Deployment Change

Da itm wiki.

Deployment Change process is supported by a SM workflow cartridge that enables the execution of the process. This process is strictly related to the Release and Deployment Management process as through it a release is installed into a target environment (e.g. test, acceptance, live, etc.). The process is therefore triggered by the Release and Deployment Management process itself and returns the feedback on its result.

Of course the preconfigured process (the workflow cartridge) is just an accelerator and the tuning / completion of the initial configuration will still be required. To this aim, the Workflow Engine guide may be useful.

IMPORTANT NOTE: the configuration below is only one of the possible configuration to deal with the deployment change process. The need for a different behaviour of the process may be fulfilled by simple changes of the configuration.

Operational model

The preconfigured process has the objective to deploy a release and is a standard change. At the core of the process configuration is the following simple operational model.

Deployment Change operational model

From the Release and Deployment Management process a command (button) is available to trigger the Deployment Change process. This opens a new Deployment Change instance. This is done by an action which sets also sets a release team (a defined group). The members of the release team can therefore see the deployment change and set the owner of it. The owner performs or coordinates the deployment activities. When the activities are completed another action automatically gives a feedback to the Release and Deployment Management process.

Roles

For this process, the following organizational roles are defined:

Organizational role Description itmSUITE® role mapping
Requester See the Release and Deployment Management process for detailed information on who is enabled to start deployment changes
Owner
  • Assign tasks to be performed to complete the deployment change
  • Watches over and monitors the deployment change along all its life cycle
  • Activates escalation/ routing/ requests
  • Manages all the communications with the requester
  • Checks the implementation and sets the deployment change to closed
This role is picked up by a member of the deployment team (a specific group).
Deployment team member
  • He/she receives the notification on the assignment of a deployment change to the team
  • Based on the team rules, he/she autonomously picks up a deployment change as an owner or wait for the deployment team manager assignment
  • He/she carries out any assigned task of a deployment change
  • He/she notices when assigned tasks are completed or when he/she is unable to complete them
Resources belonging to the "Deployment team" group; the login identifier of one of these users is "DepTeamMemb").
Deployment team manager
  • He/she receives the notification on the assignment of a deployment change to the team
  • Based on the team rules, he/she assigns a deployment team member
  • He/she may also act as deployment team member
Manager of the "Deployment team" group; the login identifier of this user is "DepTeamMan").

Process

A deployment change is opened during the execution of the Release and Deployment Management process and is kept linked to the instance of the release it is originated from.

A workflow is configured to support the Deployment Management process. The workflow is characterized by workflow statuses and workflow transitions. The figures below illustrate the process.

Deployment Change process.

The table below explains the meaning of each workflow status.

Workflow status Description
"Default" A preliminary status which is displayed when a deployment change is created.
"Opened" The deployment change has been recorded and requested.
"Cancelled" The deployment change is not confirmed and, therefore, cancelled.
"Closed" The deployment change is completed and closed.

And finally the table below explains the roles authorized to execute the workflow transitions.

Source status Destination status Authorized executors Comment
"Default" "Opened" Requesters
"Opened" "Cancelled" Requester, owner. deployment team manager
"Opened" "Closed" Requester, owner, deployment team manager.

Related processes

The key related process is Release and Deployment Management. The tab Related Items of the deployment change and, in particular, the sub tab Tickets of it allows to view all the existing relationships between the deployment change and Release and Deployment Management.

Release and deployment management

A new deployment change can be initiated from a release and updating the deployment change will provide a feedback to the release itself.

Services

The deployment changes are opened on the "Deployment Management" service. The user "DeplManager" is the service manager of the "Deployment Management" service.

Management information

Many management information are available as fields in the deployment change management configured form. The following table illustrates the intended use of key information and its behaviour. NOTE: information are available (visible) and can be modified according to a specific configuration which is meant to be suitable for the organizational roles involved in the process.

Information group or tab Field Purpose Comments
General Information Ticket Op Status To show the operational status of the deployment change, see workflow statuses in Process section of this page. Status changes are performed by means of the Save&Next command.
General Information Short Description To provide a short description of the deployment change. This mandatory field is automatically filled by the action creating the deployment change but can be edited.
General Information Requester To identify the name of the requester (who has requested the deployment change). This field is automatically set to the identification code of the source release by the action creating the deployment change.
General Information Creation Date To show the date and time the deployment change was created. This information is automatically recorded and cannot be manually changed. See History tab for more detailed tracking information.
General Information Edit Date To show the date and time the deployment change was last updated. This information is automatically recorded and cannot be manually changed. See History tab for more detailed tracking information.
General Information Creation User To show the user who created the deployment change. This information is automatically recorded and cannot be manually changed. See History tab for more detailed tracking information.
General Information Edit User To show the user who updated the deployment change last. This information is automatically recorded and cannot be manually changed. See History tab for more detailed tracking information.
Ticket Classification Project/Service To show the service (or project) to which the deployment change is related. This is automatically set at open time and can't be modified.
Ticket Classification Ticket Type To show the type of workflow executed. This is automatically set at open time and can't be modified.
Ticket Classification Release Type To show the type of the release implemented by the deployment change. This field is automatically set to the Release Type of the source release by the action creating the deployment change.
Ticket Classification Release Number To set the change scope.This is typically used for statistic reasons. This field is automatically set to the Release Number of the source release by the action creating the deployment change.
Ticket Classification Target Environment To define the target environment for the deployment. This field is initially left blank. The target environment is mandatory and can be chosen from a drop list of enabled values (e.g. "Live", "Test", etc.).
Prioritisation & Planning Required Deployment Date To set the required execution date for the deployment change. This field (date & time) is mandatory and initially set empty.
Prioritisation & Planning Planned Deployment Date To communicate the planned execution date for the deployment change. This field (date & time)is mandatory and initially set to empty.
Prioritisation & Planning Actual Deployment Date To communicate the actual execution date for the deployment change. This field (date&time) is initially blank and can be edited. If empty, it is automatically set to the date and time of the transition to the "Closed" Ticket Op Status.
Ownership and Groups Supervising Team To show the supervising team. This field is automatically set to the Supervising Team of the source release by the action creating the deployment change.
Ownership and Groups Deployment Team To define the team to which the deployment change is assigned for execution. This field is automatically set to the "Deployment Team" group by the action creating the deployment change.
Ownership and Groups Owner To define who is the deployment change owner who should monitor the lifecycle of the deployment change. This field can be set by any member of the Deployment Team.
Ticket Details Details To provide a more detailed description of the deployment change. An auto tracking field is used enabling to view the user who has updated.
Ticket Details Environment Parameters To provide detailed instructionsto execute the deployment change. An auto tracking field is used enabling to view the user who has updated.
Ticket Details Comments To provide helpful comments. An auto tracking field is used enabling to view the user who has updated.

Fields can be mandatory to save the deployment change in some workflow statuses. These fields are highlighted with a red asterisk.

Views

The following views are made available in the Tickets area of the home page:

View Content Deployment Change Owner Release owner Deployment team Release Team Supervising Team
Deployment changes opened Deployment changes in status "Opened". X X X X X
Deployment changes routed to my team Deployment changes in status "Opened", where Deployment Team is the group to which the logged resource belongs. X
Deployment changes assigned to me Deployment changes in status "Opened" where the Ticket Worker is the logged resource. X
Deployment changes owned Deployment changes in status "Opened" where the Owner is the logged resource. X

Additionally, the following views are made available in the Deployment menu for all the organizational roles:

View Content
Deployment changes active Deployment changes in status "Opened"
Deployment changes closed Deployment changes in status "Closed"
Deployment changes cancelled Deployment changes in status "Cancelled"

Notifications

The following notifications are configured:

Trigger Recipients Purpose
A deployment change is opened Deployment team Alert that there is a deployment change to manage.
A deployment change is assigned a owner Deployment change owner Alert that the deployment change was assigned to him/her.
A ticket worker is assigned The assigned ticket worker Alert that there is work to be done.
A deployment change is closed The deployment change owner, the release owner, the deployment team, the release team, the supervising team Alert that the deployment change has been closed.
A deployment change is cancelled The deployment change owner, the release owner, the deployment team, the release team, the supervising team Alert that the deployment hange has been cancelled.

Reporting

A set of standard reports are made available for the deployment change management process. It is not required to have the REP module to use them, however the module is required if new or changed reports are needed. The available reports are placed under Deployment/Reporting menu.

The following table lists the reports available by default and their visibility:

Report name Content Access
Deployment change - trend An histogram showing the Deployment change volumes monthly trend. Deployment team, release team and supervising team.

* "Analysis time" is defined within the OCE module.

A basic form of reporting is also provided by views. Views basically allow to list deployment changes and their attributes but may also be configured to calculates sums, averages on some of them. The available views are illustrated in the dedicated section of this page.