ITSM Release Management

Release management (RM) is the process of managing software releases. The main goals of ITSM release management are the reduction of cost implementing and maintaining software and the reduction of service interruptions due to release changes.

Release management is a fundamental part of software product life cycle management. ]po[ release management is based on ITIL V3.0 and implements a large number of best practices.

Release Management process - Basic Steps (Source: Wikipedia)

Process Activities

• Release Planning & Development - Collecting a number of Request for Change (RfC) and other release items that should be included in the release, analyze dependencies between configuration items and obtaining management approval.
  
• Testing & Quality Assurance - Test the proposed release, possibly involving multiple parties and a formalized QA sign-off.
  
• Release Deployment - Packaging of the configuration items to be released, informing users about the upcoming release, deployment of the package and preparation of the parties in service management for the new release.
  

Process Input

• Release Policy
• Release items from [project management] and  ITSM change management
• Approval from senior management
• The history of the affected configuration items from the configuration database
  

Process Output 

• Detailed documenation about the history of each release and release decisions taken.
  
• Updated configuration items.
  
• Updated release items from [project management] and  ITSM change management

Process Support by ]po[

]po[ includes a range of packages supporting the IT release management process:

• The IT Release Management package implements the interface with release items from  [project] and  change management. It also includes a basic approval process using a status engine.
• The ]po[ workflow allows for an automation of the release approval process.
  

Process Performance Incidators

• Number of releases per year
• Number of change items per release
• Number of helpdesk issues per release (new issues because of the release)
• New issues vs. fixed issues ratio per release
  

References 

Related Object Types

• [Release Member] 
  

Related Packages

Related Modules

• IT Services Management