Release Checklist

Release Information

Project:	PROJECT-NAME
Internal Release Number:	X.Y.Z
External release number:	X.Y.Z
Release audience:	General availability release Customer-specific release: CUSTOMER(S) Developer release (Internal usage only) Early access release (Controlled external access)

Process impact: The process of working through this checklist helps uncover any remaining concerns before the release, and reminds internal stakeholders of their upcoming responsibilities. Once this checklist has been satisfied, this release may be sent to manufacturing and sold to customers with the full support of the organization.

TODO: Discuss each item with the relevant stakeholders and update its status. Add comments as needed to record important decisions or link to resulting documents. Add new items as needed for your particular project or process. Any uncovered problems or tasks should be tracked in the issue tracker.

Marketing / Product Management

Item	Status	Comments
All new requirements for this release have been tracked	Pending
The SRS has been updated	Pending
All prior defects needing resolution in this release have been tracked	Pending
All marketing documents have been updated	Pending
Marketing / Product Management is satisfied with this release	Pending

Development

Item	Status	Comments
All needed design work has been completed	Pending
All needed design work has been reviewed	Pending
All development work has been completed	Pending
All development work has been reviewed	Pending
All defects assigned to this release have been fixed	Pending
All development documentation has been updated	Pending
All unit test code has been updated	Pending
The development team is satisfied with this release	Pending

Quality Assurance

Item	Status	Comments
The QA plan and test cases have been updated	Pending
The QA plan has been completely carried out	Pending
This version is the exact same version that was tested	Pending
All discovered defects have been tracked	Pending
All fixed defects have been verified as fixed	Pending
The QA team is satisfied with this release	Pending

Release Engineering / Configuration Management

Item	Status	Comments
All components have been properly tagged for release, and the release configuration is clearly defined	Pending
This version is the exact same version that was tested	Pending
Installation notes and the installer utility have been updated	Pending
Change-control practices have been followed, meaning that the released product does not contain unapproved changes	Pending
The release notes are complete and accurate	Pending
The RelEng team is satisfied with this release	Pending

User Experience

Item	Status	Comments
Any new or changed functionality is deemed usable	Pending
All user documentation has been updated (e.g., User Guide and FAQ)	Pending
The UE team is satisfied with this release	Pending

Technical Support / Operations

Item	Status	Comments
The implementation notes have been updated by the development team and reviewed by the operations team	Pending
Tech support / Operations has successfully installed, upgraded, used, and become familiar with this release	Pending
Any "Early access" or "Beta" program was conducted successfully and all resulting issues have been tracked	Pending
The operations plan has been reviewed and updated for this release	Pending
The technical support plan has been reviewed and updated for this release	Pending
Troubleshooting guide has been updated	Pending
Tech support is ready to begin supporting users of this release	Pending
Operations is ready to put this release into production use	Pending
The tech support / operations teams are satisfied with this release	Pending

Services / Training

Item	Status	Comments
Services / Training has had access to this release	Pending
The impact of any changes on service offerings has been identified and tracked	Pending
Training materials have been updated	Pending
The Training department is ready to train users of this release	Pending
The Services department is ready to offer professional services for this release	Pending
Services / Training is satisfied with this release	Pending

Legal

Item	Status	Comments
Legal risks associated with this release have been identified and tracked	Pending
We hold proper licenses for all reused components and intellectual property	Pending
We conform to all relevant laws and regulations (e.g., export, safety)	Pending
This release satisfies the conditions of all claimed certifications	Pending
This release satisfies specific clauses of any relevant customer or partner contracts	Pending
The legal team is satisfied with this release	Pending

Possible Status Values

Pending: Work still needs to be done
N/A: This item cannot logically apply
Waived: This item could apply, but the stakeholders deem it unneeded
Done: The stakeholders agree that the item has been satisfied
Failed: This item has forced us to abandon this release

TIP: If a stakeholder hits difficulties with this release after it goes out, add those issues to the checklist template so that everyone knows that they will be explicitly managed on the next release. Conduct a postmortem review to help expose difficulties rather than repeat them.

TIP: You might consider some of the following additional stakeholders at your organization: other engineering groups (i.e., hardware design), manufacturing and shipping, software process improvement, key customers and partners, external developers, risk management, business development, and upper management.

TODO: Check for words of wisdom for additional advice on this template.

Company Proprietary