Common use of General Release Management Clause in Contracts

General Release Management. Service Provider responsibilities include: 1. Conform Service Provider operations to policies and procedures that set the objectives, scope and principles that will ensure the success of the Release Management process, including compliance with policies and procedures for the following: 1.1. Assist the DIR Customer and other DCS Service Providers in the provision of requested support as needed for a successful deployment. 1.2. Define agreed upon release and deployment plans, including the overall Release Management Plan and Release schedule, with DIR and DIR Customers. 1.3. Ensure that each release package consists of a set of related assets and service components that are compatible with each other. 1.4. Ensure that integrity of a release package and its constituent components is maintained throughout the transition activities and recorded accurately in the CMS. 1.5. Ensure that all release and deployment packages can be tracked, installed, tested, verified, and/or uninstalled or backed out if appropriate. 1.6. Ensure that organization and stakeholder change is managed during the release and deployment activities. 1.7. Record and manage deviations, risks, issues related to the new or changed service and take necessary corrective action. 1.8. Ensure that there is knowledge transfer to enable the customers and users to optimize their use of the service to support their business activities. 1.9. Ensure that skills and knowledge are transferred to operations and support staff to enable them to effectively and efficiently deliver, support and maintain the service according to required warranties and service levels. 1.10. The definition, identification and management of release units. 1.11. The definition, identification and use of release design options. 1.12. The identification, design and management of releases and release packages. 1.13. The identification, design and management of release models. 1.14. The planning, execution and management of testing methods, tools and procedures. 1.15. The use of pilots. 1.16. The definition of release success / failure criteria for each point in the Release lifecycle. 1.17. Establish measurement processes to record the success and failure of Releases, including recording Incidents related to Release activities in the period following a Release. 2. Maintain a Release Management Plan, which includes Release schedule, that ensures compliance with Release Management Policies and process, which at a minimum articulates the following: 2.1. Ensure that each release package consists of a set of related assets and service components that are compatible with each other. 2.2. Ensure that integrity of a release package and its constituent components is maintained throughout the transition activities and recorded accurately in the CMS. 2.3. Ensure that all release and deployment packages are tracked, installed, tested, verified, and/or uninstalled or backed out if appropriate. 2.4. Record and manage deviations, risks, issues related to the new or changed service and take necessary corrective action. 2.5. Ensure that there is knowledge transfer to enable DIR Customers to optimize their use of the service to support their business activities. 2.6. Ensure that skills and knowledge are transferred to operations and support staff to enable them to effectively and efficiently deliver, support and maintain the service according to required warranties and service levels. 2.7. The identification, design and management of release models. 2.8. Provide planning, execution and management of testing methods, tools and procedures. 2.9. Develop release success / failure criteria with DIR Customers, document and track performance against those criteria. 3. Plan and oversee the successful roll-out of changes, including new and changed Software, as well as associated Hardware and documentation. 4. Provide liaison with Change Management to agree on the exact content and roll-out plan for each Release. 5. Validate that all items being rolled out or changed are secure and traceable via the CMS /CMDB. 6. Manage DIR and DIR Customers’ expectations of Releases and roll-outs. 7. Comply with DIR policies, including security. 8. Update appropriate release information in the Definitive Media Library (DML). 10. Establish software control and distribution procedures, including the management of the software Configuration Items and their distribution and implementation into a production environment.