FITS - Release Management

As described in the overall FITS implementation approach, we recommend a phased approach to implementing new processes.

FITS Release Management is for people with little free time to spend on implementing processes and procedures and whose day-to-day activities are unpredictable and must take priority.

Our aim is to help you begin to remove some of the unpredictability by introducing best practice processes in small steps and so begin to realise the benefits as quickly as possible.

In the long-term, Release Management should be applied as a strategy for introducing as all new software or hardware in a planned, controlled and structured manner.  This should therefore reduce the need for ad hoc requirements as far as possible and allow technical support time to be focused on other activities.  It also results in economies of scale as the planning and preparation activities do not increase in proportion to the number of items - these tasks must be performed whether the exercise is to install one computer or 10.

However, to ensure the best chance of success, application of Release Management to this extent is best left until the basic concepts are fully understood and automatic.

In the short-term, Release Management should be applied to the installation of single instances of hardware or software.  This exercise can be used to begin the generation of standard builds and a centralised store of software and introduces the concept of a standard process for implementing all equipment.  In addition, by constraining the Release Management process to single installations, you can avoid the need to interface to the Change Management process.  This means that Release Management can be implemented in isolation with no prerequisite for a Change Management process. 

Once the basic activities are comfortably in place, it will be a relatively easy step to consider the bigger picture and to plan and manage larger rollouts that will require input to the Change Management process.