The purpose of the Release Management process is to prepare and finalize release packages that are fit for deployment so that optimal business value will be attained when deployment occurs.

Read the Release Management Key Concepts.

Important links

• Release Management Tool Mentors
• Tivoli® Open Process Automation Library Extensions for Release Management 
• Implementing Release Management
• IBM® Tivoli Release Process Manager

Outcomes

As a result of the successful implementation of the Release Management process:

• Release packages – whether supporting new business capability, improvement in cost performance, or other advances in service quality – form the basis for deployment
• Deployment risks to existing service quality are minimized
• Customer and user satisfaction upon release deployment is increased
• All implications to the parties involved in deploying or receiving a release are identified and validated prior to the deployment event
• Only authorized releases are introduced into the live environment
  

Scope

Release Management spans the planning and direction of the rollout of software, hardware, and operational processes including related documentation, and operating procedures. The changes that comprise the release are managed by Change Management, and their inclusion in the release can be determined by time, technology interdependencies, target, risk mitigation, organization, scale (multiple copies) or service dependencies. The design of the release will need to consider how rollout is achieved. For example, whether or not the release can be requested by a user using a self-service selection and then installed automatically and transparently.

Includes

• Release design, creation, and testing
  • For example, implementation scripts
• Specifying the deployment model for a release. The deployment model provides a template of the activities and plans from which specific deployment instances can be customized for geography, scale, local conditions, and other factors
• Checking and testing training materials and incorporating them into the deployment model
• Verification of successful release package installation, including ensuring that the integrity of function has been maintained
• Roll back (also known as backout) mechanisms and procedures
  

Excludes

• Solution Realization (creation of functionality, usage procedures, training materials, and any other release deliverable) (Realization category)
• Testing of solution functionality (Solution Test)
• Management of change requests (Change Management)
• Deployment of release packages (Deployment Management)
  

Key performance indicators

• Customer satisfaction with the value and quality of releases
• The elapsed time and direct costs
  • In this process domain
  • In each process step and between steps
• Percent of releases
  • Completed as planned and scheduled
  • Rescheduled or delayed
  • Needing revision
• Number of incidents caused by a release

Relation to other processes

• Change Management approves change requests and sends them to Release Management to be packaged for deployment
• Packaged releases are sent to Deployment Management for deployment
• Release Management uses information from Configuration Management to identify which configuration items have been deployed
• Known errors identified during Release Management are provided to Incident Management and Problem Management  

Further reading

See Release Management in the ITIL® documentation.

In addition, see the IBM Service Management Web page.