Release Stages and Statuses

A stage is a significant event or a milestone that involves a major deliverable in a release life cycle. The processes involved in the release of any deliverables, including submission, planning, development, testing, deployment, review, and more are built into sequential stages. This incremental building of a release with subsequent stages helps you achieve a streamlined release process.

Statuses in each stage of the release management process indicate the progress of the release request within the stage. The application comes with default stages and statuses, which the SDAdmin can rename and reorganize to suit the unique workflow in each organization. Besides, the SDAdmin can configure new stages and statuses per their organization requirements.

A maximum of 12 release stages, inclusive of default ones is supported. You can add any number of statuses within a stage.

The following table explains in detail each default release stage and its statuses:

Stage	Explanation	Statuses
Submission	Release of service is assigned priority, risk, and business requirements.	Submitted for Authorization Requested for Information Accepted Rejected Requested
Planning	A detailed plan is attached to the release, including rollout and backout plans and downtimes.	In Progress Submitted for Authorization Requested for Information Approved Rejected
Development	The prerequisites for deploying the service are developed in this stage.	In Progress Requested for more Information On Hold Back Out Completed
Testing	Service is tested for functionality and the issues found are fixed by developers.	In progress On Hold Completed Failed
UAT	Stakeholders and specific clients evaluate the service and perform functionality checks.	In progress On Hold Accepted Rejected
Deployment	Downtimes of related CIs are announced to users and the service is deployed.	In progress On Hold Deployed Failed
Training	Stakeholders, clients, and internal devs are trained to use the deployed service.	Completed In progress Not yet started
Review	Reviewer conducts a comprehensive analysis of the deployed service and evaluates possible outcomes.	Completed In progress Rejected
Closure	Release closed after applying the closure code.	In progress Canceled Completed Failed

Adding New Stage and Status

Go to Setup>> Customization >> Release Management >> Stage and Status.
Click New Release Stage.
Provide a Name and a Description to the stage.
Click Save.

To add a new status within a release stage,

Click a stage row to expand the stage details and click New Release Status.

Fill out the form as explained below:

Field	Description
Name*	Provide a unique release status name.
Description	Describe what the status indicates.
Stage*	The stage of the release status is auto-populated.
Type*	Select the status type: In Progress, Completion, or Rejection.
Roles To Notify	Select the release roles to be notified when the release request reaches the status.
Subject*	Configure the notification to be sent by specifying the subject and message. Use $ to insert variables.
Message

* indicates mandatory fields

You can customize the default content of new status notifications under Setup > Automation > Notification Rules > Release > New Release Status.

Other Actions

Use the Settings icon next to a stage to edit or delete the stage. You cannot, however, delete default stages.

Use the drop-down next to a stage to display all statuses under the stage.

Inside a stage, use Edit and Delete icons beside status to perform the corresponding action. You cannot, however, delete some default statuses.

Organizing Release Stages

Depending on your organization's workflow, you can reorder the release stages globally, excluding Submission and Close stages. The stages will be listed in the release details page in the customized order.

To reorder release stages, click Organize Release Stages in the list view.

Select the required stage and use the up/down arrows to position the stage in the right order.