場合は，前日までのデータの復旧を保障する。 一方，経理部は，新システムの利用及びサポートについて，G 社に対して次の要望をもっている。 〔新システムの利用及びサポートに関する要望〕 (1) 新システムの使用方法の問合せを平日9:00～18:00の間，電話と電子メールで対応してほしい。 (2) 新システムで障害が発生した場合に対応してほしい。 (3) 新システム稼働後も利便性向上のための新システムの修正を行ってほしい。 (4) 新システムの通常の利用は，平日の9:00～18:00としたい。 (5) 決算などの繁忙期は，夜間，休日なども新システムを利用できるようにして，問合せにも対応してほしい。 F 社が G 社に対して, 新システムのサポートを実行に移してもらうために必要な契約はどれか。
平成25年度 春期 ITパスポート試験 問89
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
問 89
Incorrectア
An outsourcing contract is a contract under which a company hands its own business operations over to an outside company; outsourcing of accounting operations means having company G take over accounting practice itself, such as processing slips and closing the books. In this question, however, what the accounting department of company F asks of company G is support for the new system that the department itself uses, not the handling of accounting operations on its behalf. In the premise as well, the accounting department is the party that uses the new system itself, and it has requests about that use and its support. Externalizing the business operations themselves and outsourcing the maintenance and operation of a system differ in both purpose and object, so this is inappropriate.
Incorrectイ
A contract concerning the outsourcing of development work is a contract that entrusts the processes of building a system, such as requirements definition, design, implementation, and testing, and its purpose lies in delivering the completed system. The new system in this question is the accounting system that company G provides as an IT service and that is being introduced; company F did not order it to be developed. Moreover, what is asked about is the support after the new system has been delivered. Since a development contract achieves its purpose upon delivery, it does not automatically cover handling inquiries or recovering from failures after the system starts running, so it cannot be the basis for having the support carried out.
Incorrectウ
A contract concerning software licensing is a permission-to-use contract that defines the extent to which the software may be used (the number of machines and users, the period, whether copying is allowed, and so on). It lets company F obtain the right to use the new system lawfully, but obtaining a right is a different matter from company G actually answering inquiries or recovering from failures. A license contract alone creates no obligation for company G to provide support work, so it is inappropriate as the contract needed to have the support put into practice.
- エ
正解 The correct answer is エ, “A contract concerning the outsourcing of maintenance and operation work”. This question is based on Group Question B (introducing an accounting system). The premise states that the accounting department of company F is going ahead with introducing the accounting system (the new system) of company G, an IT service provider; after the new system starts running, the department plans to outsource the maintenance and operation of the new system to company G, and it has decided to work out with company G the details of the support to be provided after the system is delivered. As the basic services of company G listed in the premise show (handling inquiries, isolating failures and fixing bugs, securing the service hours, recovery when a failure occurs, and data backup), the content of this support is exactly the “maintenance” that keeps the system in a normal state and fixes defects or makes improvements, plus the “operation” that runs the system day by day with monitoring, backups, and user support. To have another company actually carry out this work, you must conclude a contract that outsources that work and settle in advance the scope of the work, the service hours, the targets for recovery from failures, and so on. Without a contract, company G has no obligation to perform the work, and the support cannot be put into practice. Therefore what is needed is a contract concerning the outsourcing of maintenance and operation work, so エ is correct. Note that outsourcing such as maintenance and operation, which promises the performance of the work itself rather than the completion of a deliverable, generally takes the form of a quasi-mandate contract (development, which promises completion, is typically a contract for work), and the level of the services provided is basically agreed quantitatively as an SLA (service level agreement), using numbers such as times of day and lengths of time.
- The “support” of a system means the maintenance that keeps it in a normal state after it starts running (isolating failures, fixing bugs, making improvements) and the operation that runs the system day by day (securing the service hours, monitoring, backups, handling inquiries). To have another company do this, you must conclude a contract outsourcing maintenance and operation and settle the scope of the work and the service level. Without a contract the other party has no obligation to perform it; this matching of a contract to the scope of work is the point this question tests.
- Contracts are used differently according to the content of the work they target: to hand the business operations themselves to an outside company, an outsourcing contract; to have a system built, a contract outsourcing development work (typically a contract for work, which promises completion); to obtain the right to use software, a license contract (permission to use); and to have someone take care of things after the system starts running, a contract outsourcing maintenance and operation work (typically a quasi-mandate contract, which promises the performance of the work). When outsourcing maintenance and operation, it is important to define matters such as the service hours and the time until recovery from a failure quantitatively as an SLA.