Release Management user roles and permissions

To access the release module in BMC Helix ITSM, you must have release master, release user, or release viewer permission. Along with the release permissions, you might have to perform the functional role of a release coordinator or release approver.

The release permissions and functional roles that are supported in BMC Helix ITSM are derived from Release Management . On the CTM:People form in mid tier, the administrator can assign the permission and functional role to BMC Helix ITSM users.

Release permissions

Release Master—Release master permission supersedes the release user and release viewer permissions. As a BMC Helix ITSM user with release master permission, you can create and also modify release independent of any functional roles, or support group affiliations.
Release User—Release user permission supersedes the release viewer permission. As a BMC Helix ITSM user with release user permission, you can create and edit release assigned to you or to your support group.
Release Viewer—Release viewer permission is superseded by the release master and release user permission. As a BMC Helix ITSM user with release viewer permission, you can only view release. If you have release approver functional role, you can review a release. Although you cannot completely edit release, you can edit the Documents section of release and attach documents.

User with release permissions also have the following options:

The user can also get asset viewer and change viewer permissions.
The user can perform the functional role of release coordinator or release approver.
The user can add comments in the Activity tab of release, activities, and tasks.
The user can view release in all statuses and milestones, including releases in the Pending, Cancelled, and Rejected status.

The following table describes the scope of the release permissions. Note that the table covers all the supported milestones and statuses in each milestone:

Tasks	Release Master	Release User	Release Viewer	Details
Create release	✅️	✅️	❌️	For users with the release viewer permission, the Release option is not available on the Create menu.
Create activities	✅️	✅️	❌️	Not applicable
Create tasks	✅️	✅️	❌️	Not applicable
Create related change requests	✅️	✅️	❌️	Not applicable
Create release plan	✅️	✅️	❌️	Not applicable
Edit release	✅️	✅️	❌️	For users with the release viewer permission, the Edit option is not available on the release profile.
Edit the Documents section	✅️	✅️	❌️	You can edit the Documents section of the release, and attach or remove documents. For users with the release viewer permission, the Edit option is not available on the release profile.
Edit activities	✅️	✅️	❌️	Not applicable
Edit tasks	✅️	✅️	❌️	Not applicable
Edit change requests related with the release	✅️	✅️	✅️	Users with the release viewer permission must have change master or change user permission to edit change requests related with the release.
Edit change requests created from the release	✅️	✅️	✅️	Users with the release viewer permission must have change master or change user permission to edit change requests created from the release.
Relate existing change requests with the release	✅️	✅️	❌️	Not applicable
Perform global search to search for the release, activities, and tasks	✅️	✅️	✅️	Not applicable
Search for the release, activities, and tasks from the Ticket Console	✅️	✅️	✅️	Not applicable
Relate the release with other types of tickets	✅️	✅️	❌️	You can relate the release with the following type of tickets—incident, asset, change request, release, problem investigation, known error, and outage. Note that you cannot create the release from tickets.
Move the release to the next milestone or status	✅️	✅️	❌️	You cannot move a release that is in review status. After approval, the system moves the release to the next status.
Add comments to the Activity note of the release, activities, and tasks	✅️	✅️	✅️	You cannot add comments when a release is in Closed status.
Change the release template after the release is created	❌️	❌️	❌️	Not applicable
Modify the target date and completed date after the release is created	✅️	✅️	❌️	Not applicable

Release functional roles

To efficiently manage release, BMC Helix ITSM supports the functional roles of release coordinator and release approver. To assign a user the functional role, ensure that the user has one of the release permissions. On the CTM:People form in BMC Helix ITSM, the administrator can assign the functional role to the users.

Release coordinator— Users with release coordinator functional role have to manage release, coordinate with the stakeholders, and track whether the release is progressing as planned. Users with release master or release user permission, who belong to the support group of release coordinator, can access and edit a release assigned to the release coordinator.
Release approver— Users with release approver functional role can review release. At a minimum, a release approver must have release viewer permission to access and view release awaiting review.

Depending on the release permissions that a release coordinator has, the following scenarios can happen:

Scenarios	View	Edit	Move release to the next status and milestone	Relate change requests with the release plan
User with release master permission and release coordinator functional role
You are the submitter and coordinator of release, and belong to the release coordinator's support group.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
You are the submitter, but not the coordinator of release, but do not belong to the release coordinator's support group.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
You are the submitter and belong to the coordinator's support group, but you are not the release coordinator.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
User with release master permission but without release coordinator functional role
You are the submitter and belong to the release coordinator's support group, but you are not the coordinator of release.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
You are the submitter, but not the coordinator of release, but do not belong to the release coordinator's support group.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
You are not the submitter or the coordinator of release, but you belong to the release coordinator's support group.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
You are not the submitter or the coordinator of release, but do not belong to the release coordinator's support group. Important: If the Applications Permission Model is set as Support Group, you will not be able to view and edit the ticket.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
User with release user permission and release coordinator functional role
You are the submitter and coordinator of release, and belong to the release coordinator's support group.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
You are the submitter and belong to the release coordinator's support group, but you are not the coordinator of release.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
You are not the submitter or the coordinator of release, but you belong to the release coordinator's support group.	✅️	✅️	✅️	✅️
You are the submitter, but not the coordinator of release, but do not belong to the release coordinator's support group. (You create a release but assign it to a release coordinator from another support group.)	✅️	❌️	❌️	❌️
You are not the submitter or the coordinator of release, but do not belong to the release coordinator's support group.	✅️	❌️	❌️	❌️
User with release user permission but without release coordinator functional role
You are not the submitter or the coordinator of release, but you belong to the release coordinator's support group.	✅️	❌️	❌️	❌️
You are the submitter and belong to the release coordinator's support group, but you are not the coordinator of release.	✅️	❌️	❌️	❌️
You are not the submitter or the coordinator of release, but do not belong to the release coordinator's support group.	✅️	❌️	❌️	❌️

Important

Regardless of whether BMC Helix ITSM user with release viewer permission has release coordinator functional role, they can only view release, add comments in the activity note of release, activities, and tasks.
The scenarios described in the matrix for the release coordinator functional role also apply to BMC Helix ITSM users with any of the three release permissions and the release approver functional role. In addition to the tasks they usually perform as a release coordinator, BMC Helix ITSM users with release approver functional role can review releases assigned to them.

Additional considerations

Users with release user or release master permission must consider the following points:

You can add related change requests to the release plan and relate supported ticket types to the release in all milestones and statuses except when the release is in review, and when the release is in the Close Down milestone, or in the Pending, Cancelled, or Rejected status.
You can add comments to the activity notes of release, activities, and tasks in all the milestones and statuses except when the release is in review or in the Closed status in the Close Down milestone.
You can add or edit the release plan in all the milestones and statuses, except when the release is in review, and when the release is in the Close Down milestone, or in the Pending, Cancelled, or Rejected status.
You can move a release to the next or previous status or milestone, except when the release is in review status, and when the release is in Close Down milestone, or in the Pending, Cancelled, or Rejected status.

Instructions for classic interfaces

View instructions for Mid Tier

Release Management permissions

The following permissions are available in Release Management.

Important

Add licenses only for the features and number of users that correspond to your license entitlements. Your subscription or purchase determines your license entitlements.

Permissions	Description	Application user license type?	Best practice
Release Master	Users with Release Master permission can perform the following functions: Create release requests Modify all release requests independently of any functional roles or support group affiliations. Create and modify approval mappings Create and modify Release templates (modification of templates is restricted to templates where the user is a member of the Authoring Group). Asset Viewer and Infrastructure Change Viewer permissions are also granted automatically from the application UI whenever these permissions are granted. The use of the Master permissions groups should be limited to key personnel who either own a process, or have full control over Release Management schedules.	Fixed or Floating	Grant these permissions only to users performing a Release Coordinator role that requires full access to all release requests.
Release User	Users with Release User permissions can perform the following functions: Create release requests Modify, in a restricted way, release requests based on functional roles and support group affiliations A user must have the Release coordinator functional Role to be able to modify the release request and they must be a member of the Release Coordinator Group. The Asset Viewer and Infrastructure Change Viewer permissions are also granted automatically from the application UI when these permissions are granted.	Fixed or Floating	Grant these permissions only to users performing a release coordinator role.
Release Viewer	Users with Release Viewer permissions can query all release requests. They cannot submit or modify release requests. Important: Infrastructure Change Viewer permissions are also granted automatically from the application UI when these permissions are granted.	None	Grant these permissions only to users who need only read access to view release requests. Typically, these permissions are given to most BMC Helix ITSM users (that is, users who do not already have the Master or User permission) for them to access information regarding release planning activities.
Release Config	Users with Release Config permissions can perform functions that span the following five components: Activity, configure: —Activity rules —Activity Templates Change Management configure: — Change Calendar Foundation, for KPIs, configure: — Flashboards parameters —KPI titles (and can register titles; this option is advanced) Release, configure: —Milestone phases and exit criteria —Release Prioritization values —Release rules —Approval mappings —Release Templates Task Management System, configure: —Applications that integrate with the Task Management System —Phase management functionality for those applications that integrate with Task Management System —Task Status and Status Reason values for application return codes	Fixed or Floating	Grant these permissions to users requiring access to configure the functions in the preceding list. Typically, users with this set of permissions are Application Administrators.

Activity permissions

The Activity subcomponent is installed with all BMC Helix ITSM applications. However, it currently is used only by Release Management. The Activity subcomponent is used to manage a release and to track its progress from initiation to completion.

Permissions	Description	Application user license type	Best practice
Activity User	Users with Activity User permission can create and modify all activities. Users with either the Release Master or the Release User permissions also need the Activity User or Viewer permission. These permissions grant full access to Activities.	None	Grant these permissions to users working with the Release Management application who were not granted the Release Master or Release User permissions.
Activity Viewer	Users with Activity Viewer permission can view all activities. Users with Release Viewer permissions do not need the Activity Viewer permission. These permissions grant view access to Activities.	None	Grant these permissions to users working with the Release Management application who have not been granted the Release Viewer permissions.
Activity Config	Users with Activity Config permissions can perform the following functions that span the following two components: Activity component Configure activity rules Configure activity Templates Task Management System component Assignment settings —Configure Task Assignment mappings Integration settings —Configure applications that integrate with Task Management System —Configure phase management functionality for those applications that integrate with Task Management System —Configure Task Status and Status Reason values for application return codes. Task Configuration settings —Configure Task Group Templates —Configure Task Templates —Configure Variable Templates The Release Config permission grants full configuration access to the Activity configuration settings, with some exception regarding the Task Management settings. If a user does not need full access to the Task Management settings, do not grant them Activity Config permission if they already have Release Config permissions.	None	Grant these permissions to users requiring configuration access to the component functions in the preceding list. Typically, you grant these permissions to someone playing the role of an application administrator.

Release coordinator role

Release coordinators use the Release Management application to monitor issues pertaining to the daily aspects of Release Management activities and how they can help their staff meet their commitments to the organizations they support.

The release coordinator in ITIL terminology is typically a member of the support staff who is responsible for the following release tasks:

Responsibility	Explanation
Manages all aspects of the end-to-end release process	Makes sure the build and test environment team and the release team are coordinated. Establishes final release configuration, builds the final release delivery, and tests the final delivery before independent testing.
Creates releases, change requests, and activities	Creates the release manifest that consists of change requests and activities, and reviews the RFCs if they have been passed on from BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management. Manages release, distribution, and the installation of packaged software.
Submits the release request for approval	Configures the approval process to determine which approval phases are available for the release request. Note that whether a release request requires an approval is based on the organization's business rules.
Plans and schedules the release	Organizes and facilitates the CAB meetings and schedules the release request. Determines the impact by assessing the different kinds of risks. Splits the requirements of releases into logical groups that can be handled efficiently by change coordinators. Prepares a business case for a new release when additional funding is needed for its implementation. Schedules people and resources to implement each task.
Initiates the implementation of releases	Decides on corrective actions as needed. Estimates the costs of the release request. Coordinates release acceptance, rollout planning, release communications, preparations and training activities, and distribution and installation of releases. Provides management information about the Release Management quality and operations.
Closes release requests	Organizes and conducts post-implementation meetings to collect improvement suggestions for future releases and resolves the release request when all the work is completed..

The release coordinator is usually responsible for addressing general, day-to-day issues from a personnel and customer satisfaction standpoint.

The release coordinator requires the following permissions and functional roles:

The release coordinator functional role is required to be assigned as the Release Coordinator for individual releases.
Membership in your company's support group is required to create release templates for that group.
Release User permission is required for access to release and manifest records.
Release Config permission is required to set up and modify the Release Module configuration forms.

The release coordinator user role is mapped to the following permission groups:

Release User
Incident User
Problem User
Infrastructure Change Viewer
Contract Viewer
Asset Viewer
Knowledge Viewer