In the context of IT operations and software development, the release management software is a comprehensive one that coordinates the various planning, scheduling, and management steps. It assists IT organizations in completing software projects successfully. To learn everything about release management, read on.

1. A Definitive Guide To
Release Management
Whether you're new to release management or an experienced practitioner, Release
Management is one of those topics that everyone seems to struggle with at some point.
IT release management is a part of the whole process of managing release management
software, hardware and applications. It helps in the successful delivery of software projects for
IT organizations.
What is Release Management?
Software release management encompasses the process of managing the delivery of software
from development to deployment.

2. The release management process involves a series of steps that an organization goes through
to ensure that there is no gap between the time a product/service is developed and delivered to
customers.
The four main phases of software release management are:
● Pre-release phase - The pre-release phase starts with planning for the release, which
includes identifying what needs to be fixed or added before it goes live.
● Pilot phase - In the pilot phase, the new features are implemented and tested by users.
Once successfully tested, it can be made available to all users.
● Production phase - The production phase involves ensuring everything works together
as expected and that there are no problems with the client system or network
connections.
● Post-release phase- Involves monitoring customer feedback on the performance and
usability of new features, updating policies or procedures if needed, and fixing bugs or
other issues that have come up during testing.
Also Read: Top 10 Benefits Of Test Automation
Goals of Release Management
The release management process involves the coordination of schedules and resources across
an organization to implement software upgrades. Software release management aims to ensure
that quality software products are deployable by users on time.
The following are the goals of release management:
● To track all project activities.
● To control the release of software to meet business requirements and customer
expectations.
● To control the flow of information to and from the development team and ensure that all
requirements are properly understood by developers.
● To Improve customer satisfaction by providing an on-time, high-quality product that
meets or exceeds adequate customer requirements.
● To provide a stable, highly-secure environment in which applications can be developed,
tested using the correct test data management platform and released to production
reliably without interruption or loss of data integrity.
● To ensure that applications are released at the time expected with minimal impact on
production systems, both internal and external to the company.
● To monitor the impact of releases on customers, suppliers, partners, and employees.

3. Benefits of Release Management
The key benefits of software release management include the following:
● Improved product quality by managing software releases in a timely manner
● Improved customer satisfaction by offering customers the latest version of your product
● Reduced costs and resources through reduced support and maintenance activities
● Better long-term business plans through better planning of future products and services
Phases of Release Management
Planning
Planning encompasses all activities related to planning and scheduling the release of a product
or service using a release management software, including:
● Identifying needs and requirements that need to be addressed by the development team
● Defining the scope of work and tasks required to complete each requirement
● Estimating the effort required to complete each requirement based on past experience
with similar requirements in similar contexts or based on best practices when available
(e.g., Agile methodologies)
● Identifying dependencies between requirements so they can be prioritized according to
their impact on overall project success
Software Building
● Build the executable codebase that will run on the target platform.
● Test the build components by running it on a target platform and selected user group
(UAT) to check for errors and other anomalies (i.e., bugs).
Testing
Testing is a process of checking the quality of the software product to identify any errors or
defects. Also, it is used to make sure that the product meets customers' needs and
expectations.

4. The testing process can be divided into three main phases:
● Pre-testing: This phase involves preparation for testing. It includes the identification of
testing goals, methods, and requirements.
● Testing: This phase involves the actual tests or experiments which are performed on the
software product leveraging a test data management platform. Some examples are
functional tests, performance tests and regression tests etc.
● Evaluation: This phase involves analysis of results from previous testing activities and
comparison with expected results, as well as any corrective actions if required.
Deployment
Deployment activities include the following:
● Provisioning: This is the process of creating, configuring, and installing an application
on a target device. Provisioning can be performed manually or through automation.
● Deployment: This is the process of distributing deployed applications to target devices
through a secure delivery mechanism.
● Validation: This is the process of testing the deployed applications on target devices to
ensure that they meet specified requirements.
Management Components of Deployment
● Distribution Management: Distribution management involves the process of making the
product available to external users. This includes the process of building, packaging and
distributing the software product.
● Configuration Management: Configuration management involves tracking all changes
to configuration files and ensuring that they are recorded in version control systems.
● Change Management: Change management is responsible for ensuring that all
changes made to a system are documented and controlled. It also ensures that these
changes are tested before they are pushed out to production systems.

5. Wrapping up
Release management is an important part of the software development process using a set of
release management software. It should be seen as a continuous activity, not just something
that takes place at the end.
Make sure that all release management activities are clearly defined and happening, that they fit
into a cohesive framework, and that they are being consistently met.
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