Specifying the business justification

At the Initiate milestone, the release coordinator prepares a business case to justify the release, for example, compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements or fixing a defect in a mission-critical server.

Release coordinators specify the business justification of the release to initiate the implementation of the release and to decide on corrective actions (if needed). If there is not enough funding to implement the release, you should create a contingency plan if an adjusted business case for the release can still get the necessary approvals. If you cannot get your business case approved, you must inform the requesters of the release that the business case for the release has been rejected.

Release form — Classification information

To specify the business justification

1. Open the release request.
2. Enter this information in the Business Justification field on the Release form.
3. Select a Business Justification to indicate the business reason for implementing the release request.
    Business justification information is important when the request goes through the approval process. You use this information to make sure funding is available to implement the release.
4. Categorize the release request by filling in the categorization fields. Click the Categorization tab.
   The application automatically assigns the release request to the submitter if they have the functional role of a Release Coordinator when the request is saved. Assignments are determined by the rules configured by the application administrator.

5. To create or relate other items to the release request, click the Relationships tab.
   You can create and relate release requests to your current release request before it is saved. You can also create and relate configuration items, change requests, and so on, to the release request.

   Important

   If you close the new release request before saving, any new items you created as a relationship or a manifest, still exist. There is no relationship between these new items and the release request since the release request was not created.

6. Click Save.
    Depending on the settings configured by your application administrator, you might see the Release form in Modify mode. You might also have to open the Release form in Search mode and query for your request.