Introduction to Releases

Introduction to Releases

A release can be defined as the process of delivering a set of authorized changes in a controlled environment. Release management is a systematic approach to plan, build, test, and deploy releases to the production environment.
You can manage releases to deploy hardware, software, documentation, processes, guidelines, policies, and other components of service operations.
You can also manage distinct release processes for every customer based on their objectives. However, each release must go through the following nine stages as per ITSM standards to achieve a streamlined process.
Each stage in a release life cycle represents a significant milestone, and their progress is tracked by specific statuses. Besides statuses, each stage has its own planning, schedule, roles, approvals, tasks, and downtime.

Stage
Description
Statuses Involved
Release of a service is assigned priority, risk, and business requirements.
  1. Accepted
  2. Rejected
  3. Requested
  4. Requested for information
  5. Submitted for authorization
A detailed plan is attached to the release, including rollout and backout plans and downtimes.
  1. Approved
  2. In progress
  3. Rejected
  4. Requested for information
  5. Submitted for authorization
The prerequisites for deploying the service are developed in this stage. 
  1. Backout
  2. Completed
  3. In progress
  4. On hold
  5. Requested for information
Service is tested for functionality, and the issues found are fixed by developers.
  1. Completed
  2. Failed
  3. In progress
  4. On hold
Stakeholders and specific clients evaluate the service and perform functionality checks.
  1. Accepted
  2. In progress
  3. On hold
  4. Pending for acceptance
  5. Rejected
Downtime of related CIs are announced to users and the service is deployed.
  1. Deployed
  2. Failed
  3. In progress
  4. On hold
Stakeholders, clients, and internal developers are trained to use the deployed service.
  1. Completed
  2. In progress
  3. Not yet started
Reviewer conducts a comprehensive analysis of the deployed service and evaluates possible outcomes.
  1. Completed
  2. In progress
  3. Rejected
Associate formal closure code to close the release.
  1. Cancelled
  2. Completed
  3. Failed
  4. In progress
Info
You can add more release stages and statuses as required under Setup > Customization > Release Management > Stage and Status. 

Inactive Customer Behavior  

When a customer is inactive, users who have access to the customer can only view or delete the Releases module data. No other actions can be performed on inactive customers.
 
An inactive customer will be indicated with a icon in the customer filter in the application header.

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