About the Release Train Process App

The Release Train process app includes two applications: Deployable Release Train and Planning Release Train. Each has a single workflow.

Participants

The primary participants in Release Trains are as follows:

Release Managers
Release Engineers

Stages

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

Note: The PDCD (plan-do-check-deploy) swimlanes in the Release Train workflows are a variation on 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.

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 train is approved and deployment is initiated.

For planning release trains:

The release manager or a release engineer determines that the train is ready for deployment and deploys the train.
If release approvals are required, the release approval requests are generated.
After approval is given, the train goes into the Deployment Complete state.
After the Release Manager verifies that the deployment of the associated release packages has been completed, the release manager or release engineer moves the train to the Complete state.

For deployable release trains:

The release manager or a release engineer determines that the train is ready for deployment and deploys the train.
If release approvals are required, the release approval requests are generated.
The train goes into the Ready for Deploy state.

Train-Driven Deployment

(Deployable release trains only) In the Train-Driven Deployment stage, the train is deployed to final or production environments.

The train is deployed to the first eligible environment in the deployment path.
If environment approvals are required, the environment approval requests are generated.
After approval is given as needed for each environment, the deployment tasks associated with the train and with the associated release packages are executed in the environments.
After all deployment tasks are completed, the train goes into the Completed state.
If failure tasks exist or are required, upon deployment error or failure the train goes to the Failure stage of the workflow.

Failure

(Deployable release trains only) In the Failure stage, any failure tasks are run in the deployment path environments associated with the train.

The train is deployed to the first failed environment in the deployment path.
The failure tasks associated with the train and with the associated release packages are executed in the environments.
After all failure tasks are completed, the train goes into the To Construction state on the environment specified as the "fail to" environment.