|
|
Service Management
-
TimelessMIND Enterprise Release Manager
Release Management oversees the implementation and rollout of approved changes in software/hardware or Configuration Items (CI). Release management often spans multiple departments and activities, including builds and deployment to production. Companies want to ensure that they have a system that captures development and project assets, as well as their attributes and relationships, into a release baseline. It then uses filters to select files from the baseline for a specific purpose, such as QA testing. Files and other assets cannot fall out of sync because they are stored and retrieved from a single configuration management database (CMDB).
The focus of Release Management is the protection of the live environment and its services through the use of formal procedures and checks.
Release Categories
A Release consists of the new or changed software and/or hardware required to implement approved changes.
Releases are categorized as:
1. Major software releases and hardware upgrades, normally containing large amounts of new functionality, some of which may make intervening fixes to problems redundant. A major upgrade or release usually supersedes all preceding minor upgrades, releases and emergency fixes.
2. Minor software releases and hardware upgrades, normally containing small enhancements and fixes, some of which may have already been issued as emergency fixes. A minor upgrade or release usually supersedes all preceding emergency fixes.
3. Emergency software and hardware fixes, normally containing the corrections to a small number of known problems.
Stages of Release Management
Release Management goes through three stages, Development, Quality Assurance (QA) and Production, all of which are broken down in to many smaller stages.
1. Development
Development involves having a release policy laid out between the two parties to ensure the release runs efficiently through the timeline agreed upon. Release Planning is breaking down all the stages of development, QA and production into a timeframe and an implementation time. Software or hardware is developed to fulfill the need of the customer.
2. Quality Assurance
The Build Release comes first in QA which acts as version one of software. Quality reviews are done on version one to find the bugs, errors and new developments may be added to the software. Once these have been found and solved it becomes version two, this release is accepted. The software is accepted by the customer and the release is set for the date agreed upon during the development stage.
3. Production
Once the product is ready for implementation and the release date has arrived, the software is installed during a window agreed upon during the development stage. Once the software has been released verification is done to ensure to new software has no errors or bugs.
As software systems, software development processes, and resources become more distributed, they invariably become more specialized and complex. Furthermore, software products (especially web applications) are typically in an ongoing cycle of development, testing, and release. Add to this an evolution and growing complexity of the platforms on which these systems run, and it becomes clear there are a lot of moving pieces that must fit together seamlessly to guarantee the success and long-term value of a product or project.
The need therefore exists for dedicated resources to oversee the integration and flow of development, testing, deployment, and support of these systems. Although project managers have done this in the past, they generally are more concerned with the high-level aspects of a project or application, and so often do not have time to oversee some of the more technical aspects. Release Managers address this need. They must have a general knowledge of every aspect of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), various applicable operating systems and software application or platforms, as well as various business functions and perspectives.
Release Management acts as a liaison between various business units to guarantee smooth and timely delivery of the new product or change taking place. It also acts as a gatekeeper in the sense that it “holds the keys” to production systems/applications and takes responsibility for their implementations. Release Management helps to identify, create and/or implement processes or products to efficiently manage the release of code.
Release Management is responsible for identifying software defects, issues, risks to the IT infrastructure, software change requests, new development requests, deployment and packaging and new development tasks.
-
|
