Release Management Guide

This plan is effective from 15/06/16.

Definitions

Fewzion Entity – Fewzion Pty Ltd  or representatives thereof. Referred to as Fewzion, we, our, or similar.
Fewzion Product – Software and systems provided by Fewzion Pty Ltd. Referred to as Fewzion, software, or similar.
Intended Reader – A potential or current client of Fewzion Pty Ltd. Referred to as Client, you, your, or similar.

Purpose

To catalyse the planning, establishment and implementation of a mutually beneficial process for delivering our products and updates.

To inform you of the basics of our development and release strategy, and how it relates to your deployment process. Then to present preferred and alternative solutions for your consideration.

To call for your action in advising us of your strategy.

Audience

Semi-technical or Technical: IT, QA, Change Management, Executive, etc.

Comments of the Author

An important value of the Fewzion team is that we are constantly improving. We are ​not satisfied with "good enough". Our modern development process gives us the power to continuously release new features and improvements at a rapid pace.

We strive to release a new version every few weeks, favouring small, controlled, incremental updates rather than huge, complex, interruptive upgrades.

Please consider this ​Release Management Guide as your point of reference and first step towards continuous, smooth and unobtrusive provision of Fewzion.

Contents

• Overview
• Versioning
• Release and Deployment
• Communication
• Example Release Plan

Overview

The goal is simple: we want you to always have the latest version of Fewzion. Generally speaking, there are 2 ways to achieve this with a product like Fewzion:

Fewzion as a Managed service is obviously a far less complicated method ofdelivery (for both you and us) as we already use an enterprise-grade workflow of Continuous Integration, Delivery and Deployment for our internal development and testing. The process is smooth and automated, only requiring hands-on for unusual or unexpected cases. Updates are available within minutes, or scheduled to run at a specific time.

Of course, though, we recognise that some clients wish to maintain all their own concerns end-to-end whether by technical constraints or administerial policy.
For example: they may be bound by policy to run any new software through their own internal processes like Security Auditing, User Acceptance Testing and Staging;before it is approved for operation. They may also implement strict Freeze Periods or wish to adhere to a longer or inconsistent upgrade schedule.

A case like this presents 2 challenges in making use of our weekly releases:

• Internal processes can take days or even weeks! A new version every week would demand significant and continuous effort.
• Fewzion releases may be out of sync with their deployment availability, but they don’t want to miss out on new features.

If this sounds familiar, we have solved both these problems (and more) for you! We have created a workflow which allows for any amount of divergence in cycles, and grants you the flexibility to skip any number of releases without missing anything.

• We have created a clear, clean separation between our releaseprocess and your deployment process. We release as our workflow prescribes; weekly at a minimum. You deploy whenever you’re able; You decide the schedule.
• We develop in such a way that any and all changes are cumulative.​ Even deploying the smallest bugfix will ensure you’re caught up on every preceding version. You’ll never miss out.

The obvious caveat to our delivery of updates to you is that the onus is on you to receive the upgrades. We can’t cherry-pick feature X from a release just for you. Want the latest Fewzion? get the latest Fewzion and everything in between!

Versioning

We adhere to the tried and true software development process which favours regular, small, incremental changes rather than slow, monolithic, cumbersome reinstallations. We tag each incremental change with a version number in the following format:

1.5.2

These digits represent not just a version increment, but they also can tell you at a glance what may be contained within the update. This table explains the basics:

This is known as "Semantic Versioning", as it gives meaning beyond just "this version is newer than the last". So for example when we update Fewzion:

• From 1.5.2​ to 1.5.3 (a patch update)
  You know we fixed a bug, possibly one you reported to us!
• From 1.5​.2 to 1.6.0 (a minor update)
  You know this is a typical weekly release with no special attention required.
• From 1​.6.0 to 2.0.0 (a major update)
  You know this may require attention and to be ready for detailed information.

With this understanding you can easily identify which release you wish to deploy. Depending on your deployment cycle, you may also wish to create rules for different point releases. For example if your deployment is automated, you can rule:

• Do not auto-deploy Major Releases: requires management approval
• Auto-deploy Minor Releases: every Sunday at 23:00
• Auto-deploy Patch Releases: every Tuesday and Thursday at 23:00 (if any)

We Release - You Deploy

This illustration is an abstract yet practical way to visualise a typical cycle of release and deployment. Its purpose is primarily conceptual, so please be aware that your particular strategies may use different or intersecting terminology. Please contact us if you wish to clarify any points.

Fewzion:

• We always have a version in active development and a planned version for us to begin next.
• Upon completing development and testing, we package and release the version to our deployment server. We then get straight to work on the next version and yet another version is planned.
• Our deployment server has a few roles and responsibilities:
  Holds multiple packaged versions, maintaining their order.
  Pushes packages automatically to anyone configured to receive in this way, taking into account their desired frequency and any specified time windows.
  For manually triggered deployment, waits for instruction on when to send which package.

You:

• Have ensured that Fewzion has a current and correct release plan for your deployment.
• Have a correctly configured deployment client which our server can target for the release.
  Links to the technical details and requirements for this deployment client can be found in the references.
• Using the methods defined in the Release Plan, the package containing your required version will be deployed via the deployment client, and our integration procedure will ensure successful installation and initialisation.
  In some cases (e.g: Major release requiring manual configuration) there may be additional steps before Fewzion is operational. In such cases you will be notified in advance.
• Once the version is operational it’s up to you to run any further testing or integration you require. If your process requires us to redeploy the package to multiple targets (e.g: to your production servers, after testing/staging) this can be handled according to your Release Plan.

The specifics of your side of the process will be determined by assessment of your particular requirements and your level of/capacity for automation.
Please inform us of these details using the attached Release Plan form, or contact our support team.

Communication

We broadly categorise our communication channels so that the right people can respond in the fastest and most informative way.

Administration

Initial onboarding and requirements gathering will form the bulk of inbound administrative communication, however we expect to keep this channel active as your source of information and notice about delivery of our products and services.

Feedback

For further information including Fewzion Policies, Training and FAQs, please contact our support team or visit our Help Center.

Example Release Plan

To download the ​Example Release Plan click here.