Managing plans

A software release cycle typically has multiple phases. In BMC Release Process Management, you use plans to specify the sequence of the states and transitions, which might include several requests.

This topic consists of the following sections:

Creating plans

Plans enable you to organize the software release process efficiently within the framework of your organization's processes. The following steps provide an overview of the process involved in creating a plan:

Create a plan template to structure the release plan of your software.
Note

In BMC Release Process Management version 4.6, you can use the status of objects to manage the access to a plan template. All new plan templates have the default Draft state as their initial status. For more information, see Using status of objects.
Add stages to the plan template. For example, a corporation can have stages that represent the environments, like Development, QA, and Release. When you add a stage, you can specify a release template to associate with the stage.
Create a new plan. When you create a new plan, BMC Release Process Management automatically creates an instance of the request for that stage.
Add schedule stages and environments used in a plan.
Note

In releases prior to BMC Release Process Management version 4.6.00.03, ensure that you assigned a request to each plan stage before setting the schedule for plan's environments and stages.
Starting with BMC Release Process Management version 4.6.00.03 and later, you can set schedule for plan's environments and stages right after a route is assigned to a plan.
Create a run for the plan. A run is simply a group of requests in a plan stage. Runs enable you to assemble requests from different applications and target different environments in an executable flow. You can also add or delete a request from a run and clone a run like you can clone a template. Even though requests may have been run in various states during the stage, the definitive work to do the deployment can be gathered into a run and promoted to the next plan stage.

To use the plan runs capability, you must create multiple requests.

Defining projects

You can also execute requests as part of a project. Projects are constructs that contain requests, which, in turn, contain steps and procedures. You can define different types of projects and can assign categories to your projects. A request can be executed as part of an activity, which, in turn, refers to a project.

Integrating with external systems

BMC Release Process Management provides you the capability to integrate with external systems and perform functions in the external system by using the BMC Release Process Management user interface. If you have integrations in place, you can also link your release plan to existing ticketing systems. This feature is useful when your organization has scheduled software releases at certain times and might have windows during which you release your software. The application teams submit tickets to indicate that their codes are ready.

To create a plan template

Click Environment > Metadata > Manage Plan Templates.
Click Create Plan Template.
In the Name field, enter the name of your template.
From the Template type field, select the template type.
Click Create.
To complete the plan template, click Add stage below the plan and add as many stages as required.
(Optional) If you want to make the plan template available for other users, go to Environment > Metadata > Manage Plan Templates and change the status for the plan template to a state other than Draft.
For more information about the states available for plan templates, see Using status of objects.

To add a stage to a plan template

After creating a plan template, you must add stages.

From Environment > Metadata > Manage Plan Templates.
The list of existing plan templates is displayed under Plan Templates.
Click the template to which you want to add stages.
The selected template opens.
In the Stages section, click Add stage.
You can add as many stages as needed.
In the Creating Plan Stage dialog box, enter a name for the stage in the Name field.
From the Environment type list, select the environment type that you want to be mapped with the plan stage.
To make this stage required, select the check box.
From Default Request Template, add as many request templates as you require. Use the Ctrl key to add multiple templates.
Click Create.

To change the order of the stages

To change the order of the stages, drag and drop a stage's icon to the appropriate position in the list of stages.

To create a plan

From the Plans tab, click Create Plan.
From the Plan Template list, select a template.
In the Plan Name field, type a plan name.
From the Release Manager list, select the release manager name.
From the Teams field, select the required check boxes.
From the Release tag list, select a release tag.
From the Release Date field, select a release date.
Note

If you click Edit Plan Details after you have created the plan, the release tag and the release date that you select appear as defaults. They also appear as defaults when you want to add a request to the plan.
Enter a release description in the Release Description field.

To edit a plan stage from a template

Click Environment > Metadata > Manage Plan Templates.
On the table view page, click a plan for which you want to edit a stage.
Click the Edit link next to the stage.
The editing stage dialog box opens.
Type a name for the stage in the Name field.
From the Default Request Template list, select your request templates. Use the Ctrl key to select multiple templates.
Click Update.

To edit plan details

In the Stages page, click the Edit Plan Details link.
In the dialog box, enter the details in the fields on the left.
Enter the dates on the right under Stage Dates.
(Optional) You can add a release description in the Release Description text box.
Click Update.

To add a route to a plan

Click Create Plan to create a new plan, or click the name of the existing plan to which you want to add a route.
Click Assign App Route.
Select the desired application from the App list.
Select the desired route from the Route list.
Click Add.
The Routes tab opens with the plan stages mapped to the application route environments.

Note

Route gate constraints validate the compliance of the request environments to the plan stage route gates. Route gates are mapped to the plan stages according to the environment types of the route gate environments. You can change the default (automatic) route gate assignment to plan stages. For more information about route gates, see Managing routes.

Warning

After adding a route to a plan, you cannot reopen the completed request if the environment of the request does not match the environment specified in a route.

To create the schedule for environments and stages in a plan

Create a release plan from a plant template.
Add route to a plan.
Go to Plans, and select the appropriate plan from a list.
Click Edit Plan Details
In Environment Dates, specify the estimated dates for environments used in a plan.
In Stage Dates, specify the estimated stages for a plan.
Click Update to save your changes.

To assign a request to a plan

Note

If the plan has a route added to it, you must create a request for certain stages of a plan using only the route environment defined in the route and mapped to the plan stage. For more information, see Adding a route to a plan.

On the Requests tab, click the request.
On the request page, click expand.
Click Modify Request Details on the bottom.
Change the appropriate details under Core Attributes and select the plan to assign to the request.
Click Update.