Release Management
ITIL® defines Release Management as:
…the planning, design, build, configuration and testing of hardware and software to create a set of Release components for a live environment …[and to protect] …the live environment and its services through the use of formal procedures and checks.
While this definition provides some insight to the elements that comprise Release Management, it fails to capture its true value: Release Management improves Quality. Consider, for example, how an organization would fare without it. Given sufficiently robust Change and Configuration Management programs they could limp along with some level of inefficiency, dragging reduced productivity and profits behind them. Or they could recognize the important linkages to Change and Configuration Management (see diagram below) and leverage the quality improvements achievable with Release Management to propel their organization to a higher level of maturity. more »
