Release Roles

The SDAdmin can define release roles and provide them with access to specific release stages. The application comes with built-in release roles, which you can customize. Each role in the release management process is accountable for one or more release operations, such as planning, development, implementation, testing, and the like. Release roles collaborate and orchestrate the release management efficiently. Depending on your organization requirements, you can configure new release roles.

Release roles can be associated with both login and non-login users. Unlike system roles, release roles can be dynamically assigned to users at the time of creating or editing a release.

The following table describes the default release roles in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud:

All roles have 'view' permission to all stages.

Roles	Responsibilities	Stagewise Permissions
Release Requester	Initiates the release of an IT service deliverable by defining priority, risk, time limits, etc. and by associating the related change.	Submission - Edit
Release Engineer	Provides a detailed plan for the release, including rollout and backout plans and downtimes. Handles the release deployment into the production environment and trains stakeholders to use the deployed service.	All stages - Edit Development - Approve Testing - Approve Deployment - Approve
Release Manager	Manages the release process and throughout its life cycle and ensures that the deliverable meets its objectives without compromising on the quality standards.	Full control over the release process
Development Head	Manages the development of prerequisites for the release and documents the development process.	Planning - Edit Development - Edit, Approve
QA Manager	Accountable for the functionality testing of the deliverable and ensuring that the deliverable is defect-free and meets the specified requirements.	Testing - Edit, Approve UAT - Edit
UAT Owner	Organizes and manages the testing of the deliverable with real-time use cases by stakeholders.	UAT - Edit, Approve
Release Reviewer	Evaluates the entire release process after deployment and declares whether the release is a successful one in all aspects.	Review - Edit, Approve

Users can play multiple roles in one or more releases requests. SDReleaseManager is a system-generated role who can access and approve any release requests without being assigned a release role. (You can view this role under Setup >> Users & Permissions >> Roles.)

Configuring a Release Role

Go to Setup >> Customization >> Release Management >> Release Role and click New Release Role.
Provide a name and a description to the role.
The Field Key which uniquely identifies the field will be auto-populated and can be modified only during role creation.
Choose whether the role can be assigned to all users or only to technicians. This cannot be edited after the role is created.
Define the criteria to grant access permissions for non-prominent roles.
Enable permissions for the role in the required stages of the release management. (View permission will be mandated in all stages.) Learn about each permission here.
Click Save.

Note: The criteria is not applicable for prominent roles such as Release Requester, Release Engineer, and Release Manager. All other roles are non-prominent roles.

Release Manager and Release Engineer can be assigned only to technicians by default. Other default roles can be assigned to all users.

Stage-Wise Permissions

View - The user can view the corresponding stage details of a release request.

Edit - Besides viewing, the user can edit the corresponding stage details of a release request, including status change. The user, however, cannot approve, reject, or move the release request to the next stage.
Approve - Besides viewing, the user can approve or reject the corresponding stage of a release request and move the release request to the next stage.

Approval Permissions

Role Required: SDAdmin
To provide granular control over approval operations, approval permissions can be managed at the Release Role level.
Select all access permissions: Enables view, edit, and approve permissions for all stages and also allows user to add, edit, or delete approvals.
Allow to add or edit approvals: Select this option along with at least one release stage edit permission to add or edit approval levels or approvals in release details.
Allow to delete approvals: Select this option along with at least one release stage edit permission to delete approval levels or approvals in release details.

At least one stage edit permission is required to enable approval permissions.

Roles	Add or Edit Approvals / Delete Approvals options
Release Manager	Selected by default (Non editable).
Default release roles	Selected by default.
During new role creation	Disabled until at least one release stage edit permission is selected.

Other Actions

Use the Settings icon next to a release role to edit or delete the release role.

Release Roles such as Release Manager, Release Engineer, and Release Requester cannot be deleted.