Working with Release Phases

This section explains the concept of release phases and describes how to design them.

Phases are sets of tasks to be executed in a specific order. Each set of tasks can be tested/re-executed until the sequence and the number of tasks matches the desired goal.

The number of phases needed to orchestrate a release depends on your business requirements. Usually the minimum number of stages required is four: build, deploy, test and release. Phases are sequentially executed i.e. each stage (except the first one) can only start after the previous one is completed.

This topic provides information on the following:

Creating Release Phases

Release phases can be created in the Release Plan only when the Release Plan has the status "Draft" or the execution is paused, canceled or failed.

To Create a Release Phase

  1. Open the Release Plan.
  2. Click Add Phase to add a new phase to the Release Plan. The Create Phase dialog is displayed:
  3. Enter the name of the new Phase.
  4. From the Type dropdown list, select the order in which the Tasks contained in the Phase will run: 

    • Sequential: (default). The Tasks are executed one after the other.

    • Parallel: all Tasks are triggered at the same time.

      If one of the Tasks fails, the execution of the other Tasks will continue, but the Phase and Plan status will change to "failed". Users with sufficient permissions can restart/resume the failed tasks. Once all failed tasks are running again the Plan and Phase status will change back to "running".

  5. Optionally, add a description to better identify the purpose of the phase.
  6. Select an owner from the dropdown list. Only existing / active users can be selected.
  7. Enter a start date and time for executing the phase. The default value is the start date of the Plan (for the first Phase) or the end date of the previous phase.
  8. Optionally, click the Notification tab to define when to notify users about changes in the Release Phase. When the owner is a user group, all members will be notified. Select one or more of the following checkboxes and add the user(s)/user group(s) you want to be notified:
    • Notify on Start: a message will be sent when the Release Phase is started.
    • Notify on Error: a message will be sent when the Release Phase fails.
    • Notify when Finished: a message will be sent when the Release Phase finished successfully.
    • Notify when Delayed: a message will be sent when a Release Phase did not start in the specified time.

    Message notifications are sent to the Notification bar. To know more see: Notification Object (CALL).

  9. Click Create.

You can create as many phases as you want and edit or delete them at a later point in time. To reorder the phases simply drag-and drop them.

Release phases in "running" status cannot be edited.

Deleting Release Phases

Unstarted Phases can be removed from Releases with status "draft", "failed" or "paused".

To Delete a Release Phase

  1. Open the Release Planner perspective. The Releases list is displayed.
  2. Double-click a release.
  3. Right-click the Phase and select Delete.

All tasks within the Phase are deleted as well.

See also: