Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Release Upgrade
Software Released for General Availability
As a standard policy, a major software release happens every quarter (end of the last month of the quarter), which is by end of March, June, September, and December.
The usual build creation happens every week or fortnightly to say the least. Typically, software build creation is dependent on several aspects such as feature enhancements, bug fixes, and sometimes customers’ requests on demand for something critical.
How to access: The most recent release / build can be accessed from the build server, which can be confirmed by your authorized Cavisson representative.
Release Notes
Each release is accompanied by set of documents including release notes, updated user manual, and the updated installation guide. The release notes are available immediately at the time the software is released for general availability.
Release notes comprise of a list of new features, enhancements, discontinued features, bugs fixed, as well as other release specific announcements.
How to access
The release notes are announced via PR and are available on documentation portal as well. You may also ask your authorized Cavisson representative for the most recent release notes.
A typical time period between release notes and software upgrade is around 10 working days.
Software Upgrade
The release note review cycle is accompanied by initiation of software upgrade cycle. Software upgrades are needed to support new functionality as well as enhance existing functionality of the software. There are situations where a software upgrade I required to discontinue a feature deemed as obsolete or redundant in view of new functionality.
In a typical enterprise environment, the software upgrade process is phased to minimize the change impact and at the same time to validate the upgrades in terms of features or bug fixes.
Software Upgrade Process
As a standard Cavisson policy, we seek proper authorizations before upgrading the software.
Typically, the software upgrade process for various environments is sequenced as:
- 1st Step: LLE (Low Level Environment – Profiling)
- 2nd Step: HLE (High Level Environment – Non production, Stress)
- 3rd Step: Production
This sequence allows dev and performance engineering teams to validate the feature enhancements, and bug fixes, etc.
Software Upgrade Authorization
There are multi-level authorizations and signoffs for specific environment (Dev, Stress, and Production) and at specific stages to upgrade Cavisson software. These signoffs are in line with customer’s software upgrade policy.
As a standard policy Cavisson adheres to following norms for seeking authorizations for software upgrade:
- Release notes sign-off for new or enhanced features
- Approval for upgrades on LLE (authorized person: )
- Review of test results on LLE
- Approvals for upgrade on HLE (authorized person: )
- Review of test results on HLE
- Approvals for upgrade on Production environment (authorized person: )
- Continuous monitoring
On-demand Builds
There are instances where a custom build is released based on requests from customers for a critical feature update or enhancements. In such a case, following process is followed.
- Build release: The build is released for general availability immediately after it is certified by QA and deemed fit to go into production.
- Release notes: The release notes are published and made available to the customers immediately upon the build’s release.
- Software Upgrade: The release notes are reviewed and verified by customer and in parallel the requisite approvals for software upgrades are managed by the Cavisson team.
Whether the software upgrade is for the standard release or for a specific build, Cavisson follows the standard software upgrade policy, with exceptions cited only by the customers. For example: for an on demand build, the release notes review cycle might be short as compared to the standard policy of 10 working days, depending upon customer’s business critical need.