Working with Releases

Only the Release ManagerResponsible for creating, managing, and executing all aspects of a release, such as preplanning, testing, documentation, and training.and the Change ManagerEnsures that changes are introduced into the organization with minimum disruption to existing services. The Change Manager can initiate a change request, but usually manages the change through its lifecycle. can create releases. Change Managers often create a release while working on a change.

If Change Managers creates a release, they can create the release record and set it to draft status while gathering requirements or formalizing plans and details for the release. When they are ready to submit the release record, they update its status to requested.

If Release Managers create a release, they can set it any state and work on the release. They also work on requested releases and update their status to active.

Depending on your role, you might have access to certain fields and values in the release module. The Release Manager has full permissions to work with the release module. The default application is configured to allow the Change Manager and Release Manager to create releases. The Change Manager has access to a subset of the Release Manager's permissions to work on the release object.

Release Managers and Change Managers can create releases in the following ways:

By using the release form.
By using a template on the release form.
Within a change form. See Creating a Change Request.

Creating a Release Request

Within the Service Desk Console, open the Release workspace.

From the toolbar, click New Release to open a blank form, or choose a template from the drop-down list. See Default Release Templates.

A New Release Record

The following default tabs appear (results may vary depending on your system setup):

Details: Continue to the next step.
Milestones: See Working with Milestones.
CI:To create or link a configuration item, see Working with CIs.
Service: To create or link a service, see Creating a Service.
Related Releases:
Release Package:
Change: To create or link a change, see Creating a Change Request
Problem: To create or link a problem, see Working with Problems.
Stakeholders: See Stakeholders.
Activity History: See Activity History.
Attachment: To attach a file or URL, see Attachments and URLs.
Related Posts: See Related Posts.
Schedule:
Announcement: See Announcements and FAQs.
Workflow Instance: See Workflow Instance.
Audit History: See Accessing the Audit History.

Enter information into the fields.

--fields--

Field	Description
Project Name	The name of the project to which this release is tied. If this a subset of another release, enter the overall project name or effort.
Description	A description of the release.
Status	The status. Automatically set to draft. Only a Change Manager can set the release status to requested or canceled. The Release Manager is also not constrained by the state changes during the release lifecycle and can set other status values to the release record.
Type	The kind of release. Select from the drop-down list. Emergency: Response to a failure or error that is often urgent. This type of release must be made quickly and is usually recorded after the fact. Major: New projects, such as a new system or an upgrade of a major system affecting a large volume of users. This type of release has other dependencies and might require other minor releases. Minor: Small or routine release that has a minor effect.
Scope	The scope of the release. Select from the drop-down list. Master: A release object that has related releases associated with it. These releases are phase releases. A master release does not usually contain a release package; release packages are created for the phase release. Use the Related Releases tab to link to the phase release records. See Working with Related Releases. Phase: A child of a master release. Use the Related Releases tab to link to the Master release record. See Working with Related Releases. Standalone: A single release without child releases.
Phase	The release phase. Select from the drop-down list. Feature based: Release containing an added feature rolled out to the entire organization. Location based: Release by location.
Team	The team to which the release is assigned. Choose from the drop-down list. By default a release is assigned to the Release Management team.
Owner	The owner to which the team is assigned. Choose from the drop-down list.
Urgency	The time appropriateness required. The default value is 3. Urgency and impact together define the priority value. High: Necessary immediately with a high degree of urgency. Medium: Required, but can be made after higher urgency changes have been implemented. Low: Required, but can wait for other changes of greater urgency to be implemented.
Impact	Impact to the organization, group, or individual. The default value is 3. Impact and urgency together define the priority value. High: Has a major impact on the organization. Low: Does not have much effect on the organization. Medium: Has some effect on the organization but generally not considered a large effect.
Start Date	The scheduled or estimated start date.
Target End Date	The estimated or target end date.
Actual End Date	The actual end date
Effort	The number of hours required for the release.
Estimated Cost	The estimated cost of the release.
Total Cost	The total cost. Automatically generated by the system based on effort and cost.
Time	The time spent is based on the activity history, is automatically generated by the system, and is given in minutes.
Outage Plan Required	Specifies if an outage plan is required. It can be attached to the record under the Attachment tab. When checked, the outage start and end date fields become required. The outage start and end dates are reflected in linked change records.
Start	The dates that this outage plan is in effect.
End	The dates that this outage plan is in effect.
Duration	The duration. Automatically generated by the system based on the difference between the outage plan end and start dates.

Any date values here are reflected in linked change records.

Click Save

from the toolbar.

At this point, you can create milestones. See Creating Milestones for a Release.

Change the status of the release from draft when you are ready to work on the release. The Release Manager can move through all states. The Change Manager can either request the release or cancel it. See Requesting a Release and Working with Releases.

Applying a Template to an Existing Release

If you have already filled in some of the fields, the are over-written when you apply the templateA record with several fields already completed by default.. If the release type is majorThis type of change requires a lot of items and/or dependencies and may require other associated change requests., the different combinations of scope and phase, as defined in the templates, automatically create milestones. See Working with Milestones.

Within a release record, from the action menu, choose Templates.

From the list of available templates, select a template from the list to apply it to the current release.

The following fields are auto-filled from the template:

If you filled in any of the following fields, they are over-written by the default values from the template thaty you selected. See Working with Milestones for information on the milestones that are created when you select some of the available templates.

Status
Type
Team
Urgency
Impact

Fill in the other fields needed.

Click Save

from the toolbar.

If you selected a template for a major release type, depending on the type of template you selected, HEAT creates milestones for you. See Working with Milestones.
For all other types of release, you have the option of creating milestones. See Working with Milestones.
The release is in draft state until you request it. See Requesting a Release.
If you are the Release Manager, you can update the state to active if you are ready to start working on it and create milestones for the release. See Working with Milestones.

Working with Releases

Next: