Software Change, Configuration and Release Management

Foundation for Configuration and Release Management

Analyzing business factors driving CM

• Determining causes of failure in project scenarios
• Positioning strong internal CM controls as the path to success
• Controlling quality in the development life cycle
• Releasing stable configurations

Demystifying core CM processes

• Configuration Identification
• Version Management
• Configuration Control
• Change Management
• Configuration Status Accounting
• Reporting
• Configuration Audits
• Compliance
• Build and Release Management

Identifying Configuration Items (CIs)

Deriving candidate items for the project

• Extracting CIs from the product and the project
• Itemizing six steps to bring a work product under configuration management control

Categorizing and naming items

• Devising an effective naming scheme
• Classifying items based on the nature of the project
• Aligning a CI into one of four categories

Baselining CIs

• Defining baselining procedures and creating a checklist
• Declaring configuration or phase baselines
• Checking CIs into a configuration management repository

Controlling Change

Determining roles and responsibilities

• Establishing an infrastructure to manage project change
• Comparing change control from a traditional to an Agile perspective
• Specifying the role of the SCM team in facilitating change

Creating a change control process

• Documenting the change request life cycle
• Establishing and communicating change control procedures
• Facilitating change from requirements through maintenance

Distinguishing between defects and enhancements

• Processing a change request
• Investigating defects and deciding corrective action
• Evaluating urgency
• Determining Severity
• Setting priority

Communicating Configuration Status

Planning the reporting requirements

• Identifying types and frequency of reports required in each phase of CM
• Determining the communication needs of stakeholders
• Improving report processing by using a configuration database

Matching reporting needs to development life cycle

• Anticipating report types by role types
• Who
• What
• When
• Where
• How
• Planning what to collect in order to report
• Adding CSA requirements to vendor contracts

Auditing in Preparation for a Release

Designing Configuration Audits

• Distinguishing between QA and SCM activities
• Clarifying types of SCM audits
• Timing audits throughout the development life cycle
• FCA and PCA checklists
• Baseline and release audits

Assessing release readiness

• Ensuring the documentation matches the product
• Verifying product configuration

Building and Releasing the Product

Ensuring consistency through the build process

• Establishing independence by separating development from the build
• Managing unique code lines and versions
• Knowing why and when to branch
• Knowing why and when to use variants
• The golden rule of merging

Specifying the product release process

• Planning a release strategy for your software development life cycle
• Resources needed for a smooth release process
• Matching process steps to release types
• Positioning Quality Gates in the development life cycle

Assigning release tasks

• Timing the release appropriately
• Preparing release notes based on change items
• Authorizing and releasing the build