PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES
There must be clear plans that enable the business to align its activities with them and everyone must be satisfied with the mechanisms used.
Release and deployment management aims to build, test and deliver new or changed services successfully into the production environment within required timescales and with minimal disruption to existing services.
The purpose is to ensure that consistent and integral release packages are
deployed in line with agreed policy and with plans agreed with the customers and stakeholders, and that this takes place under full and effective control. Any
associated business and business process changes, including training and skills transfer, must be managed to take place in a timescale that is aligned with the release timetable.
The objective is to ensure that there are clear consistent plans that everyone
understands and follows, that releases are managed efficiently and effectively through to deployment and use and that the new service and supporting systems are capable of being operated successfully and deliver the agreed service requirements (utility and warranty).
The scope of release and deployment management includes the processes,
systems and functions required to package, build, test and deploy a release into production in accordance with the service design package (SDP). This includes handover to the service operation lifecycle stage.
Effective release and deployment management adds value by ensuring that customers and users can use the new or changed service in a way that supports the business, and by delivering change faster and at optimum cost and minimal risk. Well-planned and well-implemented release and deployment can make a significant difference to an organisation’s service costs by minimising troubleshooting and rework.