MKS Implementer 2006 Administration Guide

Chapter 2: Understanding Implementer
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When you are finished with the release, set it to a status where all four status fields, Allow
software change, Allow packaging, Allow controlled distribution, and Allow distribute changes
are set to N (for example, NOT SUPPORTED). Changing the release status allows you to
control movement into production environments. You can now create a new open release,
allowing the change management cycle to begin again.
Setup Tasks
In most cases the implementation of this feature requires minimal setup to your existing
configuration, allowing you to quickly append release control into your existing change
management operation.
The setup tasks required for this scenario are as follows:
1 Create environments. No special considerations are required when defining
environments for release control. Follow the environment setup steps described in a
previous scenario, or see “Implementer Administration” on page 63 for information on
creating environments.
2 Define user authorities. Users must have authority to work with products and versions.
This is defined in the Work with Users function. Set the Maintain Products and Maintain
Versions fields to Y for each user who maintains product versions.
3 Define products, versions, and releases. For details, see the MKS Implementer 2006 Release
Management Guide.
4 Verify the software release process configuration. This consists of release types and the
release status; together, they determine the development path that each release must
follow.
Release types are user-defined values that identify the types of releases you manage
within the release control process. Release types are classified as either standard
(STD) or program temporary fix (PTF).
Release status defines the path a release must follow before you can changed it to
the next available status. It also defines the functions you can perform to the release
during each phase of the development cycle. A person with product management
responsibility typically controls this stage progression.
The release status controls four functions:
Allow software changes controls whether software can be promoted into the
environments attached to the product version.
Allow create package controls whether packages can be created.
Allow controlled distribution controls whether the release is available for
selection to distribute to a customer system, but does not make it a default
release. This is also used for release deployment.