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End-to-end process

BMC Release Process Management enables you to define users, roles, and teams to segregate duties. Following is the basic step-by-step process for using the application. Your process will vary with your applications, environments, team size, and frequency of releases, but the essential setup and operation remain the same.

  1. Log on to BMC Release Process Management as an administrator so that you can see all the tabs and all the roles during this setup task.
     The Dashboard page page opens. The Dashboard page provides visibility into all applications in the system (My Applications) and all requests (My Requests).
  2. Add applications by using the Create Application tab. After creating an application, you can edit the application from the Dashboard page.
  3. After you create an application, create as many environments as you need to represent the applications.
  4. After creating your environments, add components and map them to servers. Servers represent infrastructure components. Servers can be virtual, physical, load balancers, JEE servers, clusters and so forth. See Managing-servers. Servers are mapped to environments. See Managing-environments.
  5. Add lifecycle stages by using the Lifecycles tab.
     This tab displays what happens across the application life across different releases. To learn about lifecycles, see Managing-lifecycles. Add as many stages as required for your release. For example, you might need development, QA, production, and deployment.
  6. You can create a run by selecting a request from a stage. For example, you might want to complete the development stage and proceed to the QA (quality assurance) stage. Requests consist of one or several steps. For more information about requests, see Managing-requests. Steps can be automated actions or manual actions. The request steps can run in parallel or sequentially. For more information about request steps, see Requests-clones-sequential-and-parallel under Managing-requests. Similarly, requests can be scheduled or started manually. The system displays the status on a tab, stating that a request is in progress. For automated steps, the system starts a request automatically. You can add more steps, if required. The steps can be any combination of manual and automated, as dictated by your requirements.
  7. Your build in the output stage can show some defects that make you decide that it cannot yet go into the production stage. You can put or mark your builds in the problem status and add your comments on that. For example, team members might find that an important link is missing from the application. You record this information in the system as a problem. Everyone can see this information, and team members responsible for that portion are expected to take necessary actions to fix it. If a build fails or functions far below expectations, or if a major functionality does not work as expected, you can create a new lifecycle, and so on. BMC Release Process Management permits you to define lifecycle templates with predefined requests associated with each stage and use them later. This feature makes the creation of lifecycles very easy. You can create lifecycles from Environment > Metadata > Manage Lifecycle Templates. After you create a template name, add stages to create the template. The lifecycles have predefined requests. The Managing-lifecycles topic tells you how you can create a lifecycle template.
  8. Start the lifecycle. Then you move to the request to finalize the parameterization of the request before starting it. You also need to specify the build version of the component that you want to package and deploy. Then you plan and start the request. The request starts the required tasks automatically. The request sends the builds in a package and BMC Application Automation deploys the payload of the component to the right target for the environments. The problem part of the application goes through the various stages. Ultimately, you reach the final stage and check that the link is fully functional now. You now advance the request to deploy the application in a production environment.
  9. In the production environment, any action must be referenced in a change ticket. Change approval can be automated. There is a feature called Tickets in BMC Release Process Management. See Managing-tickets. The tickets feature tracks down the code ready process and the deployment. At this stage you are able to deploy various different application components versions across different environments.

In summary, BMC Release Process Management helps you to do the following during an end to end process:

  • Integrate human and automation workflows
  • Control the environment and configurations during the release process
  • Integrate with existing ecosystems and processes

 

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