About the Release Train Process App

Release trains manage one or more release packages that have a common goal. That goal could be a date, such as a quarterly train; a set of features, such as performance or security improvements; or some other business requirement.

Most release trains are planned around a specific time frame, such as a month or fiscal quarter, but some solve a specific problem, such as improved security or database performance. Each release train item provides easy access to critical data points, such as schedules and milestones, release train status, gate exit criteria, approvals, and release packages.

Participants

The primary participants in Release Trains are as follows:

Release Managers
Release Engineers
Approvers

Stages

Release trains follow a process organized into these stages, based on the swimlanes in the Release Train workflow:

Note:

The exit criteria points, called gates, do not match the swimlanes, which are a variation on the PDCA ( plan-do-check-act). PDCA is an iterative four-step management method used in business for the control and continuous improvement of processes and products. The swimlanes in the Release Train are PDCD (plan-do-check-deploy).

Following are the stages of the release and the specific actions that can be done in those stages.

Plan

The Plan stage is the primary planning stage for a release train.

Once planning activities are completed, the release manager sends the train to the Do stage.
Before the release train can proceed, approvers must approve to validate that any planning exit criteria is met.

Do

Release trains are sent to development during the Do stage.

In this stage, all release packages are typically under development. Most of the work during this stage is managed through the Release Packages process app.
Before the release train can proceed, approvers must approve to validate that any development exit criteria is met.
After approval, the train progresses to the verification stage.

Check

In the Check stage, the functionality delivered by the release packages associated with the release train is verified.

During verification, the release manager verifies that the QA exit criteria has been met, and then sends the release train for release approval.
After all levels of release approval have been received, the train is deployed to production.

Deploy

In the Deploy stage, the release packages associated with the release train are deployed to final or production environments.

During this final stage, the release manager or a release engineer determines that the train is ready for deployment and deploys the train.
Once deployment successfully completes, the train is closed by the release manager or release engineer.

Related Topics

Configuring Release Trains