ServiceNow Release Management

ServiceNow Release Management is a lightweight and highly automated process that increases efficiency, transparency, consistency and compliance. It streamlines the change approval process and reduces manual e-mails to the developers.

The release process is a crucial step in an organization’s digital transformation journey. It enables organizations to introduce new features, upgrades, and fixes in a safe manner.

Deployment

Release Management is a critical process for any application or service with a steady release of fixes and enhancements. It is important to release releases on time and in the right manner to maintain the integrity of the live environment.

There are a variety of approaches for deployments to users. They include phased approach, pull, and push.

For example, phased approach means that you would deploy a release first to a subset of the broader user base, then to additional users as part of a scheduled rollout plan.

ServiceNow release management software helps you manage these types of releases in a way that reduces risk and keeps your development teams moving forward. It also empowers you with the tools and processes that improve coordination between DevOps and IT.

Change Management

Almost any organization will encounter change at some point, whether due to internal drivers (such as a merger or acquisition) or external ones. Without a formal change management process, these changes could have a significant impact on operations.

ServiceNow Release Management helps simplify introducing and implementing changes in your IT infrastructure and processes. The key capabilities include automated change approval, collaboration on change implementation and risk conflict detection.

The change lifecycle is a series of stages that involves assessment, planning, implementation and validation. ITIL change management is the quality control process that sets the stage for changes ensuring minimal disruption to the live environment.

The ITIL change management process provides a step-by-step framework for deploying beneficial changes, enabling IT services to continue operating smoothly. It also allows development and operation teams to coordinate together, sharing relevant knowledge and resources.

Testing

Release Management is a process that coordinates all the changes and updates that an organization makes to its IT environment. It’s also tasked with ensuring that these changes are safe and effective for users, limiting their impact and downtime while delivering new functionality.

Releases can be tested before they’re released into production, avoiding bugs that could damage the user experience or reduce brand trust. There are many different types of testing that can be used to test software, including unit, performance, and acceptance testing.

For example, unit tests can be written to ensure that specific functions work as expected and perform as they should. A function might have multiple tests to catch any corner cases or other branches that exist in the code.

The UiPath Test Manager can be used to manage the test cases that are associated with a particular release. In the ‘Add Test Case’ tab, you can filter by test case type, name, status, execution date and priority. You can also remove existing test cases by selecting them and clicking ‘Delete’.

Release Closure

Release closure is the final stage in the life cycle of a release. It associates a closure code to the release, which gives stakeholders details on whether it has been closed due to cancellation, rejection, completion, or other reasons.

When a ServiceNow release is completed, the SDAdmin can set the closure code under Setup >> Customization > Release Management. The closure code tells stakeholders the reason why the release has been closed and how to find out if it is still open.

During release closure, TEBRs and TECRs are updated when the status of the release changes via the API. This update is recorded in the Audit History.

If a Release is made dependent on another Release, Release Manager will copy Release Phase and Gate dates to the Release Activities when the Dependency Association checkbox in Release Setup Customization is selected. However, when the Release dependencies are removed from a Release’s System, Release Activities and Criteria for the dependent Release are no longer copied to the parent Release’s Release Activities.